The Pentagon report released yesterday indicated that the state would lose 299 military jobs and gain one civilian position.

The only closures recommended were on the Big Island — where the commission proposes closing the Army Reserve Center in Hilo and the Hawai'i National Guard armories in Kea'au and Honoka'a — and at a supply storage center at Pearl Harbor, where one job would be lost.

The Pentagon said it looked at closing either the Pearl Harbor shipyard or the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine. Portsmouth was selected because that decision would leave a shipyard on each coast capable of overhauling and maintaining nuclear powered ships and submarines, the commission said.

Many local military and business leaders felt Hawai'i's strategic location would spare it from cuts.

"We didn't have the angst that many of my counterparts did across the country," said Jim Tollefson, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i.

"I have talked to other chambers of commerce who were very concerned. They have been gearing up for this for some time and they have been paying big-time consultants and lobbyists to see what they could do to save their base."

Hawai'i spent nothing, he said.

Yesterday's announcement is the first phase of a months-long review and approval process, said Charlie Ota, the chamber's vice president for military affairs. For all its numbers and tradeoffs, the document contains an element of mystery and local commanders will anxiously be awaiting detailed explanations, he said.

"The details aren't there, so you really don't know," Ota said. It will take "weeks and weeks and weeks of work" before the true impact is known, Ota said.

None of Hawai'i's major military bases were targeted for closure as the Defense Department recommended shuttering 33 major bases and realigning 29 more to save nearly $50 billion over the next two decades.

The report said a combination of job gains and losses would result in a net loss of 29 military and a gain of 111 civilian jobs at Pearl Harbor and a net loss of 262 military and civilian jobs at Hickam Air Force Base.

While the recommendations trim jobs, they do not take into account the increase in military strength already under way in Hawai'i. That includes the additional 800 soldiers needed for the new Army Stryker brigade at Schofield Barracks or the new C-17 aircraft squadron slated for Hickam early next year.

The Big Island recommendation calls for moving soldiers from the Reserve center in Hilo and the two Guard armories to a new joint military center at the Keaukaha Military Complex near the Hilo airport. The $59 million center is already being planned and the state Legislature just allocated $300,000 for its design in the upcoming fiscal year.

Officials said the armories, built in the 1950s, would have required $17.4 million in renovations to modernize.

Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, head of the Hawai'i National Guard, was up at 4 a.m. yesterday reading the recommendations, which had been such a closely guarded secret, he did not see them until an hour before they were made public.

Hours later, Lee was still trying to understand the human component of the reduction — a loss of 118 jobs — because yesterday's announcement offered no explanation other than a number. The Guard soldiers assigned to the armories are serving in Iraq as part of the 29th Brigade Combat Team.

"We're still trying to figure that out," said Lee. "It's smoke and mirrors. I think we'll hear back by Monday."

Brig. Gen. Peter Pawling, commander of the Hawai'i Air National Guard, had similar questions. The wing will get 194 new personnel — pilots and maintenance workers for four KC-135R Stratotankers — but Pawling doesn't know where they're coming from.

"All I know is it is not a loss," Pawling said. "It's a potential gain for our unit."

The Air Force said basing more air-to-air refueling jets at Hickam would allow a bigger and more active unit and create a working relationship between active-duty and reserve components..

Hickam also would lose its Air Force Logistics Support Center.

Another change is to move Hickam's installation management to Naval Station Pearl Harbor as a consolidation move for greater efficiency.

Recommendations for Navy facilities at Pearl Harbor would mean a net gain of 82 military and civilian jobs.

The station's Civilian Personnel OfficeiPacific in Honolulu would be moved to the Human Resource Service CenteriNorthwest in Silverdale, Wash., as a recommended consolidation move.

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service site at Ford Island also would be closed and its function moved to the Mainland as part of a major consolidation, the recommendations said. It would mean the loss of 206 jobs at the Ford Island facility.

Closing Portsmouth and shifting work to the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard could hurt Hawai'i, said an official with the union that represents some of the facility's 4,000 workers.

Ben Toyama, vice president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, said Portsmouth and Pearl Harbor shared the workload that neither facility had the ability to do alone.

He said 1,500 jobs also appear headed for Naval Shipyard Norfolk, Va., which already has 9,000 workers. An increase like that "would just suck the jobs out of Hawai'i," Toyama said yesterday from Washington, D.C., where he was meeting with union representatives from Portsmouth.

"That could create problems for our workload situation," he said. "We don't know how this will shake out."

Toyama saw no silver lining in the potential for more work unless the Navy increases the number of workers at the shipyard.

"We would need the expertise and the warm bodies," he said. "The increase in workload would mean increases in work force and we have not seen that."

The commander of the shipyard at Pearl Harbor, Capt. Frank Camelio, stressed yesterday that no jobs were being lost. He could not say if any would be added.

Camelio said that adding workers would be determined by the Navy "based on maintenance needs and capability." But he said yesterday's recommendations do not support the union's fears.

"The ... report indicates otherwise," he said. "If adopted, a portion of Portsmouth's workload would be sent to Pearl Harbor."

Hawai'i's congressional delegation said the recommendations affirmed long-held beliefs in the state's strategic location and its commitment to the military.

"Overall, the state is very fortunate that the military has taken into serious consideration the strategic importance of Hawai'i because some of the more serious trouble spots are in the Asia-

Pacific area," said Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Hawai'i's military presence will remain relatively stable if these recommendations are adopted. The light touch by the commission showed that the congressional delegation was able to make a good case for the state in the last two years, he said.

"This approach has resulted in a military infrastructure that justifies itself in terms of the national security interests of the United States," Abercrombie said.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he supports this round of base closings and realignments to gain greater efficiency and capabilities to face the challenges and potential threats of the future.

Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, said the commission recognized the widespread community support for the military. "We also offer a superior quality of life for our troops and families and demonstrated community support."