Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 3, 1 Malaki 2006 — Army in Mākua [ARTICLE]

Army in Mākua

Sterling Kini Wong's Ianuali KWO article "Army seeks to resume live-fire training at Mākua range" raises questions about the protesters opposing military training in Mākua valley. Our soldiers - including Hawai'i's own sons and daughters - are going into a war zone soon, and their survival in combat will depend on preparation and training. Don't these protesters care? Wong refers to opposing Native Hawaiian groups. Who are they? Mālama Mākua? Many of their members are non-Hawaiians. Hui Mālama o Mākua? Those who believe that the sacredness of rocks and the land are being desecrated? At their kuahu (altar) on the Pililā'au Range Complex Mākua Military Reservation, offerings to Lono are made. But didn't Kamehameha II in 1819 overthrow the Hawaiian religion and the 'ai kapu system because the gods were cruel? And didn't he order the demolishment of heiaus on all the islands and god idols burned (eheek out the books at the Bishop Museum)?

Moreover, the Army is helping to protect the native ecosystem of the valley. Endangered plants are being cultivated in greenhouses, and because biologists reported that wild pigs posed a threat to the native plants, the Army constructed fences to keep them out. Mueh has been made of the fires in Mākua. But fires have also occurred throughout other valleys in Wai'anae. The Army has done an excellent job in controlling and containing them within the military reservation and has been of invaluable help in fighting fires in other valleys as well. One need only to look at Mākua valley to see how well the Army is maintaining it. We, Wai'anae's Native Hawaiians of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the CivilianMilitary Advisory Council, our military service members, our elected officials, all of our families and many more, fully support the Army's use of Mākua. Bill Punini Prescott Nānākuli, O'ahu