Star Bulletin News Article
By Gregg L. Kakesako
Sunday May 9, 2010
Army chief cites value of Makua for training
New Army Secretary John McHugh supports the continued use of Makua Valley for military training, emphasizing that closing it would mean the 11,000 soldiers stationed here would have to spend more time away from their families preparing for wartime deployments.
McHugh toured a portion of the 4,000-acre Makua Military Reservation by helicopter and truck Friday morning with Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of all Army troops in the Pacific and former commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division.
McHugh said retention of Makua allows the Army to offer the "full spectrum of training" here without having to send soldiers to southern California. "I think it's in the interest of the soldiers, the Army and the United States of America to have these forces continuing to be in position to grow, to be fully trained as they are now to go forward to do the nation's business."
He added that the Army should continue "making every effort and expending those resources to protect the culture, the heritage and the very unique environmental challenges that exist here."
McHugh said 25th Division soldiers now spend several months at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert to complete their training for Iraq or Afghan combat missions.
"Coming out of Hawaii, that's like another deployment," McHugh added. "It impacts very significantly on the amount of time soldiers have to recover and spend with their families."
Mixon said the Army plans an environmental study on converting the valley to "a non-live-fire training range" that would focus on programs dealing with the use of drones, helicopter laser and convoy operations and ways to defuse roadside and homemade bombs.
Since 2001 Earthjustice and Malama Makua, a Leeward Oahu group that believes the valley is scared to native Hawaiians, have been fighting the Army over the use of Makua. No live-fire infantry exercises have been held in the area since 2004 because of the court cases.
Both sides agree that more than 50 endangered plant and animal species and more than 100 archaeological features are found in the valley area.
McHugh said at a Friday news conference that the Army has spent $10 million a year to ensure the safety of the endangered plants and animals and provide access to cultural and historical sites. Proponents have argued that is not enough.
Earlier this year Mixon said the Army plans to spend $37 million to convert Makua Valley into a roadside-bomb and counter-insurgency training center.
"It's obviously an incredible, beautiful part of the island," McHugh told reporters after his first visit to the islands and Makua Valley. "My first impression visually was that the Army has done a more than credible job in preserving its historic nature and preserving its environmental nature."
McHugh said he believes the military can share the valley with the community.
Mixon has said that over the next decade much traditional infantry and artillery training can be shifted to the Big Island's Pohakuloa Training Area.
Makua Valley, with proper funding and support, could become a training center on gathering intelligence, Mixon has said. The center could provide training on homemade bombs used in all parts of the world, especially important given the growing threat in the Philippines, India and the rest of Asia. Soldiers from Pacific basin countries could also be sent here for such training at Makua.
He also said that Makua is a good place to train with unmanned aerial vehicles.
McHugh was in the islands on the last leg of a weeklong visit to Army bases in Japan, South Korea and Hawaii. The former Republican U.S. House member is the Army's 21st civilian leader. He assumed the post in September.
Replies
At this time as we speak, the 47 countries are discussing nuclear war heads. For the US they have 5,113 to get rid off accoarding to US recent Treaty Agreement. I suspect they will dump this nuclear war heads in the Pacific Ocean at least that is what was being done in the 70s when activist had rised/rose/risen to the issue, in protest. They have this 'brainless' fantasy on going in the DOE education that it is okay for the military to store their ordance in the ocean and that robotics can retrieve it. They have the time, data and place of aggregate off shore in Maili to convince the powers that it's okay to dump nuclear waste into the ocean. How stupid, huh?
There are other countries that have supposedly done this such as France and that it is okay by their stupid scientist. That it's okay to nuke the ocean would you believe Cruesto's (sp) son showed up in Waianae at an elementary school? My computer acting up..so I can't get to the spell checking/research. All the more do we need Independence. What is even more stupid, is the power belongs to the military in any Monarchy, so I am getting tired of these stupid heads on the Monarchy talk--too. I believe Bumpy alluding to this, but not sure. Hope he doesn't get pissed for saying --he said. I believe so is Keanu Sai, but that is jumping ahead of it all.
You write and speak well with assertion and arguments. I don't think we will see Waianae students developing that type of argument style yet. Is law school in the making cause that is where we need Na Kanaka too. I believe Kawika is going back to school too.
I believe Dr. Sol Naluae (sp) had a better structured plan for Independence. The issue of military has to surface and voted upon. I don't want to waste my time with fantasy.
The real issue at OHA is grants and the support of the Akaka Bill and the military. Article 12 is dripping with blood. I believe that is the preamble (sp) and it's connectedness to the $100,000 buy in. You should go to the Pearl Harbor visitors center, it wreaks with WW II romance and Mark 45.
