Category: Kaua’i & Ni’ihau

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ALONG THE AXIS OF PEACE: Global Resistance to U.S. Military Bases and Space-based Weapons

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ALONG THE AXIS OF PEACE:

Global Resistance to U.S. Military Bases and Space-based Weapons

February 18, 2012

7:00 – 9:00 pm

Art Auditorium

UH Manoa

FREE

From Vandenberg, California to Kwajalein Atoll, Kaua’i to Jeju, South Korea, Okinawa to the UK, the U.S. global network of military bases and space-based weapons systems seeks to attain “full-spectrum dominance” over the planet. But grassroots movements are resisting through dynamic local-global networks of solidarity.

An international panel of activists and scholars will discuss the local, regional and global ramifications of the U.S. missile defense programs and expanding U.S. militarism in the Asia-Pacific region, resistance against U.S. military bases in Hawai’i, Okinawa, Korea and the UK and the far-reaching implications of the militarization of space.

  • • Lynda Williams is a physics educator at Santa Rosa Junior College in California and a board member of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.
  • Jamie Oshiro is an activist with the Hawai’i Okinawa Alliance, a group that conducts education and action in solidarity with anti-bases struggles in Okinawa as well as Hawai’i.
  • Dave Webb is the National Chair of the UK Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a former space physicist for the UK Ministry of Defence and a recipient of the Pax Christi Award.
  • Bruce Gagnon is the Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, an Air Force Veteran, and member of Veterans for Peace.
  • Kyle Kajihiro (Moderator) is an organizer with Hawai’i Peace and Justice and DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina.

Contact: 808-988-6266 • info@hawaiipeaceandjustice.org • www.dmzhawaii.org

Sponsors: University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Department of English, Department of American Studies, and Department of Political Science, the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Hawai’i Peace and Justice, and DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina.

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Army tests hypersonic weapon from Kaua’i

When the Navy did its environmental impact statement (EIS) for the expansion of its Hawaiian Range Complex, “air-breathing hypersonic vehicles” were listed as one of the items to be tested there. However, there were no details about the nature of the tests in the report.  The Navy officials at the time said that the technology was still in development and that more detailed supplemental studies would be conducted when the nature of the tests were known.  There were no supplemental studies done that I am aware of.   But as we suspected, the laundry list of weapons testing and training activities were packed into a mammoth programmatic level EIS to avoid doing the more detailed analysis usually required by NEPA.  In other words, they sought and got a blanket approval without having to study, disclose or mitigate impacts or identify alternatives.   The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that the Army conducted a test with a hypersonic weapon launched from Kaua’i:

The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Army Forces Strategic Command said they conducted the first test flight of the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon concept this morning at the Pacific Missile Range on Kauai.

The first-of-its-kind glide vehicle, designed to fly within the earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speed, launched from Kauai at 1:30 this morning to the Reagan Test Site at Kwajelein Atoll. The data collected will be used by the Pentagon to model and develop future hypersonic boost-glide capabilities.

[…]

Another hypersonic aircraft, the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, or HTV-2, reached Mach 20, or about 13,000 mph, before crashing into the Pacific on Aug. 11.

[…]

The Pentagon has said in the past that the goal of its hypersonic efforts is to develop a technology that could deliver a non-nuclear warhead anywhere in the world within an hour.

“Non-nuclear”?  It is not a stretch of the imagination to see this as a delivery vehicle for warheads nuclear as well as non-nuclear.

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Peace Prizes for War Presidents, Missile Tests on Day of Peace

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/06-0

Published on Tuesday, September 6, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

Peace Prizes for War Presidents, Missile Tests on Day of Peace

Escalation of US offensive missile strategy — launching an ICBM Missile across the Pacific on World Peace Day

by Ann Wright

The U.S. missile ‘defense” system is simply not defensive. It is offensive in every sense of the word and it is increasing tensions throughout the world.

Even on the day where the world is to think about peace— World Peace Day on September 21—you would not know that the day existed from the actions of the United States.

