Check Six: 1998 Annual Training at Pōhakuloa Training Area – 20 years ago

Posted on Oct 29, 2018 in 1990's, Check Six

Special Thanks to CMS (Ret) Robert Inouye for sharing this photograph and comments to Retiree News.

Robert Inouye photograph

I took this picture during our 1998(?) Annual Training in Pōhakuloa Training Area. We were training up for 29th Separate Infantry Brigade’s Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) exercise in 1999.

The Firebase concept was reminiscent of the Vietnam Artillery Firebases since the JRTC scenario was similar to that in Vietnam – low intensity warfare/static artillery positions. This training was a departure from the Move and Scoot training we were used to with the Soviet and North Korean scenarios.

The 227th Engineer Company had a Blade Team attached to the 1-487th Field Artillery with dozers and Small Equipment-Excavators (SEEs) to build these star-shaped firebases both during the pre-JRTC train-up and during the JRTC exercise.  COL(Retired) Stanley Keolanui was the Commander at that time.  I was his CSM and also in charge of directing the Blade Team to the different positions.

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