McHugh is a woosy, he is too weak and will not question the toxic waste dumping in the Pacific which is why Obama picked this character. Big mistake, postal stamps sales isn't going to save the day. Our Pacific Ocean is US waste dump site and that is the game of chance. Kaohi
You were thinking of Cousteau. Of course the Frecnh aren't too concerned with Nuclear dumping in the ocean. They've already have done so; especially with underwater nuclear testing. I wrote to the UN and European Parliment about that. Our Tahitian ohana were not being respected. Those that worked for the French during their nuclear teasting were not given protection suits, etc. The Tahitians had to search the junkpiles for cast -off protecting suites, etc. Many suffered from cancer and other illness attributed to radiation similar to DU. Baies were born deformed, some had no bones; much like what happens in Iraq. The fish were contaminated and unfit to eat.
UN cited a ban of nuclear testing; France agreed, but only after they finished their underground/underwater testing. How's that for apples!
A soldier that came back from Korea on a training mission, stated that they could cover in a day what would take weeks in Hawai'i. They could do whatever they wanted and use whatever they wanted with no problem; including DU weapons.
My response to them was that they could stay there and do whatever they want but not in Hawai'i. The other thing is they could use the Catalina Islands off of California and be closer to their homes. As far as their families; I could give a rat's ass about them. Let them stay at their homes like the majority of military families on the U.S. American continent. We don't need them here. Under the laws of occupation, they violate the laws anyway, as hostile occupiers.
Of Course we remember the Massie Case and their racist conduct. It's the same with the Pakalua family that were threatened by the military and their families during the hit and run case in Ewa. Like the Massie case, the perpetrator got off scott-free for that offense.
The Army hasn't told us anything we don't already know about Makua and its history, beauty, and military abuse of our land and sacred sites. Because of the fires, they uncovered what we wanted to be kept hidden. There were many lo'i patches there and everything else they recognized or uncovered. Our people were once again displaced so they could do their war-games. What many complaining locals and foreign settlers, especially those from America, don't understand is that Hawaiians were displaced so many times so they could use the lands we were already on.
Damon tract, The Airports, Waikiki, Vineyard Street to build the roads and Queen Emma Apartments, Kalama Valley, Sand Island; Fort Shafter; just to name the few of the many many places Hawaqiians were evicted or displaced.
The military get special discounts and consideration throughout Hawai'i Nei and screw the Hawaiians and other nationals of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. The U.S. needs to de-occupy Hawai'i and the sooner the better. We never wanted them here; and we still don't! These white American terrorists need to go home to the U.S. and get the hell out of our country.
Think of why the Marshall Islanders were forced to leave their homes; The same will happen to us whereby the Islands will be unfit for human survival. Put that in your pipe and smoke that!
Published 04/08/2010
by Chuck Colbert
Army Secretary John McHugh
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In a move that initially suggested gay Army soldiers had some leeway to speak openly about their military experience, Army Secretary John McHugh told reporters last week that he would not initiate discharge procedures against soldiers who have told him they are gay.
"What I am trying to do is show the troops that, 'Yes, it's okay to talk about this,'" said the former Republican congressman from upstate New York, appointed by President Barack Obama
A day later, however, McHugh issued a press release saying that he had misspoken and that some of his comments "required further comment."
"I was incorrect when I stated that Secretary [Robert] Gates had placed a moratorium on discharges of homosexual service members," McHugh said, adding, "There is no moratorium of the law, and neither Secretary Gates nor I would support one."
McHugh's initial remarks came a day earlier during a March 31 breakfast meeting with Pentagon reporters, according to multiple reports from mainstream print outlets.
"What the secretary has placed a moratorium on is going forward on discharges," McHugh said, referring to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who last month announced changes in the enforcement of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The new guidelines in effect raise the bar significantly for gay-related discharges under the current policy, but do not prohibit them outright.
"It is not so stated, but I think a reasonable assumption" that [I] need not process discharges, McHugh explained.
The Army secretary also said he had heard from active duty soldiers, who acknowledged being gay. And yet McHugh said he took no disciplinary action against them. Under the current DADT policy – even with the new guidelines – a service member's saying he is gay is a clear violation of the 17-year policy and grounds for a discharge proceeding to be initiated.
In his remarks, McHugh said also that he assumed his experience of hearing from gay troops was similar to others in positions of military leadership.
Some senators and congressmen, serving on the House and Senate armed services committees, in fact advocate a full service-wide moratorium on discharges while the working group completes its review of the gay ban and how to repeal it.
But Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, and other Pentagon top brass oppose a broader moratorium during the review period. On April 1, McHugh made clear his views are in accord with the defense secretary and military leadership.
Confusion
Nevertheless, McHugh's comments caused confusion and raised concerns. Some media outlets reported McHugh's remarks as if there were now a blanket de facto moratorium on DADT Army discharges.
That misperception prompted the head of one national advocacy organization to call for clarification and further media scrutiny.