In addition to the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on World Peace Day, in violation of its commitment to disarmament under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the United States will fire an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California over Hawaii and the Pacific Missile Range tracking facility (PMRF) to crash into the Pacific Ocean near Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.

Route of the ICBM to be fired on World Peace Day

The purpose of the flight is for the United States to continue to test delivery missiles that would carry nuclear warheads to incinerate its enemies, whoever they may be at the time.

The Marshall Islands are the same islands that the United States blew up in the 1950s and 1960s in the nuclear and hydrogen bomb tests from which Marshall Islanders are still suffering from radiation.

The test of the ICBM and the further expansion of the US missile “defense” system is causing dangerous repercussions around the world, making hotspots even hotter-from China and the Koreas to Turkey, Israel and Iran.

Pacific Missile Range in Hawaii Expanded for the Aegis Missile Test Complex—Testing to Kill or to Defend?

On Kauai, Hawaii, the Hawaii congressional delegation continues to bring home the bacon, the pork barrel projects that include expansion of the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The latest project is the construction of theAegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex that will provide testing and evaluation of the systems.

U.S. Senator from Hawaii Daniel Inouye said at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new missile test complex on August 29, “There are people in the world who would harm and kill us. We are not testing to kill, but to defend. … I pray the product of testing will not be used, but will be a deterrent for those who would harm us.”

Construction of the Aegis Missile Defense Test Complex in Hawaii will be completed in 2013. The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System is used on 81 naval ships throughout the world with more than 25 additional Aegis-equipped ships planned or under contract. There are six naval Aegis-equipped ships home-ported at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii.

Ballistic Missile Defense Systems to be installed in Romania and Poland

The Aegis system is the sea-based component of the Ballistic Missile Defense System under development by the Missile Defense Agency which integrates with submarines, surface ships as well as the U.S. Army and Air Force missiles. The U.S. will install the Ballistic Missile Defense system in Romania in 2015 and in Poland in 2018. The systems that will be sent to Romania and Poland were tested in Hawaii at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.

Jeju Island, South Korea protests against the Aegis Missile System and construction of a naval base to homeport Aegis Destroyers

On Jeju Island, South Korea, citizens have been protesting for four years the construction of a new naval base that will homeport Aegis missile destroyers as a part of the US missile defense system. On September 2, hundreds of mainland South Koreans flew in “peace planes” to join Jeju Island activists in a major confrontation with government forces.

On the same day, more than 1,000 South Korean riot police from the mainland descended upon citizens of all ages who were blockading crews from access to the naval base construction site on Jeju Island. At least 50 protestors were arrested, including villagers, Catholic priests, college students, visiting artists and citizen journalists. Several were wounded and hospitalized.

However, back in Hawaii, not all who live on Kauai agree with the aims of the Aegis program and its effects on other countries. In the Kauai Garden Island newspaper Op-ed on September 4, Koohan Paik, a Hawaii citizen activist of Korean heritage observed,  “There happens to be a very strong connection between Jeju’s current troubles and business-as-usual on the Garden Isle (Kauai). You see, the primary purpose of Jeju’s unwanted base is to port Aegis destroyer warships. And it is right here, at Kauai’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, that all product testing takes place for the Aegis missile manufacturers…‘ So it is no surprise that the tenacious, democracy-loving Koreans have been protesting again — this time for over four years, non-stop, day and night. They are determined to prevent construction of a huge military base on S. Korea’s Jeju Island that will cement over a reef in an area so precious it contains three UNESCO World Heritage Sites.”

Turkey agrees to host missile defense radar installations-data not to be shared with Israel

Halfway around the planet in another hotspot where the U.S is pushing the missile defense system, on September 2, the same day it denounced UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s 4 person committee’s report on the Gaza flotilla and then announced sanctions on Israel for murdering 8 Turkish citizens and one American citizen on the 2010 Gaza flotilla, Turkey also revealed that it had reached agreement to host radar installations as part of the American-sponsored NATO “missile defense” program. Press reports indicate that as part of the deal, the US acceded to a Turkish demand that data from the Turkish-hosted radars not be shared with Israel.

