Wahiawa glad Strykers returning
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Wahiawa businessman Lance McLain expects to see a sizeable bump in activity at his Dragon Tattoo shop when 4,000 soldiers with the Army's Stryker Brigade Combat Team return to their permanent base at Schofield Barracks early next year.
"I can't wait for them to get back," McLain said. "Any additional military people here definitely contributes to the economic health of the community here in Wahiawa."
The soldiers are now deployed in Iraq and could have come home to new headquarters in Fort Richardson in Alaska or Fort Carson in Colorado.
Instead, the Army yesterday announced that it has completed an environmental impact statement that identifies Hawai'i as the preferred site for the 2/25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team and 328 of their eight-wheeled Stryker vehicles.
Army customers make up 90 percent of Shirley Brasher's business at the Boston's North End Pizza store she owns across from Schofield Barracks.
When the 2/25 deployed to Iraq in November and December, sales suddenly plummeted by 50 percent as the soldiers shipped out and many of their families went home to the Mainland.
So the Army's announcement yesterday was welcomed as good news.
"They're the ones who keep my business alive," Brasher said. "It's very good for me. All I can say is, 'Thank God when they come back.' "
As it has for generations, Wahiawa's fortunes rise and fall with large-scale troop deployments at nearby Schofield Barracks, said Dan Nakasone of the Wahiawa Community & Business Association. The organization had lobbied federal and state lawmakers to keep the Strykers in Hawai'i and even wrote to the Army.
"For Wahiawa, we're very much dependent on the military to keep our economy going," Nakasone said. "It's always a plus for our community when they stay here."
E. Steven Cox Jr. said it's not difficult to assess what more soldiers based here means for his North Star Pawn Shop on California Avenue.
"More guys here means more guys with money to spend," Cox said. "It's pretty simple. It's a good thing."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.
