Posted on: Thursday, October 25, 2001
No damage from stray bullets found in Makua
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Army officials and community members examined cultural sites in Makua Valley yesterday after helicopter machine-gun bullets strayed off course Friday during the first of 16 company-sized live-fire exercises to come during the next year.
Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund attorney David Henkin, who inspected the sites with Malama Makua President Leandra Wai and William Aila, who has family ties to the Wai'anae Coast valley, said no damage was observed.
During the exercise involving about 100 soldiers, an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter mistakenly fired 50-caliber machine-gun bullets on a training area called "Elk." Community members observed the rounds trailing off into a gulch containing cultural sites. An imu, or ground oven, and several rock walls are in the vicinity, Henkin said.
An 81 mm mortar round landed off-course outside a firebreak road in tall grass the day before when the weapon was being zeroed in, and the Army did not use mortars for the remainder of the exercise.
Henkin said the Army was diligent in following up after community members observed the mistakes. But he also credited the observer effort — agreed to by the Army as part of lawsuit settlement with Malama Makua — with spotting the errors that otherwise might have gone unnoticed.
"Fortunately, the mistakes this time did not seem to cause any permanent damage, but that was more a function of luck," Henkin said.
Capt. Stacy Bathrick, a 25th Infantry Division (Light) spokeswoman, said the Army's cultural resources department spent 10 hours yesterday conducting a walk-through of seven of 11 surface cultural sites and three subsurface sites.
As a precaution, a 2-foot rock formation in the vicinity of Elk will be sandbagged before the next exercise, scheduled to start Tuesday. Some petroglyphs also have been sandbagged in the 457-acre training area, and concertina wire has been rolled out around other sites.
Bathrick said rounds from the helicopter hit more than 50 yards east of the nearest surface cultural site. The helicopter's firing position will be changed, and the mortar is being moved to provide more of a buffer between the target area and firebreak road.
