Hawai'i brigade to add 480 soldiers
| • | Island Voices: Army is changing its future |
|
|
Previous story: Hawai'i picked for Army's rapid-strike strategy |
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Affairs Writer
A new fast-responding Army "interim brigade" at Schofield Barracks will mean an increase of 480 soldiers and 435 additional vehicles — 300 of which will be 19-ton armored troop carriers.
The Army yesterday announced that Hawai'i is one of four states that will be getting the new brigades, based around the eight-wheeled, armored vehicles that can speed troops to the battlefield and revolutionize the way soldiers train and fight. The military expects to spend $1 billion to convert each brigade.
The 2nd Brigade of the 25th Division, with 2,900 soldiers, will undergo the transformation. The additional 480 soldiers are expected to round out the brigade.
About 17,000 soldiers overall make up the 25th Division and U.S. Army, Hawai'i.
Brigades in Alaska, Pennsylvania and Louisiana were also selected for the transformation. Fort Lewis in Washington state was picked in 1999 for the first two brigades; training with the similar armored vehicles, on loan from Canada, is under way there.
The selection of Hawai'i for one of the new Interim Brigade Combat Teams is in line with a post-Cold War defense strategy emphasizing speed and a focus on emerging threats in the Asia and the Pacific, such as China and North Korea.
"This proposal shows our senior Army leaders' emphasis on U.S. formations in Alaska and Hawai'i, in terms of strategic locations, training opportunities and supportive communities at home stations," said Lt. Gen. Ed Smith, commander of the U.S. Army Pacific.
Army's transformation
The selection cements the future of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) as the Army chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, proceeds with a far-reaching transformation of the service to make it a more relevant fighting force in the 21st century.
However, few changes are expected in the short term.
"This is not going to happen tomorrow," cautioned Chuck Muston, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Pacific, adding that armored vehicles will not come to Hawai'i for several years.
Interim brigades at Fort Lewis are expected to complete transformation to the brigade configuration by 2004. After that, the Army plans to bring in armored vehicles for the four additional brigades within three years.
Lt. Col. Michael Negard, transformation public affairs officer at Fort Lewis, said the reorganization means taking a brigade with three maneuver battalions and 18 Humvees and equipping it with hundreds of armored vehicles.
"That's a significant change," he said. "You're increasing mobility, firepower and survivability."
The "interim" force is expected to be reconfigured in 2008 or 2010 to center on weaponry now being developed.
In the meantime, the plan raises questions here about training and maneuvers and to what degree it will be accepted by a community still at odds over past live-fire training in Makua Valley and recent attempts to resume training there.
U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway has yet to rule on a request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Army's return to Makua for traditional training.
David Henkin, an attorney for the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, said that if the Army wants to train with the troop carriers at Makua, an environmental impact statement would have to be completed — something the Army to date has been unwilling to do because of the several millions it would cost and several years it would take to complete.
Environmental concerns
But Henkin said there are other environmental questions with the new plan.
"Three hundred vehicles jamming up highways certainly raises the possibility of some significant impacts on the human environment," he said.
Whether Makua would be suitable for training with the armored vehicles, each of which carries two crew members and nine soldiers, remains a question mark.
Muston said the Army would try to avoid traveling on public roads, and will use training area vehicle trails to the degree possible.
Although members of Hawai'i's congressional delegation have said some of the vehicles could be based on O'ahu and others on the Big Island, Muston could say only that training likely would take place in several locations, now under study.
The Army is expected to complete a programwide environmental impact statement on the brigade transformations this fall. After this is issued, a site-specific environmental review will be conducted in Hawai'i.
