Army official focused on being ‘good partner’ for Hawaii

U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth this week wrapped up a four-day visit to Hawaii, which included an itinerary packed with tours of base facilities and the Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island, meetings with Native Hawaiian community leaders, a sit-down with Gov. Josh Green, and a town hall meeting with service members and military families at Schofield Barracks.

“What brought me out here this week was really to look at our infrastructure, I’m very focused as secretary of the Army on quality of life issues,” Wormuth told reporters before the town hall meeting got underway Tuesday. “I also wanted to come out and talk to state and local leaders, in light of the fact that we’ve got the lease agreements issue a few years out there. … I think we need to be showing that we’re going to be a good partner in terms of how we approach that.”

Across military branches in Hawaii, aging infrastructure and facilities have long been a challenging issue. The matter was thrust into the spotlight in November 2021 when fuel from the military’s World War II-era Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility tainted the Navy’s water system, which serves 93,000 people. After initially resisting a state emergency order, the Navy is now working to empty the aging fuel tanks, which sit just 100 feet above a key aquifer most of Oahu relies on for clean water.

A group of activists lining back rows at the town hall meeting — behind soldiers and their families — held signs calling for Red Hill’s shutdown. Among the activists was Ann Wright, a former diplomat and Army officer. Wright told Wormuth: “We want to urge the the Army to really push the Navy. We want to urge the Army to fully staff Tripler (Army Medical Center) with toxicologists that can help these families that are still suffering.”

Wormuth said the Army has contributed several troops, including two deputy commanders, to Joint Task Force Red Hill, the organization helmed by Navy Vice Adm. John Wade and given the task of draining the vast underground facility.

The Army has “provided two general officers,” Wormuth said, “because we think it’s incredibly important to make sure that Red Hill is defueled as quickly as possible and safely And we want to make sure that Admiral Wade has the expertise that he needs to be able to accomplish that.”

affected by the Red Hill water crisis were the Army’s Aliamanu Military Reservation and Red Hill housing area. During the water crisis, Army leaders in Hawaii quickly responded, mobilizing a task force to assist residents of its housing areas and temporarily moving residents into hotels in Waikiki. “The bill for that was about $90 million,” Wormuth told reporters. “But it was absolutely the right thing to do and what we needed to do.”

The Red Hill water crisis has shifted the conversation about Hawaii’s relationship with the military. At the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce’s Military Affairs Council Partnership Conference held earlier this month Wade told attendees, “What we do with Red Hill will also have implications with the land leases and everything else that’s involved here.”

Several of the military’s leases with the state for land it uses as training areas expire in 2029. For military leaders, the Army’s lease for land at Pohakuloa is a particular priority. The large training area offers varied terrain and is one of the few ranges large enough for brigade level training and long-range artillery practice involving live fire exercises. But several state agencies recently criticized an Army environmental assessment. And some island residents are calling for the military to reduce its footprint — or leave altogether.

“I respect those views,” Wormuth told reporters. “Part of the reason that I met with the some of the leaders from the Native Hawaiian community is to hear those views myself.” However, she added, “There is no place else in the Indo-Pacific where the United States Army — and I would argue, even the whole joint force — can get the kind of training experiences that Pohakuloa training range offers.”

China has been locked in a series of territorial and navigation disputes in the South China Sea, a critical waterway through which more than one-third of all international trade travels. Geopolitical tensions escalated sharply last year with Russia’s expansion of its war in Ukraine along with increased Chinese military maneuvers around Taiwan.

“This is the most challenging security environment I’ve seen in 30 years,” Wormuth said. “There are real security problems that we need to be worried about. And in the Indo-Pacific … Pohakuloa is really the place where we can do that training. … This is part about having a strong army that’s ready to protect the nation — and that’s all of us. All American citizens, including Native Hawaiians.”

While the Pentagon is now focused on the Pacific region, in the past two decades the Army focused much of its attention and resources on conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. The Pacific — and Hawaii — largely took a back seat. At the recent Military Affairs Council Partnership Conference U.S. Army Pacific’s deputy commander Lt. Gen. James Jarrard gave a frank appraisal of the upshot.

“One of the problems we have in the Army is that we live in Hawaii. … I say that because when we ask for stuff from the Department of Army, they look at us as: ‘Hey, you’re living in paradise, you don’t need anything.’” Jarrard added, “We have not received resources we need and so some of that infrastructure is in bad shape.”

Power outages, water main breaks and mold in barracks were subjects of discussion during Wormuth’s town hall meeting. Much of the infrastructure projects discussed are “deferred maintenance” — projects that the Army has determined are needed to meet its mission goals but have not been executed

During her Hawaii trip Wormuth toured what the military calls a Q4-rated barracks — one that fails to meet minimum Army standards, and for which the cost of improvements exceeds 40% of the cost of replacing it.

“I think it’s fair to say I wasn’t happy with what I saw, frankly,” Wormuth said. “Hawaii has its own unique climate that in terms of maintaining infrastructure is very demanding. I do think the Army has had to make difficult choices for years in terms of where it’s going to spend its money, but we’re going to need to invest in our infrastructure here in Hawaii.”