Island Voices
Let's not rush to judgment on crash

By Brian D. Bott
Big Island resident

I would like to publicly join in the expressions of regret regarding the unfortunate accidental loss of life due to the sinking of the Ehime Maru.

The matter will be thoroughly investigated, recommendations will be made and the captain will understand his duty to fall on his sword.

The purpose of this letter is to request we collectively make haste slowly about the prudence of allowing civilians on submarines or allowing us to interact with our military in general.

We could have just as easily been reading about some high school ROTC kids killed in the Black Hawk crashes. Life is dangerous, some lifestyles more so than others.

The Ehime Maru students may have lived long and happy lives, but as blue-water fishermen, they had a better chance of not doing so than, say, an actuary in some windowless third-story office in Mapunapuna.

Our submariners know they could just as easily have been Russian sailors, writing their goodbye letters in the dark, betting on whether they would freeze to death before they succumbed to carbon dioxide poisoning.

On several occasions, in Hawai‘i and overseas, I have been able to bring children aboard submarines for "gee whiz" trips. The Navy was in every case impressive, inspiring and attentive to safety.

I have been in the commercial construction business since I was a teenager (which predates submarines) and we have what seems like more than our fair share of accidents. The Kansas City Skywalk and the Connecticut lift-slab accidents were horrific for us as an industry, just as the Ehime Maru and the Black Hawks are.

What our military has, which my line of work needs, is a system in place to very thoroughly investigate the matter, make recommendations (including the National Transportation Safety Board’s earlier one about the active sonar) and implement them.

This will take time, and it would be appreciated by the professionals conducting the investigations that this paper take a public stand urging us to avoid rushing to judgment or curtailing the interaction between our military and the people it serves.

I for one want to be confident that I can write to a free and independent press expressing any opinion that I want and that people like Cmdr. Scott Waddle are willing to give up their lives to ensure that freedom.

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