"It is my impression from reading Secretary McHugh's comments that he doesn't intend there to be an Army-wide moratorium on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' discharges," said Alexander Nicholson, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Servicemembers United, which is working to repeal the policy.
"But rather," he added, "[McHugh] does not plan to pursue the discharge of anyone who has in effect come out to him during the course of his own personal engagement of Army personnel on this policy issue."
In speaking out, Nicholson voiced concerns about currently serving active duty troops. Some soldiers "may very likely come across this coverage at some point," he said, "and get the mistaken impression that it is okay to serve openly in the Army now."
Diane Mazur, who serves as co-director of the UC Santa Barbara-based Palm Center, affirmed Nicholson's warning at the same time she provided a brief cautionary legal analysis.
"The way the law currently stands," Mazur wrote in a memo, "service members do not have protection from later enforcement of the policy."
Mazur, a University of Florida law professor, added, "There are ways to legally make that happen and to give Secretary McHugh and others the ability to stand by their word; but right now, if a service member 'tells' during the review process, or if a straight service member 'outs' a lesbian or gay colleague, a 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' discharge can still commence."
The Palm Center is a think tank that since 1998 has done research and published reports on the topics of gender, sexuality, and the military.
It was in February when Gates commissioned a working group to undertake the yearlong study of DADT. Led by General Carter F. Ham, commander of the U.S. Army Europe, and Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon's chief legal counsel, the working group's report is due December 1.
As Gates has directed, the study group is to solicit views of active duty gay and lesbian troops. But under the current DADT policy, they are by law required to keep their sexual orientation secret. That requirement indeed frustrates the study for both gay troops who acknowledge their sexual orientation, as well as military leadership seeking candid feedback.
Ham has already indicated that the working group may need to hire a third-party polling organization in seeking opinions of gays in uniform.
"These groups have some pretty masterful ways of reaching out to what they call hidden groups in larger communities," he told the Washington Post recently.
But some lawmakers question the need for outside pollsters.
"To me, doesn't a moratorium make sense for no other reason than you can solicit information [from gay and lesbian service members] without having to hire third party contractors who are not subject to 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'?" said Representative Niki Tsongas (D-Massachusetts) in a recent telephone interview.
Tsongas serves on the House Armed Services Committee.
"A [total] moratorium would eliminate the need for third parties," she said, simplifying a process that is "far more complicated than need be."
Enacted by Congress and signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton, DADT was designed to allow gay men, lesbians, and bisexual people to serve in the armed forces, but only if they remained quiet about their sexual orientation. Nearly 14,000 service members have been discharged for homosexual conduct under the policy since 1993.
Last year alone more than 400 service members were discharged under DADT. While hard numbers are nearly impossible to ascertain, one estimate suggests that 66,000 military personnel – or 2 percent of the armed forces – are gay.
Secretary of the Army
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Mr. John M. McHugh was sworn in as the 21st Secretary of the Army on Sep. 21, 2009, following his nomination by President Barack Obama and confirmation by the United States Senate.
As Secretary of the Army, he has statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, installations, environmental issues, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, communications, and financial management. Secretary McHugh is responsible for the Department of the Army's annual budget and supplemental of over $200 billion. He leads a work force of more than 1.1 million active duty, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve Soldiers, 221,000 Department of the Army civilian employees, and 213,000 contracted service personnel. He has stewardship over 14 million acres of land.
At the time of his appointment as Secretary of the Army, Mr. McHugh was a sitting member of Congress representing Northern and Central New York. During his nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, he earned a reputation as a staunch advocate for Soldiers and their Families, working tirelessly to ensure they have proper facilities, training, and the quality of life necessary to carry out wartime missions while caring for those at home.
As a Member of Congress, Mr. McHugh served as the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) with responsibility to oversee the policies and programs for the Department of Defense and each of the Armed Forces. Before becoming Ranking Member, Congressman McHugh was first the Chairman of the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Panel and then Chairman and later Ranking Member of the Committee's Subcommittee on Military Personnel. Mr. McHugh also served as a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and for six years as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Postal Service that significantly reformed the Postal Service.
From 1997 to 2004, Mr. McHugh was a member of the House International Relations Committee. Subsequently, from 2005 to 2009, he served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Mr. McHugh was also a 14-year member of the United States Military Academy Board of Visitors. At the time of his nomination, Mr. McHugh was co-chair of the House Army Caucus, a bipartisan organization that works to educate fellow House Members and their staffs about Army issues and programs.
Secretary McHugh was born in Watertown, New York, where he began his public service career in 1971 as the Confidential Assistant to the City Manager. In 1976, he joined the staff of New York State Senator H. Douglas Barclay, with whom he served as Chief of Research and Liaison with local governments for nine years. Succeeding Senator Barclay in 1984, Mr. McHugh served four terms in the legislature’s upper house before his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992.
