Army resumes training in Makua Valley exercises
By William Cole
Advertiser Staff Writer
With two Kiowa Warrior OH-58D helicopters hovering above green and gold hills, Schofield Barracks soldiers trained for the first time in more than three years today in Makua Valley.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
It was not the blank-fire exercises that had been planned because winds were blowing at 10 mph, increasing the risk of fire.
Army Spc. Thomas Golden of 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Division, aims his M-249 rifle at targets simulating the enemy during field exercises in Makua Valley today. Members of Malama Makua, a community group that opposes Army training in the valley, watch in the background.
If conditions allow, the Army will conduct blank-fire exercises tomorrow and live-fire exercises tomorrow or Friday.
At about 6:45 a.m., roughly 100 soldiers from the 2nd Brigade at Schofield maneuvered up a gulch in the valley, taking the first of several enemy objectives.
The exercises concluded at about 10:30 a.m.
Once live-fire resumes in the valley, the Army plans to use105 mm howitzers and 81 mm and 60 mm mortars as well as Kiowa Warrior helicopters firing .50-calibre guns.
The return to Makua follows an Oct. 4 settlement of a lawsuit brought by community group Malama Makua that asked for a comprehensive environmental impact statement analysis of more than 50 years of live-fire exercises in the valley that many Hawaiians hold sacred.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Army can conduct 16 company-size live-fire exercises over the next year, followed by nine the following year and 12 in the third year of the agreement.
