RIMPAC exercises have been assaulting Hawai’i for the past two months. The armed forces of fourteen other nations descended on Hawai’i to partake in what has been touted as the largest multinational military exercises in the world.
What has RIMPAC brought Hawai’i?
The world’s largest floating cocktail party? According to a former Marine Corps public relations contractor:
SNOOZEPAC is 38 days of too many visitors gorging themselves on foreign and U.S. naval delicacies. Air assets become personal taxis transporting their fares from vessel to vessel. (Maybe that’s how it got its rep as the world’s largest floating cocktail party.)
A bunch of guys to having a good ole time shooting up and sinking a ship off Kaua’i:
The big helicopter carrier New Orleans held out for hours as it was pummeled by at least seven Harpoon anti-ship missiles, and then was finished by deck guns from a firing squad of ships from the U.S., Japan, Australia, Canada and France.
In between, an Air Force B-52 bomber dropped a laser-guided 500-pound bomb onto the 603-foot amphibious ship.
The aircraft carrier like New Orleans rolled on its side and went down at about 6:15 p.m. Saturday about 70 miles northwest of Kauai.
The “sinkex” (sink exercise) of the decommissioned flattop during Rim of the Pacific naval exercises was as big as the ship itself, for a variety of reasons.
It’s not often that anyone in the Navy gets to fire Harpoons, which cost $1.2 million for newer versions.
Illegal off-road driving by a Marine convoy near Kahe point that got stuck in the sand. Then they lied about the reason for taking the detour.
Having the joy of being awakened by jet and helicopter noise at 2 am.
And hundreds of residents couldn’t get their garage door openers to work because of the Navy’s electromagnetic pollution.
Amphibious invasion of Waimanalo. Two years ago, the Marine amphibious landing craft got stuck on the reef for several hours. These amphibious exercises have severely damaged the reef outside of Waimanalo.
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Kaneohe residents will hear more jet noise for the next three nights
By WILLIAM COLE
POSTED: 02:42 p.m. HST, Jul 21, 2010
Kaneohe residents will hear more jet noise tonight, tomorrow night and Friday night at the Marine Corps base as Rim of the Pacific naval exercises continue, officials said.
F/A-18 Hornet fighter and attack aircraft from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., are supporting ground-unit training at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island, the Marines said.
The flights are expected to be finished between 11 p.m. and midnight over the next three nights, according to the Marines.
Janine Tully, a Kaneohe resident for 35 years, said she called the Marine Corps base to complain after jets roared by at 1 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. on Sunday and Monday.
“It’s pretty bad. The house rattles,” she said.
When she called to complain, the Marines apologized and said flights in and out of the Kaneohe Bay base are supposed to end by midnight, she said.
The noise affects residents all along the Kaneohe Bay shoreline, she said. Tully added that she understands the importance of RIMPAC for training. She also thinks the Marines could make more of an effort to inform residents and stop flying by midnight.
“It’s a given that the (RIMPAC) exercise is going to happen, but I think it would be nice for the base to make a little more effort to stick to the schedule,” Tully said.
RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime exercise and includes 14 nations, 32 ships, five submarines, more than 100 aircraft and 20,000 personnel.
For questions or concerns, contact the Marine Corps public affairs office at 257-8840.
Kaneohe residents will hear more jet noise tonight, tomorrow night and Friday night at the Marine Corps base as Rim of the Pacific naval exercises continue, officials said.
F/A-18 Hornet fighter and attack aircraft from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., are supporting ground-unit training at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island, the Marines said.
The flights are expected to be finished between 11 p.m. and midnight over the next three nights, according to the Marines.
Janine Tully, a Kaneohe resident for 35 years, said she called the Marine Corps base to complain after jets roared by at 1 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. on Sunday and Monday.
“It’s pretty bad. The house rattles,” she said.
When she called to complain, the Marines apologized and said flights in and out of the Kaneohe Bay base are supposed to end by midnight, she said.
The noise affects residents all along the Kaneohe Bay shoreline, she said. Tully added that she understands the importance of RIMPAC for training. She also thinks the Marines could make more of an effort to inform residents and stop flying by midnight.
“It’s a given that the (RIMPAC) exercise is going to happen, but I think it would be nice for the base to make a little more effort to stick to the schedule,” Tully said.
RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime exercise and includes 14 nations, 32 ships, five submarines, more than 100 aircraft and 20,000 personnel.
For questions or concerns, contact the Marine Corps public affairs office at 257-8840.
Who are they?
How wonderful it would be if the RIMPAC nations could focus on peace efforts instead of war games in a world that has no standing armies that are a threat.
There is so much that is needed in our world that could use the personnel of RIMPAC to focus on environmental, poverty clean water issues for example instead of war games