Attention of the world on military hub of the Pacific
| • | Navy flight crew begins debriefing |
| • | Honors will go to seven victims of Vietnam copter crash |
| • | Greeneville court of inquiry to submit report today |
By Yasmin Anwar
Advertiser Staff Writer
As far as military and the media are concerned, the Aloha State has been hogging the international spotlight lately, starting when the USS Greeneville rammed a Japanese fisheries training vessel Feb. 9.
Today, for the second day in a row, Hickam Air Force Base is the focus of international media attention as military officials await the arrival of the bodies of seven servicemen killed last week in a helicopter crash in Vietnam.
Yesterday, the base was the site of a jubilant arrival ceremony for the crew of an American surveillance plane held for 12 days in China.
Some call Hawai'i the Geneva of the Pacific; others call it the international Greyhound station for military dropoffs.
And the recent catastrophes such as the sinking of the Ehime Maru, the
Feb. 12 crash of two Army Black Hawk helicopters near Kahuku that killed six soldiers, the fatal Vietnam crash and the protracted international incident over the April 1 midair collision over the South China Sea have drawn attention to the strategic importance of this island state.
"When large, significant events happen, the world is reminded of Hawai'i's strategic importance," said Richard Baker, a senior fellow at the East-West Center at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, who specializes in international relations and Asia Pacific regionalism.
After tourism, the military is Hawai'i's second-largest industry.
As for military spending, it doesn't hurt that Democratic Sen. Dan Inouye is a heavyweight on the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee.
The state is the Pacific headquarters for the Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy, as well as the Pacific Command, or CINCPAC, that oversees all U.S. military activity over more than half the globe.
It also is home to the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, which is charged with identifying and recovering the remains of Americans killed in the Vietnam War, and the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam, which formally will identify the remains of the service personnel returned to Hawai'i today.
"We are the hub of activity of what goes on militarily in the Pacific region, said retired Marine Lt. General H.C. Stackpole, president of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Waikiki.
Financed by CINCPAC, the center brings together leading military and civilian officials for 12-week sessions aimed at improving communications between countries, especially during times of potential crisis.
Yesterday, the center graduated 65 people from 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including two officials from China's foreign ministry.