Turkey played the odds that it has increasingly greater value to the United States in the eastern Mediterranean region than does Israel, which is increasingly a strategic and political burden to the United States.

The upcoming United Nations session with its discussion on statehood for Palestine will again put the United States in the miniscule number of nations that will vote against Palestinian initiatives—Israel and those whom the US pays through the Compact of Free Association to vote with it-Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau.

America’s belligerent actions on World Peace Day and the Nobel Peace Prize

As America shoves World Peace Day aside with its launch on September 21 of the ICBM missile, it brings to mind President Obama’s war speech upon accepting, only eight months into office, Nobel Prize for Peace for having done little for peace, except to defeat John McCain for the presidency. Obama spoke at length of the necessity of war to make the world a peaceful place.

In this vein, it makes perfect sense to the Obama administration to launch a missile on World Peace Day, a missile for peace, no doubt!!

But it makes NO sense to me and to, I suspect, hundreds of millions of people around the world. I hope on World Peace Day, the citizens of the world will let the Obama administration know of their disgust for this act of intimidation and disrespect for the planet

Ann Wright is a 29 year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. In December, 2001 she was on the small team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the co-author of the book “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.” (www.voicesofconscience.com)

 

 

——————————–

Ann Wright

microann@yahoo.com

Facebook: http://www.www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504291178

Twitter: annwright46

“Dissent: Voices of Conscience” www.voicesofconscience.com

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Connecting the Aegis dots between Jeju, Okinawa, Guam, Hawai’i

Koohan Paik, co-author of the Superferry Chronicles and member of the Kaua’i Alliance for Peace and Social Justice wrote an excellent op ed in the Garden Island newspaper connecting the dots between the military expansion at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua’i, the struggle to stop a naval base in Jeju, South Korea, and protest movements in Okinawa and Guam.

True defenders

When I was a child in South Korea during the 1960s, we lived under the repressive dictatorship of Park Chung-hee. Anyone out after 10 p.m. curfew could be arrested. Anyone who tried to protest the government disappeared. A lot of people died fighting for democracy and human rights.

Today, the South Korean people carry in living memory the supreme struggles that forged the freedom they currently enjoy. And after all they’ve sacrificed, they are not going to give that freedom up.

So it is no surprise that the tenacious, democracy-loving Koreans have been protesting again — this time for over four years, non-stop, day and night. They are determined to prevent construction of a huge military base on S. Korea’s Jeju Island that will cement over a reef in an area so precious it contains three UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

This eco-rich reef has not only fed islanders for millennia, but it has also been the “habitat” for Jeju’s lady divers who are famous for staying beneath the surface for astonishing periods of time, before coming up with all manner of treasures. Even during South Korea’s times of unspeakable poverty, subtropical Jeju Island was always so abundant with natural resources and beauty that no one ever felt “impoverished” there.

There happens to be a very strong connection between Jeju’s current troubles and business-as-usual on the Garden Isle. You see, the primary purpose of Jeju’s unwanted base is to port Aegis destroyer warships. And it is right here, at Kaua‘i’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, that all product testing takes place for the Aegis missile manufacturers.

On Aug. 29, when Sen. Dan Inouye was here to dedicate a new Aegis testing site, he said, “We are not testing to kill, but to defend.” It would have been more accurate if Inouye had said, “We are not testing to kill, but to increase profits for Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, no matter how many people are oppressed or how many reefs are destroyed.”

Four days later, on Sept. 2, I got a panicked call from a Korean friend that there had been a massive crackdown on the peace vigil in Gangjung village to protect Jeju’s reef from the Aegis destroyer project.

More than 1,000 South Korean police in head-to-toe riot gear descended upon men and women of all ages blockading construction crews from access to the site. At least 50 protestors were arrested, including villagers, Catholic priests, college students, visiting artists and citizen journalists. Several were wounded and hospitalized. My friend told me, “We fought so hard for democracy. And now this. It’s just like dictatorship times.”

