Hawai'i troops work as one
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| A jump master signals Marine and Navy paratroopers aboard a Hawai'i Air National Guard C-130 transport plane high above Wahiawa. Joint training is nothing new for Island-based service members.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser |
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Two by two, the paratroopers in camouflage stood in the open doorway of the C-130 transport, waiting for the green light signaling it was OK to jump, and disappearing not down but sideways in the rush of air as they launched themselves into the night.
Lighted baseball diamonds shone bright 1,000 feet below, and Wahiawa streetlights defined homes and yards as the propeller-driven Hercules crossed Wheeler Army Airfield and the H-2 Freeway before banking toward the Schofield Barracks East Range for the "Lightning" drop zone.
It was a well-oiled operation from start to finish considering its disparate and traditionally non-fitting parts.
Jumping from the Hawai'i Air National Guard C-130 were five Marines and a Navy corpsman. Keeping an eye on the paratroopers from the ground were Army soldiers with night-vision goggles.
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"There you go, we're purple," said a Marine gunnery sergeant, referring to the military term for the blending of service colors.
Guard members Maj. Woody Woodrow, Maj. Charles Anthony and Capt. Kathy Higgins are briefed by Marine jump masters.
These days, those color are getting blended like never before, with budget and operational requirements for "jointness" eclipsing each service's traditional — and loyal — protection of its own.
In Afghanistan, Marine helicopters retrieved the wreckage of a crashed Army chopper. Army Special Forces — on horseback — called in air strikes by Air Force bombers.
Marine Harrier jets flew off the decks of Navy carriers in the Arabian Sea, and Army Rangers and other specialists were dropped in by helicopter with other air support — including that of a Navy P-3 Orion from Hawai'i flying surveillance far above.
Military analysts say the war in Afghanistan demonstrates the effectiveness of forces teaming together and may speed the transformation of the U.S. military to a force better suited to missions more diverse than those faced during the Cold War.
"In the last few years, the mantra out of the Pentagon has been 'joint, joint, joint,' " said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Don Shepperd in a report for CNN two weeks after the start of the war. "If you aren't 'joint,' you aren't anything. If it isn't joint, whether it's equipment or an exercise, it doesn't get funded."
Military forces in Hawai'i and the Pacific like the Air Guard, meanwhile, already have a jump on jointness.
"The Hawai'i Guard probably does more joint training than any other Guard unit in the country," said spokesman Maj. Chuck Anthony. "We do things with the Marines. We've done things with the (Navy) SEALs. I challenge any other Guard unit in the country to say they do as much joint training as the Hawai'i Air Guard does."
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Part of the reason has to do with assets, and part with geography.
Hawai'i Air National Guard pilots Woody Woodrow, left, and Kimo Lowe review mission plans before takeoff. Marines had nothing but praise for the Guard pilots, saying the aviators "know exactly where they are taking us." in Wahiawa.
The 18 F-15 A/B fighters, nine KC-135R Stratotankers and five C-130 Hercules of the Air Guard's 154th Wing at Hickam Air Force Base represent most of the aircraft Pacific Air Forces has to call upon. The C-130s are part of the 204th Airlift Squadron.
"So if PACAF has a tasking in this theater, they come to us," Anthony said. "If the Marines need an airlift from O'ahu to Pohakuloa (Training Area on the Big Island), the 204th is right here."
During a large annual training exercise in July, Army National Guard helicopters flew 25th Infantry Division (Light) soldiers from O'ahu to Kaua'i.
"Very few other states do that kind of stuff. Very few other National Guard units get involved with joint training on that kind of level," Anthony said. "I think we have a different culture or climate here in Hawai'i — we're in close proximity, and over the years, we've built up close ties with the active components."
Ralph Cossa, who served as executive officer, deputy executive officer and chief of strategic planning for a succession of Pacific commanders in chief in the 1980s and early 1990s, said Hawai'i is the "epitome" of jointness.
"It's probably easier to maintain a joint outlook in Hawai'i than in most other joint commands because you've got all the component commands (in close proximity)," said Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies in Honolulu.
Cossa said jointness in the military is not a new phenomenon, but succeeding administrations often discover anew a greater need for it.
Hawai'i has benefited from a series of outstanding leaders, Cossa said, among them Adm. Dennis Blair, commander in chief of Pacific forces, whom he credits with "a great deal of vision" in seeing the importance of joint training.
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Marcus Corbin, a senior analyst with the Center for Defense Information in Washington D.C., and an expert on military transformation and strategy, said "there's no question the services are trying to think about how to do things jointly."
Jump masters use hand signals and shout to communicate with paratroopers over the noise of the aircraft's engines.
"I think jointness is the buzzword of the day," he said. "Given constrained funds in the national budget, joint programs tend to have a leg up."
Past service rivalries have led to problems like combat units not being able to communicate on the battlefield because of radio incompatibilities.
In Hawai'i, soldiers from the 25th Aviation Regiment in late November practiced helicopter landings aboard the USNS Yukon off Waikiki.
Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, exercises in 2000 that were both joint and "combined" with the forces of other nations, involved multiple services and thousands of military personnel from 10 countries. RIMPAC is one of many combined exercises Hawai'i-based forces take part in each year.
Marine Corps Base Hawai'i at Kane'ohe itself is an example of jointness, with Navy components like three squadrons of P-3 Orion sub hunters and a squadron of EP-3 surveillance aircraft stationed there.
The Marine Aviation Logistics Support Element Kane'ohe, which provides airfield logistical support, is made up of sailors and Marines who live in the same barracks.
"When we talk to Washington, it's a great thing to say we're working under one umbrella," said base media officer 1st Lt. Kent Robbins.
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| Paratroopers take advantage of some quiet time before boarding the aircraft for their night jump over the Schofield Barracks' East Range in Wahiawa.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Part of an all-volunteer unit preparing for deployment on a special operations-capable Marine Expeditionary Unit, the Marine paratroopers hitch rides on Hawai'i Air Guard C-130s six to seven times a year, and on C-130s and C-141s from Air Guard and Reserve units flying into Hawai'i as often as they can. The unit also does helicopter drops.
As the C-130 circled at 130 knots for each of the three drops, pairs of soldiers were given hand signals and the command of "stand up" shouted over the noise of the engines inside the cavernous aircraft. All had green glow sticks fixed to the back of their helmets to aid Army spotters looking for them.
Commands of "one minute," "30 seconds," and "stand by" followed — with the soldiers repeating the order — before they were out the aircraft's side door, their static lines trailing after them.
"Parachuting is probably one of the most inherently dangerous things we do in the military, and we put a lot of trust in the air crew that they will let us off in the right place at the right time," said Sean, a chief warrant officer and platoon commander of 54 Marines undergoing the specialized training.
The Marine asked that his last name not be used for security reasons.
Hawai'i National Guard pilots have the East Range flight route down cold — something that can't be said about other units. Most drops are on target, an 800-foot by 1,300-foot landing zone less than a mile from Wahiawa. But paratroopers occasionally come down in trees, and on one Super Bowl Sunday — atop a rooftop antenna, knocking out reception.
"Nothing scares me more than coming up to the pilot (from an outside unit) and showing him the drop zone and him more or less asking me how he's going to get his aircraft there," said David, a gunnery sergeant and training chief for the Marine unit. "These guys (the Hawai'i Air Guard pilots) know exactly where they are taking us. They know where the winds are coming from because they fly out of this area a lot more."
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
