{"id":10287,"date":"2012-02-22T01:26:39","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T09:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=10287"},"modified":"2012-02-22T01:26:39","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T09:56:39","slug":"u-s-military-reductions-in-okinawa-adds-up-to-more-militarization-of-hawaii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=10287","title":{"rendered":"U.S. military reductions in Okinawa adds up to more militarization of Hawai’i"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite much bellyaching from the Pentagon about having to go on a diet, President Obama himself stated,\u00a0“Over the next 10 years, the growth in the defense budget will slow, but the fact of the matter is this: It will still grow, because we have global responsibilities that demand our leadership.”<\/a> The new defense strategy reflects reductions in the rate of growth of the military budget. \u00a0 The Atlantic published an interesting article “The Real Defense Budget”<\/strong> <\/a>(February 20, 2012) that reports the Pentagon budget is actually closer to $1 trillion!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Senator Inouye told the media that despite these changes in the military budget and in basing plans in east Asia, Hawai’i will not get relief from militarization. In fact, the military may grow in some areas to absorb some of the Marines being pushed out of Okinawa. \u00a0The Honolulu Star Advertiser reported \u00a0“Isles hold on to military might”<\/a><\/strong> (February 21, 2012):<\/p>\n

As military communities around the nation fret about defense cuts, U.S. Sen. Daniel Ino\u00aduye said Hawaii expects to receive about 1,000 more Marines from Oki\u00adnawa, have the same number or more ships based at Pearl Harbor and see a slight increase in shipyard work here.<\/p>\n

Inouye confirmed Monday that with continuing problems with a 2006 agreement to relocate some Marines on Oki\u00adnawa and move about 8,000 to Guam, the plan has changed.<\/p>\n

About half the total, or 4,000 Marines, will now go to Guam, he said.<\/p>\n

“Instead of all (8,000) going to Guam, they’ll go elsewhere \u2014 Australia, Hawaii and Guam,” Ino\u00aduye said<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

“But the question now arises, Will those troops be rotating-type troops, or will they be stationed here with dependents, which would require schools, etc.? We have not reached that stage (of decision) yet.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One \u00a0disturbing revelation was that Marines could be housed in Kona on Hawai’i island. This follows similar remarks by Governor Abercrombie several months ago:<\/p>\n

From a logistics and transportation standpoint, the Army’s Schofield Barracks on Oahu or the Kona side of Hawaii island could be looked at to house more Marines, he said<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Inouye also confirmed that Singapore and the Philippines are being targeted for increased militarization:<\/p>\n

Inouye said, “It’s serious business \u2014 the fact that we will be adding vessels in Singapore, we’ll be setting up a rotating-type of base in Australia, and I don’t know if the people of Hawaii have caught it, but we have now restored discussions with the Filipinos.”<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

HIS MAIN POINTS<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye says:<\/p>\n

MARINES<\/p>\n

The Pentagon is looking at shifting about 1,000 Marines from Okinawa to Hawaii. The move could be as part of permanent stations or rotational duty through Hawaii. About 500 could be accommodated at the Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps base. Schofield Barracks and the Kona side of Hawaii island are being looked at as possibilities.<\/p>\n

SHIPYARD<\/p>\n

Pearl Harbor shipyard work will increase slightly.<\/p>\n

PEARL HARBOR<\/p>\n

The specific surface ships stationed at Pearl Harbor will change, but the base will retain 11 \u2014 the number it now has \u2014 or even more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In an earlier article, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported “$487B in Defense cuts would take 2 cruisers from Pearl Harbor”<\/a><\/strong> (February 15, 2012):<\/p>\n

The Navy plans to retire two of three cruisers at Pearl Harbor under a leaner defense budget \u2014 a move that, along with other cutbacks, is expected to have a negative effect on Hawaii\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Officials at the Pentagon confirmed that the USS Port Royal \u2014 the newest cruiser in the Navy inventory and one with ballistic missile shoot-down capability \u2014 is expected to be decommissioned in fiscal year 2013.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The USS Chosin, which is in Pearl Harbor shipyard receiving $112.5 million in repairs and upgrades, would be retired in 2014.<\/p>\n

In a statement submitted Tuesday to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Pentagon is \u201cretiring seven lower-priority Navy cruisers that have not been upgraded with ballistic missile defense capability or that would require significant repairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Defense Department\u2019s budget request for 2013, released Monday, sets out $487 billion in cuts over the next 10 years. Also affected would be the towering Sea-Based X-Band Radar, a regular visitor to Hawaii\u2019s shores.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said it plans to sideline the $1 billion one-of-a-kind missile tracker by placing it \u201cin a limited test and contingency operations status\u201d to save $500 million over five years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

As the article mentions, one of the ships to be decommissioned, the USS Port Royal, is the newest cruiser. The ship cost $1 billion to build. \u00a0In 2009, the USS Port Royal ran aground on the reef outside of Pearl Harbor, causing extensive damage to the coral as well as to the ship. \u00a0The repairs were estimated to cost $25 million to $40 million. \u00a0However, shipyard sources reported that the damage to the frame could not be fully repaired. \u00a0This probably explains the early retirement of this state of the art missile cruiser.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite much bellyaching from the Pentagon about having to go on a diet, President Obama himself stated,\u00a0“Over the next 10 years, the growth in the defense budget will slow, but the fact of the matter is this: It will still grow, because we have global responsibilities that demand our leadership.” The new defense strategy reflects … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “U.S. military reductions in Okinawa adds up to more militarization of Hawai’i”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161,56],"tags":[148,2409],"class_list":["post-10287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-projects-issues-and-campaigns","category-pacific","tag-accidents","tag-movements-resistance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10287"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10293,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10287\/revisions\/10293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}