Another reason the Koreans are so angry is that their government has been telling them that the Aegis technology will protect them from North Korea. But Aegis missiles launching from Jeju are useless against North Korea, because North Korean missiles fly too low. In a 1999 report to the U.S. Congress, the Pentagon verified that the Aegis system “could not defend the northern two-thirds of South Korea against the low flying short range Taepodong ballistic missiles.”

So if Aegis is no good against North Korea, why build the base? Again, this is not about defense, this is about selling missiles (and increasing profits for Samsung and other major contractors on the base construction job).

There is a strong similarity between resistance on Jeju (where a recent poll showed 95 percent of islanders are opposed to the base) and concurrent uprisings on Guam and Okinawa, as well. All three islands are slated for irreversible destruction to make way for Aegis destroyer berthing.

And who wouldn’t protest? Like us, these are island peoples who care passionately for their reefs, ocean ecosystems and fisheries. I have heard certain Jeju Islanders say they will fight to the death to protect their resources.

Today, the mayor of Gangjung himself, along with many others, languish in prison because of their uncompromising stance against the Aegis base. Fortunately, people across the Korean peninsula and beyond, are heading to Jeju to support the resistance movement.

Without peaceful warriors like them, there would be no more reefs, no more coral, no more fish, no more nothing. They are our true defenders, not the missile manufacturers, as Inouye’s sham logic would have us believe.

As the Pentagon conspicuously ramps up militarization in the Asia-Pacific region, individuals of good conscious should pursue de-militarization. In the words of Aletha Kaohi, “Look to within and get rid of the ‘opala, or rubbish.”

Koohan Paik, Kilauea

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Army has no plans for live fire in Makua

The new commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific may be softening his position with regard to live fire training in Makua. The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports:

There may be no Army live-fire training in Makua Valley for years to come, and possibly never again, the new commanding general of the U.S. Army in the Pacific said.

Lt. Gen. Francis J. Wiercinski, who took over the Fort Shafter-based command in March, said he’s focusing on providing replacement live-fire training for Hawaii soldiers through range improvements at Schofield Barracks and at Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island.

“I firmly believe that if those things stay on track at Schofield and PTA, we will not have to live fire in Makua,” Wiercinski said in a recent interview.

Additionally, Wiercinski is putting on hold his predecessor’s plan to convert Makua into a “world-class” roadside bomb and counterinsurgency training center as the Army continues to deal with litigation that has prevented live fire in the 4,190-acre Waianae Coast valley since 2004.

“I’m not going to move forward with disrupting anything or trying to add another element to this until we get the first steps done,” he said. “I don’t want to complicate what’s already in the court system.”

But Makua is still being held hostage as insurance against delays in the expansion of training areas in Lihu’e (Schofield) and Pohakuloa, which pits communities and islands against one another.  There have been major changes in the army’s command structure that shifted more training and operations to the U.S. Army Pacific:

U.S. Army Pacific oversees issues such as Makua Valley, but also has taken on greater responsibilities across the region.

Troop levels in Alaska and Hawaii have increased as numbers have dropped in South Korea. A series of sub-commands has been added in Hawaii that has bolstered Fort Shafter’s command and control role as an administrative and deployable headquarters.

In years past, U.S. Army Pacific “never really participated in exercises as a headquarters, never participated in operations as a headquarters,” Wiercinski said.

It was always a service component command, meaning it did all of the administrative functions.

“For the first time in the last couple of years, it’s become operationalized,” Wiercinski said. “It gives (U.S. Pacific Command) an extra set of headquarters to be able to do things at a moment’s notice.”

This shift has meant an expansion of Fort Shafter as the Army Pacific headquarters:

In 2001, Fort Shafter had 1,194 soldier “billets,” or positions, and a total population of 4,077, including families and civilian workers, officials said.

That population now stands at 6,306 military members with a total Fort Shafter census of 13,172, according to the command.

