The U.S. military’s plan to shift as many as 2,700 Marines from Okinawa, Japan, to Hawaii raises a key question: Where will they work and live?
Although Marine, defense and congressional spokesmen all said they will need to see the results of studies before they can begin to address that issue, most of the mounting speculation centers on existing military bases or training areas on Oahu and the Big Island.
Hawaii already is home to more than 7,500 Marines and thousands of family members. Most are assigned to Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, on the island of Oahu. It’s home to infantry, aviation and logistics units — plus Navy and Coast Guard units. Camp H.M. Smith, where U.S. Pacific Command and Marine Forces Pacific are headquartered, is also there.
The Corps’ presence in Hawaii already is expected to change due to reorganization as total active-duty end strength declines from 202,100 to 182,100 Marines by the end of 2016. Modernization of the service’s aviation communities, which will bring the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft to Kaneohe Bay, should add 1,000 Marines to the base population.
While the Marine Corps hasn’t released any figures, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie estimated that 2,700 Marines would come to the state as part of that restructuring and pledged to support the transition.
Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser earlier this year that expanding facilities at Kaneohe Bay is a possibility. Another is to move leathernecks to the Army’s Schofield Barracks. The Corps could also build new facilities on the Big Island, home to the Pohakuloa Training area, where Marines go for live-fire exercises.
In 1999, the Navy shuttered the Barbers Point Naval Air Station, on Oahu’s southeast corner, and moved several units, including a patrol wing, to Kaneohe Bay. The 3,819-acre site is now home to a Coast Guard air station and the Kalaeloa Airport, and the Navy continues to maintain more than 1,100 acres, some for recreational beachfront cabins. Commercial redevelopment of the site — which included plans for houses, offices and shops — has lagged despite efforts by local officials.
One area veteran thinks the military should take it back.
“The no-brainer part is to move the sailors back to Barbers Point where they belong, and make room at Kaneohe Bay,” said retired Navy Chief Dennis Egge. Egge raised the suggestion at a May town hall meeting with Democratic Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.
Hanabusa, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, hasn’t taken a position, according to an aide.
“There would be a number of issues to be resolved, including how to return the facility to military use, what kind of infrastructure and construction work would be required, and what other logistical questions would have to be answered, including transportation,” her spokesman Richard Rapoza said in a statement. “The military would also have to consider the balance of personnel at various military facilities on the island.”
Defense Department officials are waiting on a number of studies and assessments before moving forward. One of those is a congressionally mandated report on the military’s strategic posture and basing plans for U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region. It has not yet been completed.
In early April, the Defense Department contracted with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, to conduct an “independent assessment of force posture options” in the Pacific region. That report is due to Congress by June 28, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.
The shift of Marines to Hawaii is closely tied to the move of forces to Guam, but that part of the realignment is facing several delays as well.
Navy officials and Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, want to redo the environmental impact statement that assessed the original plan to move all Marines exiting Okinawa to Guam now that the footprint on the island will be smaller.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department Inspector General’s Office is doing an audit of the military’s relocation to Guam, and that review is pending.
Estimates of the cost of the relocation to Hawaii, including the construction that will be needed, will hinge on which units are relocated to Guam, which to Hawaii, and what training and support facilities, housing and services they would need. The Marine Corps, which is still awaiting guidance from Congress and the Defense Department, has given no indication of how that breakdown might look.
Egge thinks there’s still enough life in the old Barbers Point for a new role supporting sailors, if not Marines, again.
Granted, he said, the facility is old.
“They will turn their noses up,” he conceded. But “there’s a lot of housing,” and it could be spruced up.
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