Posted on: Monday, July 1, 2002

Posh Schofield barracks honor old hero Joe Collins

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

A memorial at the new Lightning Towers housing complex at Schofield Barracks was recently dedicated in honor of Gen. "Lightning Joe" Collins, a former 25th Division commanding general and Army chief of staff. Bruce Asato •NT> The Honolulu Advertiser

WAHIAWA — The game and TV room in the new barracks for single enlisted soldiers at Schofield Barracks has a nice pool table, ping-pong table, a couple of foosball tables and a big-screen television in the corner — but no people.

"I've seen up to six to eight people in here before," said Sgt. Maj. Franklin G. Ashe, command sergeant major for the 2nd Brigade.

"In the old days, there'd be 70 to 80 of them watching Saturday Night Live," he said. "Now, you'd be lucky if you find two."

These days, soldiers at Lightning Joe Collins Towers — the newest barracks at Schofield — have cable and big-screen TVs in their rooms, along with personal computers, couches and their own kitchenette and bathroom.

"It's definitely not your father's barracks — or my old barracks, either," said Ashe, who has been in the Army 27 years.

Ol' Lightning Joe probably would have been proud.

Last Monday, the 25th Infantry Division (Light), named the 19-building,

$150 million complex after Collins, who came to Hawai'i to reorganize its defenses after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

As commander of the 25th Division on Guadalcanal, Collins earned the nickname "Lightning Joe" for his aggressive pursuit of the enemy. He later rose to Army chief of staff during the Korean War.

Collins, who succeeded in securing needed money and manpower for the Army and worked to provide adequate training and supplies for U.S. troops during the last two years of the Korean War, died in Washington, D.C., in 1987.

"Joe was always, always interested in the welfare of his soldiers," retired Gen. Fred C. Weyand, himself a former 25th Division commander and Army chief of staff, said at the dedication and unveiling of a monument to Collins.

"I think the progress that we've made in recent years in raising the quality of life commensurate somewhat with the sacrifice and the missions that we send our people on is so noteworthy," Weyand said.

The 19 buildings at Lightning Towers include a dining facility, three community centers, five barracks buildings, a battalion headquarters and company operations building.

Part of the $831 million Whole Barracks Renewal Program to renovate or build new barracks for single soldiers over 14 years, Lightning Towers was started in 1995.

The first building was finished in 1998, and the last facility in January.

Some soldiers with Col. Andrew Twomey's 2nd Brigade, which was assigned the housing, moved in as recently as February.

The 2nd Brigade was picked for transformation to a fast-strike component that will be equipped with 380 Stryker armored vehicles that have eight big tires instead of tank treads and can do 60 mph on the highway.

The vast majority of soldiers living in the barracks are junior enlisted people, but a few noncommissioned officers live there as well to provide leadership and supervision.

Modules are occupied by two soldiers, each with their own locking bedroom, along with a shared kitchenette and bath. Rooms are air-conditioned, and community buildings have washers, dryers and a kitchen area in addition to the TV and game room.

The dining room has wooden-backed chairs and tables that seat four instead of the old long row tables, and each table has a vase of silk flowers.

Spc. Robert Burrell, 20, who fit a couch and TV entertainment center into his room, said the new housing "is a lot more quiet."

He's familiar with the older "quad" housing at Schofield, and "this place is a lot nicer."

Across the hall, Sgt. Jason Noyce has a bedroom, and a couch, chair, table, computer stand and 32-inch TV in the second bedroom he has to himself because of his higher rank.

"I like most that we've got more room in here — you've got a little bit of privacy," Noyce said.

For Ashe, it's a big change from what he remembers of his barracks days.

"The first unit I was in, the 1-21 at Fort Stewart, Ga. — my platoon lived in an open bay and we had bunk beds," Ashe said. "When you looked down you could see the whole barracks."

The latrines were several hundred yards away.

Under a barracks revamp program, $9 billion is being spent Armywide to convert or build new barracks by 2008 in the "one-plus-one" model at Lightning Towers.

The new barracks can house 982 soldiers. Most other single enlisted soldiers live in quads at Schofield.

The three-story quads, so-called because four buildings surround a courtyard, were built before World War II.

The quads house up to four soldiers per room and include college dorm-style showers with six to eight stalls.

But the Army is improving life in the quads as well.

Quads I, J and K will be torn down and replaced with new buildings, said Alan Goo, deputy director of public works for U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii.

Quads B, C, D, E, and F will be renovated on the inside to the new "one-plus-one" standard, Goo said.

Congressman Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, on Friday announced that the 2003 Military Construction bill passed by the House includes $49 million for renovation of a Capron Avenue barracks complex and $42 million for Quad C.

Lightning Towers shows how times are changing.

"These are beautiful — these are apartments," Ashe said. "I will just say the sun has finally come up."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser. com or 525-5459.