Halt to Makua exercise cuts off 'realistic training,' Army says
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Military officials are reviewing a judge's order to halt a live-fire exercise that had been planned for later this week in Makua Valley, an Army spokesman said yesterday.
"The Army is disappointed with the court's decision to prevent Marines from conducting live fire training in the Makua Military Reservation," Army spokesman Troy Griffin said in a written statement issued yesterday.
A hearing is set for April 19 to determine if the restraining order should be continued. The exercise was to have involved about 100 Marines from the 3rd Marine Regiment. Their plan was to train with platoon-sized groups using a variety of weapons, including 60 mm mortars.
"Our troops' first exposure to live fire must not come as they land on a hostile beach or battlefield in combat," Griffin wrote. "Our men and women in uniform must train as they fight, under realistic battle conditions. Makua Military Reservation has been set aside specifically for realistic training, and must be available for this purpose."
Griffin was responding to a temporary restraining order issued Friday by U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway after the group Malama Makua argued that the training would be a fire hazard to endangered species in the area.
The judge agreed that the exercise would be hazardous, citing Marine plans to fire a high number of 60 mm mortars and pointing to a long history of fires in the area. Makua Valley has burned repeatedly in recent years, blazes caused mostly by the use of mortars and prescribed burns.
The Army temporarily suspended training in Makua in 1998 after a series of fires, including an 800-acre blaze that was touched off by a misfired motar during a Marine live-fire exercise. Last July, a prescribed burn to rid the area of unexploded ordnance burned out of control, blackening 2,500 acres.
Griffin said the Army and Marines are committed to good stewardship of the environment.
"The 25th Infantry Division and the Marines both have enviable records of protecting the environment while simultaneously conducting realistic training in Hawai'i," he wrote.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
