Posted on: Tuesday, April 16, 2002

EDITORIAL
Pacific commands are vital to our back yard

Advertiser Military Writer William Cole last week reported on a preliminary Pentagon reorganization plan that could substantially impact a number of well-established and familiar military commands in Hawai'i.

Essentially, the proposal is to consolidate a number of individual service commands (and the bureaucracies that support them) into fewer and perhaps more focused unified commands.

The effort could see the end of the Pacific Fleet, Marine Forces Pacific, U.S. Army Pacific and Air Forces Pacific commands.

Now, this hardly means that there would no longer be sailors, Marines, soldiers and Air Force personnel stationed in the Islands. But they might not report to headquarters based here. Close to 4,000 headquarters positions could be affected.

It is clear that the Feb. 21 report is, at this point, little more than a discussion paper designed to get people thinking about different forms of organization. In that, it might be valuable.

But this is not the first time suggestions have been made that Hawai'i-based commands or units could be relocated without harm to Pacific readiness or mission focus. On paper, that might be so. But the location of these various commands in the Islands, with the eyes turned very much to the Pacific and Asia beyond, has benefits that cannot be easily identified on organizational charts.

The units and commands that are assigned Pacific arena responsibilities develop an expertise in the region. They develop relationships with military commanders from other countries and develop understanding and sensitivity to social, cultural and economic issues that directly affect their mission.

These sophisticated advantages cannot easily be replaced. Surely, if the various Pacific commands were replaced by a unified organization somewhere on the Mainland, there would be orders to maintain high levels of interest in and understanding of the region. But it would be inevitable that an out-of-sight, out-of-mind mindset would begin to develop.

If, in the interests of cost-cutting and efficiency, Hawai'i must give up some of its share of America's global military presence, then so be it. We are not entitled to these units simply because they have been here.

But as this kind of planning goes forward, it is crucial that our congressional delegation, backed by local political and business leaders, insist that the complete value of a Pacific-focused military force be taken thoroughly into account.