Posted on: Saturday, May 21, 2005
Shafter may gain troops in reshuffle
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
The Army's chief of staff said some 25,000 soldiers will be transferred from overseas installations to bases including Fort Shafter on O'ahu, Fort Bliss in Texas and Fort Lewis in Washington state.
How many of those soldiers would come to Hawai'i is unclear, but officials in Washington, D.C., raised the possibility that a deployable Corps headquarters cobbled from elements in Europe could be coming here.
Corps usually comprise two or more divisions and are led by a three-star general. As a rough comparison, the possible move of the I Corps headquarters from Fort Lewis to Japan would involve an estimated 700 soldiers, according to the News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash.
The transfer of soldiers to Fort Shafter is part of Pentagon plans to withdraw an estimated 70,000 troops and 100,000 family members from overseas posts, mainly in Germany and South Korea.
Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, said in testimony Wednesday before the Base Realignment and Closure Commission that the Army's portion of the 70,000 troops to be re-based is 47,000, the Army News Service reported.
Schoomaker said about 25,000 of those returned from overseas posts would be distributed to installations like Fort Bliss, Fort Lewis and Fort Shafter, the Army News said.
Army officials here referred questions to the Department of the Army in Washington, which did not respond to a call for comment yesterday on the Hawai'i plan.
Word of the redeployment's possible impact on Fort Shafter had not filtered back to local sources yesterday.
Charlie Ota, vice president for military affairs with the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i, said he had not heard about a possible troop shift to Fort Shafter.
"You don't have any combat troops on Fort Shafter. Everyone's at Schofield in terms of combat soldiers," Ota said. "They don't have the room. When you talk about putting combat troops, there's no room and Schofield is rapidly filling up, too."
The Pentagon has two basing studies under way that are separate but related. One is a plan for repositioning U.S. forces abroad that calls for abandoning some bases, and establishing less-permanent basing arrangements in some countries.
The other, a proposal for nationwide base closings released May 13, spared Hawai'i's military community any big cuts and reinforced the state's strategic importance to national defense. The Pentagon report indicated that the state would lose 299 military jobs and gain one civilian position.
Hawai'i is seeing a military buildup with a new Army Stryker brigade of 300 armored vehicles, eight C-17 cargo aircraft coming to Hickam Air Force Base, and the possibility of an aircraft carrier strike group being based here.
The two basing plans are related because of the need to accommodate the 70,000 troops and their families leaving Europe and Asia at the same time the Pentagon is eliminating some domestic bases and realigning others.
According to a Web site for soldiers transferring to Hawai'i, Fort Shafter is headquarters for U.S. Army Pacific, the senior Army headquarters for the Pacific region, and has 1,290 active-duty personnel, 1,010 family members and 700 civilian workers. The Army Corps of Engineers also is at Fort Shafter.
Opened in 1907, Fort Shafter was named after Maj. Gen. William R. Shafter, a commander in the Spanish-American War, and is the oldest Army post on O'ahu.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