Mr. McHugh received a B.A. in Political Science from Utica College of Syracuse University in 1970, and earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the State University of New York’s Nelson A. Rockefeller Graduate School of Public Affairs in 1977.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
"Politically, McHugh is generally described as a moderate Republican, an endangered species within the party, although still rather common in Northeastern states like New York. Conservative on social issues, McHugh opposes abortion rights, same-sex marriage and funding for embryonic stem-cell research. On economics issues, however, he has broken with his party in recent years by opposing the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), voting to increase the federal minimum wage and in favor of an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP. McHugh supported the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan and has made numerous visits to both theater. " Matt Bewig
Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.)
When told he had made our 50 Most Beautiful People list, Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) looked as though he might fall over. He reacted with a look of shock and a wave of his hand and said, "Stop, oh stop it."
He said there were far better looking members of Congress than him, and gestured to the many male members of Congress milling about the Speaker's Lobby of the Capitol.
Known as a loner around the House, McHugh, in his seventh term, is an amiable, quiet member who keeps to himself and does not cry out for attention. He's a snappy dresser, often coming to work in crisp clothing and snazzy ties by top designers.
The Almanac of American Politics says he has specialized in dairy issues, having worked as a staffer for state Sen. Douglas Barclay and then replacing him in Albany.
McHugh came to Congress in 1992. Since then, he has sat on the Armed Services Committee, and once Republicans came into power, he chaired the Government Reform subcommittee that controlled the Postal Service, which the almanac calls a "dubious honor" since it gave the congressman one of "Congress's perennial headaches."
As chairman of the Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, he works tirelessly for National Guard members and their causes.
McHugh is divorced.
When he's not working, McHugh says, he likes to hit the ski slopes.
- Betsy Rothstein
By: Jonathan Martin
June 2, 2009 10:32 AM EDT
Striking again at the already beleaguered Republican Party, President Barack Obama today will announce the appointment of Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) as secretary of the Army.
In tapping McHugh, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Obama sidelines yet another senior GOP lawmaker.
The veteran congressman from upstate New York joins his former colleague from Illinois, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, the ambassador-designate to China, among the ranks of Republicans in the Obama administration, a list that nearly included New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg as Commerce Secretary. And McHugh’s appointment comes just over a month after administration officials helped push veteran Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter to switch from a Republican to a Democrat.
“The president has made an outstanding choice in John McHugh on his credentials,” said former Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), who also represented upstate New York. “He’s a leading expert on Armed services that members on both sides of the aisle respect. ... On any major issue on armed services, I wanted to hear John McHugh’s opinion.”
Speculation had swirled over McHugh’s political future and whether he intended to run for reelection next year.
McHugh has won reelection with ease — taking 65 percent last year — but his successor may have a more difficult time in a district that Obama carried — something that surely didn’t go unnoticed by the president’s aides.
McHugh’s departure — which leaves only two Republicans in the 29 seat New York congressional delegation — sets off a likely fight for his seat, which Obama carried over Republican John McCain in November 52 percent to 47 percent. Sources say McHugh’s chief of staff, Robert Taub, is likely to be an early frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
The Politico 44 Story Widget Requires Adobe Flash Player.
“This seat is one of the best opportunities for Democrats to pursue now that McHugh out of the way,” said Reynolds, who is also a former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “Already we’re watching the Democrats downplay their chances but make no mistake, you can bet they’ll be as forceful as this as they were in NY 20 [special election].”
Logistically, McHugh is leaving the Armed Services Committee at a disastrous time. The defense authorization bill was already delayed given it’s the first year in a new administration. McHugh’s departure comes one week before the defense authorization bill was scheduled to begin a markup.
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) is emerging as an early favorite to replace McHugh on the Armed Services Committee, but Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) has already expressed interest in the coveted committee slot as well, according to his spokesman. Thornberry spokesman George Rasley said: "Naturally he's interested. We'll see what procedures Leader Boehner uses to fill the seat."
Sean Sweeney, a veteran of New York politics and top aide to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, hatched the idea of naming McHugh as secretary of the Army, according to a well-placed Democratic soure. Other West Wing officials dispute Sweeney’s role and the official White House posture is to not comment on the politics of the pick.
As with Huntsman, though, White House officials can point to McHugh’s sterling credentials to make the case that it was not merely a political stroke.
Respected on both sides of the aisle, McHugh represents a North Country district that includes Ft. Drum, home of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, and has become an authority on the military, especially personnel and infrastructure issues.
McHugh, who has never served in the military, replaces Army Secretary Pete Geren, who was a holdover from the Bush administration and was himself a former Democratic member.
Patrick O’Connor, Josh Kraushaar, Jennifer DiMascio and Alex Isenstadt contributed to this story.
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