AT the big picture level the ongoing relationship between Hawaii and the military services is immensely strong, as I reported Tuesday. Military services do
much for communityHow is it at lower levels, in everyday interactions between service personnel and the civilian community?
Pretty good, there, too -- though not without its problems.
How much the services do for the community is underappreciated, I think.
They run Medevac helicopters, free. They help fight fires, like the recent grass fires on Leeward Oahu, free.
Endangered plant species are safer in military training areas than just about anywhere else.
They contribute greatly to leadership in schools, Scout troops and more in their areas. They give generously to Aloha United Way and the Red Cross and volunteer for things from cleanups to school repairs.
They are good citizens. Jurisdictional disputes about handling law-breaking have been cooperatively resolved.
They worry about the quality of our schools in some areas, a problem that persists despite being highlighted in the past. It hurts Hawaii youngsters as well.
Construction of more first-rate base housing has reduced (but not eliminated) cost-of-living pressures. The Chamber of Commerce this week unveiled a new coupon effort to help lower costs to service personnel.
The national drawdown in numbers of service personnel without any compensating reductions in mission can make life taxing for service families, with readiness demands requiring more duty time, often away from Hawaii. Today's globalism has seen Hawaii-based forces sent to the Persian Gulf, to Haiti and to Bosnia.
Patriotism in Hawaii is high, particularly among the older generation civilians who learned the need for readiness from Pearl Harbor, throughout World War II, in Korea and in Vietnam. Adm. Joseph Prueher, U.S. Pacific commander, has called Hawaii the most patriotic community he knows.
I am old enough to hope younger generations don't have to relearn it the hard way. One Hawaii activity that hopes to forestall that is the Waikiki-based Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. It brings together military officers from 40 Asia-Pacific nations for periodic sessions to study peacekeeping and develop the personal contacts and respect that may help.
It is administered by the U.S. Pacific Command Center. So is the Pacific Disaster Center to help coordinate responses to storm, tsunami and other disasters. It places heavy reliance on the military supercomputer on Maui to process satellite data, on the weather services at the University of Hawaii and on Civil Defense.
Along with housing active military services, Hawaii is becoming a significant memorial, museum and international tourist attraction for learning about World War II.
Ford Island in Pearl Harbor soon will add the U.S.S. Missouri as a museum ship. It will be a World War II "bookend" to the nearby U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, Hawaii's most-visited attraction. On the shores of Pearl, the U.S.S. Bowfin offers a submarine memorial and a Pearl Harbor Memorial Park is expanding slowly with state-Navy cooperation.
THE National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl has mosaic maps of all significant military actions in the Pacific in World War II and in Korea. The Army Museum at Fort DeRussy uses and preserves an early 1900s coastal battery with concrete walls as thick as a counterpart at Corregidor in the Philippines. The latter in 1942 survived all Japanese bombing and attacks. Only near-starvation brought its defenders to surrender.
This week is Military Appreciation Week in Hawaii. Saturday is Armed Forces Day nationally. There is much to appreciate about this vital civilian-military linkage.
A.A. Smyser is the contributing editor
and former editor of the the Star-Bulletin
His column runs Tuesday and Thursday.