While the U.S. tries to reinforce its military presence in east Asia in order to contain China, it is also withdrawing and realigning forces to Guam and Hawai’i in response to protest in Korea, Japan and Okinawa.  The realignment of forces in Korea is having negative repercussions for Hawai’i:

The Eighth Army is becoming a combat unit in a return to its Korean War-era roots.

Fort Shafter will exercise the service component command change with the Eighth Army in August.

For an increase in soldiers in Hawaii, firing ranges have been added at Schofield and a Battle Area Complex for Stryker vehicle training is expected to be completed in late 2012, officials said.

Meanwhile, a new Infantry Platoon Battle Area at PTA that could permanently replace Makua Valley might be ready for use in 2014 or 2015, the Army said.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

 

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Pilot error caused copter crash

An army investigation of a 2009 helicopter crash at Wheeler Army Airfield that killed two pilots concluded that pilot error was the cause.  The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports:

The trouble started within two seconds of the helicopter’s engine drive being disengaged from the rotors — the equivalent of putting a car transmission in neutral — in a test of the chopper’s ability to “autorotate.”

Pilots are trained to use the spinning momentum of the rotor and upward airflow to keep flying.

Instead, the Army OH-58D Kiowa Warrior quickly lost airspeed and plummeted from an altitude of 250 feet, according to an Army investigation. The two-seat chopper crashed at Wheeler Army Airfield, killing the pilots, Stanley Blane Hepfner, 29, and Jonathan Bryce Millward, 28, both chief warrant officers.

The accident investigation, obtained by the Star-Advertiser through the Freedom of Information Act, cites pilot error as the cause. The report says a drop in airspeed, a failure to abort the autorotation and a belated attempt to power back up sent the aircraft into a descent greater than 300 feet per minute into its own downwash.

“The pilots did not correct airspeed to stay within acceptable safety parameters,” the report said.

The Army is currently conducting an environmental assessment for a proposal to conduct helicopter training on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.   Comments are due August 21, 2011.  The Hawai’i State Department of Land and Natural Resources is the agency responsible for making the decision about granting a permit for the military training in a protected natural area.

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Orca and Superferries

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that researchers studying the effects of naval sonar on marine mammals spotted a pod of orca off Kaua’i:

The whales appeared at about 9 a.m. Sunday in the channel between Kauai and Niihau where Baird and other Cascadia scientists are conducting a three-week project for the Navy to gauge the effect of sonar training on various species of marine mammals.

The project, which began Wednesday and ends Aug. 8, involves tagging tooth-whale species, including false killer whales, short-finned pilot whales and Blainville’s beaked whales.

[…]

The scientists will study the habitat and population, and the behavior and response to sonar during an upcoming submarine training exercise.

Meanwhile, the Maritime Administration received four bids for the two Hawaii Superferry catamarans:

An effort by the federal government to sell the two former Hawaii Superferry high-speed catamarans has attracted four interested buyers, though it’s not certain when or if a winning bidder will be picked.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration said on Monday it received four bids to buy the two ships, the 321-foot Alakai and 338-foot Huakai. But the agency said it can’t identify the bidders or say when it might complete its review of the bids.

The first time the ships came up for auction during foreclosure proceedings, no bidders came close to the actual cost of building the ships:

The agency provided two loan guarantees totaling roughly $140 million toward the $190 million construction cost of the two ships for the Superferry. At the foreclosure auction, no one bid more than $25 million per ship, so the agency kept the vessels.

The Superferry were proposed as transport vessels for Strykers and other military equipment.  It was the prototype for the Joint High Speed Vessel, a fast military transport ship.  Community protest and legal challenges successfully stopped the invasive project.

