In 2004, he embedded with U.S. Army 25th Infantry soldiers on their first major deployment to Iraq, reporting from Kirkuk, Hawija, Tall Afar and Halabja on the Iranian border. During the same year, Cole also reported from Afghanistan on the deployment of a separate 25th Infantry brigade, reporting from Bagram Air Base and Orgun-E in Paktika province on the eastern border with Pakistan.
In June of 2005, he traveled to Kuwait and Iraq to report on a deployment by the Hawaii Army National Guard. In Iraq he reported from Camp Victory in Baghdad and Logistics Supply Area Anaconda north of Baghdad. That fall, he accompanied a Hawaii-based Army Chinook helicopter unit to Afghanistan and then Pakistan to report on earthquake relief humanitarian assistance flights to remote Pakistani areas.
Cole received seven first-place awards, including the top public service category award, in the 2010 Hawaii Publishers Association Pa'i awards for a four-part series on a fateful U.S. Army battle in 2008 in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of nine U.S. soldiers.
Cole has observed operations while underway on U.S. Navy ships including aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers, submarines, joint high speed vessels and littoral combat ships; traveled extensively by Army and Navy helicopters; and flown into and out of combat zones and other mission areas on Air Force C-17, C-5 and C-130 aircraft.
In late October the Honolulu-based Coast Guard cutter Kimball returned home after a 66-day patrol to the Bering Sea and Arctic during which it shadowed four Chinese navy ships — a guided missile cruiser and destroyer and intelligence and auxiliary ships — operating as close as 46 miles off the Aleutian Islands. Read more
The National Park Service is hoping the latest repair to a chronically-failing shoreside dock at the USS Arizona Memorial visitor center will take fewer than the 17 days it took for a fix in September. Read more
The park service suspended public programs to the USS Arizona Memorial after it was alerted to damage of the shoreside dock on Sunday. Read more
At the end of Pearl Harbor anniversary events, after the veterans who fought back that day and fought during World War II are rightly honored, after the 2,403 American service member and civilian casualties from the day of infamy are memorialized, there is another remembrance. Read more
John Pildner, a former Army infantryman and Battle of the Bulge veteran, had a simple explanation for why he traveled all the way to Pearl Harbor for the 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack that catapulted America into World War II. Read more
Aged veterans started arriving at Kilo Pier at Pearl Harbor in predawn darkness this morning in wheelchairs and with canes — some in the military uniforms they wore long ago. Read more
Harvey Hollis Milhorn served 30 years in the Navy, including as a gunner’s mate on the USS Arizona, his first of at least seven ships, as well as a year in Vietnam, and finally as an officer and ships superintendent at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia. Read more
The National Park Service and Navy Region Hawaii, with the support of Pacific Historic Parks, are hosting a series of events today through Thursday as part of the 80th National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Commemoration. Read more
Despite ongoing COVID-19 and a reduced 2020 effort, the planning marks a return to the grand scale of the interoperability and combat drills of 2018. Read more
The Navy said 32 Pearl Harbor survivors and 119 other World War II veterans are expected on Oahu to remember the surprise Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack. Read more
More Hawaii Marines are on the move as the Corps continues a wholesale reorganization to focus on becoming a fast-moving, island- hopping, missile-firing force capable of striking enemy ships at sea to aid the Navy in a possible conflict with China. Read more
At the end of the first orbital test flight for its 164-foot Starship, SpaceX envisions a reentry into the atmosphere at speeds approaching Mach 25, or 19,000 miles per hour, followed by 15 minutes of hypersonic flight. Read more
All four members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation said Monday in a letter to the secretary of the Navy that they have “increasing concerns” about the safety of the Navy’s fuel operations in Hawaii. Read more
The Wai Ola Alliance, an “environmentally and culturally focused” community group, said it’s issuing a 90-day notice of its intent to sue the Navy in federal court to speed up major repairs to the Red Hill fuel farm. Read more
Amid ongoing fuel leaks between Red Hill and Pearl Harbor, the Navy said it is investing over $750 million in improvements to its aging fuel storage tanks that lie 100 feet above the Moanalua-Waimalu groundwater aquifer — while also pursuing a double-wall tank experiment. Read more
For the families of 85 Arizona crew buried as “unknowns” at Punchbowl cemetery, meanwhile, hope is being rekindled that they — like their USS Oklahoma shipmates — can someday be disinterred for identification. Read more
Taiwan’s president said over the weekend that her country will not bow to pressure from China, while Chinese President Xi Jinping said that “peaceful reunification” is sought, but complete reunification “must be realized.” Read more
Schofield Barracks, until now, would send about 5,000 soldiers annually to Fort Polk, La., for culminating training to certify an infantry brigade’s combat readiness for war. Read more
The Army systems can defend against subsonic cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft systems and rockets, artillery and mortar threats. Read more
The 80th anniversary of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day — a major milestone in history and for its dwindling survivors who are now around a century old — will be held at Pearl Harbor on Kilo Pier with the relentlessness of COVID-19 still a concern. Read more
The Army systems can defend against subsonic cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft systems and rockets, artillery and mortar threats. Read more
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