Military

DATE=1/16/04

TYPE=English Feature

NUMBER=7-38250

TITLE=HAWAII'S COMBAT TRAINING AREA

BYLINE=Robin Rupli

TELEPHONE=401-7430

DATELINE=Big Island, Hawaii

EDITOR=Rob Sivak

CONTENT=

INTRO: The "Big Island" of Hawaii -- the largest island in the Pacific Ocean chain that is America's 50th state -is well known to tourists for its magnificent volcanoes, black sand beaches and delicious Kona coffee. Less well known is that the Big Island has also been home for more than sixty years to a major U.S. military facility. . VOA's Robin Rupli paid a visit to the Pohakuloa (po-HAHK-u-LOW-ah) Training Area in a forbidding and fragile landscape some Hawaiians fear may be at risk:

TAPE: SFX OF GUNFIRE

TEXT: It is the largest live-fire military training area in the Pacific. Nestled between the volcanic mountains of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea in the center of Hawaii's Big Island, Pohakuloa's remoteness makes it an ideal training ground for military exercises. Army Captain Rick Smith, commander of the Area's firing battery, says that with its 4400 hectares of mostly flat, rocky and uninhabited land, Pohakuloa provides a good testing ground for the troops of the 25th Infantry Division currently training there for deployment to Afghanistan:

TAPE: SFX: GUNFIRE

TAPE: SMITH: :33

"(OPT) This is a 105 millimeter Halitzer firing battery. I have six of them. I have one fire direction Centra and I have two ammo trucks and this is everything we need to put rounds down range to support the infantry and maneuver men on the ground. (END OPT) We're hoping this does replicate somewhat the conditions we'll have to be in when we get over to Afghanistan. Because pretty much the Pohakuloa Training Area - there's nothing here except lava and dust."

TEXT: And because its Hawaiian mountain perch is 2000 meters above sea level, temperatures at the training area often dip to the freezing mark . . altogether, not your picture-postcard Hawaiian environment. Looking across the seemingly endless black lava rock and mud, and with wind whipping across his face, Army Staff Sargent David Noel noted the strange, almost surreal landscape.

TAPE: NOEL/RR :54

RR: Alright, here we are in Hawaii . . .(BOTH LAUGH). Is this what you expected when you were told you'd be sent to Hawaii?

"This is my second time here, so I'm used to the Big Island and all the cold weather and seeing all the lava rocks. But a lot of my troops, this is the first time they've ever been here and they had no idea that Hawaii could be this cold (laughs). . .

(OPT) RR: What is the work like for you is it very stressful?

DN: "Not stressful, I would say more challenging than anything else. Because we always have new soldiers that are coming to this field, not really knowing what to expect. So I try to each them how to deal with the stress, deal with the field environment, deal with the cold and nature which can be very cruel to us at times."

TEXT: Pohakuloa has been at the center of controversy in recent months. The Army plans to spend about $234 million over the next decade to modernize and expand the training area. This includes purchasing a 10,000 hectare parcel of land from an adjacent private ranch and acquiring 300 new Stryker combat transport vehicles. Big Island residents like rancher Gary Reposo are concerned about the damage these 18-thousand kilogram trucks might do to the island's unique environment -- and local land values.

TAPE: REPOSO :54

"It's a very windy area, it's very dry. Pohakuloa is located in a bowl between the mountains. So the wind comes down through those mountains and blows down toward the community of Waikaloa. And what will happen with the Strykers in there or any activity when it's dry, the dust up there is like powder. The wind will pick it up and blow it down toward the community. And it may create health problems. (OPT) There are times when we've had a fire where the top soil will blow and you can have a hard time crossing the highway because of dust that makes visibility very poor." (END OPT)

RR: Right now, this is just in the proposal stages. Do you think the deal is going to go through?

GP: "I think it probably already has. And we're just going through a formality of hearings and trying to see what the people have to say."

TEXT: But officials the Pohakuloa Training Area are quick to point out that the area is a designated conservation district. By law, the Army must take steps to protect all endangered plants and animals there. So in addition to the thousands of troops moving through the facility, the Pohakuloa Training Area or P-T-A - houses a permanent staff of botanists, biologists, archeologists and cultural historians. These specialists work with the military to minimize the impact of live-fire training on the natural habitat and the surrounding communities. Pohakuloa Training Area commanding officer, Lt. Colonel Fred Clarke meets regularly with community leaders to discuss how military activities might be affecting them.

TAPE: CLARKE :33

"We have a cultural activity committee that advises me at P-T-A and they're very vocal in giving us their opinion on how this is affecting the communities and what we can do to mitigate any bad effects. There is no plan to expand impact areas at P-T-A. Any expansion of P-T-A lands would be used in order to train the new Stryker brigades on maneuvers only. We would not be firing anywhere outside of the existing impact area."

TAPE: SFX OF TRAINING/AMBIANCE ESTABLISH IN FULL UNDER AND HOLD, BRING UP AT CONCLUSION

TEXT: Back at the firing range, trainees at the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division appear less concerned with such matters. They are focused instead on the job at hand practicing for the kind of live combat they are likely to experience when they're deployed to Afghanistan.

This is ________ at the Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii's Big Island.

VOA/rr/rms