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Helicopter training on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, Army-Native Hawaiian convenant and more military housing

The Army wants to conduct helicopter training exercises on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.   Jim Albertini of Malu ‘Aina issued the following call to oppose the Army’s High Altitude Mountainous Environment Training (HAMET) on the slopes of the sacred Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.  The Army had conducted these helicopter training exercises in the past under temporary permits from the state.  Now they are seeking a regular and permanent right of access which would also affect the endangered Palila bird .  Recently, the Army had to move its helicopter training to Colorado, an existing high altitude training area, because the state required the Army to follow the law and complete an environmental review for its proposed actions which did not fit the Army’s schedule.  The Army has previously violated permits and laws by recklessly landing in the protected Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve and in other locations where it was not allowed to train. The draft environmental assessment is now out and public comments are being accepted until August 21st:

More military training on Hawaii Island for wars of aggression: Speak OUT!

“…no significant direct, indirect, or cumulative impacts on natural resources…” !!! WHO SAYS? The people, plants, animals, the aina, air, water, etc. are all interconnected.  What effects one effects all. The impacts are not just physical, but cultural, psychological, and spiritual. The training proposed is all part of U.S. occupation and what the Nuremberg trials following WWII called the Supreme War crime –waging a war of aggression. We want to stop all these illegal wars.  We do not want the U.S. training anywhere to do to others what the U.S. has already done to Hawaii: overthrow and occupy its government and nation, desecrate its sacred sites, and contaminate its air, land, water, people, plants, and animals with a wide range of military toxins.  We want the U.S. to stop bombing Hawaii and clean up its opala (rubbish).  Justice demands an end to U.S. occupation and the restoration of the Hawaii nation.   And all of this being done on the slopes of the Sacred Mountains.  Akua weeps.

Jim Albertini

> From Hawaii’s OEQC July 23, 2011 “The Envornmental Notice”
> http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/Environmental_Notice/current_issue.pdf
> High Altitude Mountainous Environment Training Draft EA

> Permits:
> Right of Entry via Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife Special Use Permit
> Proposing Agency:
> United States Army Garrison, Hawai’i (USAG-HI), 851 Wright Avenue, Wheeler Army Airfield, Schofield Barracks, Hawai’i 96857-5000. Contact: Mr. William Rogers (808) 656- 3075
> Approving Agency:
> Department of Land and Natural Resources Kalanimoku Building, 1151 Punchbowl Street, Honolulu, Hawai’i 96813. Contact: William J. Aila, Jr., (808) 587-0400
> Consultant:
> Portage, 1075 S. Utah Ave., Suite 200, Idaho Falls, ID 83402. (208) 419-4176
> Status: Anticipated Finding of No Significant Impact.
> 30-day comment period begins; comments are due on August 21, 2011.
> Send comments to the Proposing Agency and the Consultant
> The proposed action is to provide 90 helicopter pilots and crew 180 hours of high altitude training in October 2011 in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan to satisfy mandatory annual training requirements. The Army’s preferred alternative consists of flying to, hovering, and touch and go landings at three (3) landing zones (LZs) located on the slopes of Mauna Kea and three (3) LZs located on the slopes of Mauna Loa. Aircraft landing in the LZs would not be picking up or dropping off troops or supplies. Aircraft will be spending a minimal amount of time in the LZ areas, and ground time should not exceed 10 minutes per landing.
>
> Familiarity with this specialized high altitude environment is critical to save the lives of our 25th Combat Aviation Brigade aircrews and the Soldiers they transport when operating in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
Based on careful review of the analysis and conservation measures set forth in the EA and consideration of public comments received to date, implementing the Preferred Alternative would result in no significant direct, indirect, or cumulative impacts on natural resources, cultural resources, water resources, recreational resources and other resources assessed in the EA. Implementing the Preferred Alternative is not a major federal or state action that would significantly impact the quality of the environment.

Meanwhile, the Army seems to be digging in for a longer stay.  In a press release “Native Hawaiian Covenant promotes partnerships”, the Army describes how it is spending a lot of money to cultivate a stable of Native Hawaiian “leaders” to support the military mission in Hawai’i and counter the opponents of military activities.   The Native Hawaiian liaison office functions as a cross between glorified hospitality program and counter insurgency asset:

Through the covenant, Army civilians and Soldiers new to the islands now receive an informative briefing on the Native Hawaiian people, history and culture. This critical information gives Army individuals an opportunity to learn the culture of the community around them and be sensitive to its customs.

In addition, Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners lead free Hawaiian workshops for those interested in learning about the different aspects of Hawaiian culture. Featured workshops include hula, ukulele, lei-making, Hawaiian legends, Hawaiian language, Hawaiian healing plants and coconut weaving.

“Positive responses from Soldiers and their families have been received through these briefings and workshops we offer,” said Annelle Amaral, Native Hawaiian liaison, USAG-HI. “We have found that it not only teaches the culture, but it provides an opportunity to spend time with their families and meet new friends. To be a part of this has been truly rewarding.”

A monthly “Ho olauna” bulletin is a resource for interested Army individuals, containing Hawaiian history, a featured Hawaiian word, upcoming Hawaiian events, happenings around town, a featured dining spot and volunteer opportunities. This resource keeps readers informed and offers opportunities for them to experience life outside the Army bases.

The program is also actively constructing its own list of “approved” Native Hawaiians that can be consulted to meet various federal requirements:

Through the covenant, the Army’s cultural and natural resources representatives are leading tours of the Kahuku Training Area and Makua Military Reservation for surrounding community members.

The program is even appropriating Kanaka Maoli concepts and mining the wisdom and reputation of elders to lend support to the military’s mission:

“Right now, we’re working on a ‘hanai’ concept, where we bring our young Army families and our elderly Hawaiian aunties and uncles together for a ‘talk-story’ session. This will fill the gap for one group (of people) who miss their families, and the other group (of people) who miss the opportunity to share life-lessons they’ve learned.” 

Apparently, military personnel stationed in Hawai’i are not getting the message about malama ‘aina.   Recently, fishermen and cultural practitioners at Ka’ena Point documented drunken and destructive military offroading.    As previously reported on this site, this is a recurring problem.   We recently did an ‘Olelo television program on the problem of military off-roading and the efforts to protect Ka’ena.

Military construction is also booming.  Lend Lease company recently won an extension of its contract to construct, refurbish and manage thousands of homes for military personnel.

Lend Lease has secured approval from the US Department of the Army for a US$168m (£103m) change to the scope of its Island Palm Communities project in Hawaii.

Lend Lease will now build more larger homes than previously planned, reflecting the changing needs of military service members and their families.

Island Palm Communities, a partnership between Lend Lease and the Army, is the largest residential privatisation project ever awarded by the US Army. The partnership will develop, design and construct 5,241 new homes, renovate 2,515 existing homes, and provide property and maintenance management services through to 2054.

Lend Lease group chief executive officer and managing director Steve McCann said that the increased work scope reflected Lend Lease’s collaborative working relationship with the US Army. “We continue to work very closely with our long term partner to bring quality homes to US Army service members and their families,” he said.

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Kaua’i police seek two men for attack on navy men

According to the Honolulu Star Advertiser, Kauai police are seeking two men who allegedly punched two Navy servicemen:

Kauai police are looking for two men who left a Lihue bar at 2 a.m. Sunday and attacked two sailors.

Police said the victims, two Navy servicemen, were hospitalized after being punched in the face at Rob’s Good Times Grill.

The two sailors had been waiting for a taxi before they were assaulted in what was reportedly an unprovoked attack, police said.

“Unprovoked?” I’ll bet there’s a more complicated story.

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Kauai tourist stumbles across spent smoke grenade on beach

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that a touris on Kauʻi found a spent smoke grenade on Kealia Beach this morning.

Officers from the Kauai Police Department and an explosive specialist from the Transportation Security Administration examined the grenade and determined that it was likely spent, as indicated by its missing pin and a hole on the bottom of the canister.

The device will be used as a training aid for TSA employees.

Recently Kauaʻi has had a series of munitions washing ashore.    Are these the opala (trash) from RIMPAC last summer?

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