FReeper Canteen ~ Road Trip: Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii ~ 23 April 2019

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | laurenmarlowe

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~

Road Trip: Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii

Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) is located on the island of Hawaii between Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea and the Hualalai Volcanic Mountains. It extends up the lower slopes of Mauna Kea to approximately 6,800 feet in elevation and to about 9,000 feet on Mauna Loa. The training area is about midway between Hilo, on the east coast and the Army landing site at Kawaihae Harbor. The area is the largest DOD installation in Hawaii.

The PTA consists of 108,863 acres, of which 24,048 are leased by the Army from the State of Hawaii. The remaining land is ceded and includes the impact and range areas and a portion of the west maneuver area. The leased areas include the northern maneuver areas and the support complex.

The training site can be reached from Oahu by either direct military helicopter or fixed wing flights to PTA or by using commercial airlines to either Hilo or Kona. From Hilo or Kona the site is reached by using Saddle Road. The distance is approximately 40 miles to both towns. The Saddle Road is frequently closed to the public due to poor surface conditions caused by storms and heavy military vehicles.

In preparation for large scale training exercises at PTA, the ground forces are flown to Hilo and transported over Saddle Road. Supporting equipment and vehicles are transported from Oahu by ship or barge to Kawaihae and driven to the site. A tank trail parallels much of the Saddle Road. These movements involving personnel, equipment and light vehicles could ideally be accomplished by flying directly to PTA; however the 3,700 foot Bradshaw Air Field runway is inadequate to accommodate large transport aircraft such as the Air Force C-141's.

The physiography of Pohakuloa is deceptive in terms of training suitability.  Almost the entire site is level or gently sloping, uninhabited, and having few trees or deep gullies to inhibit training.  Nevertheless, a large percent of it is almost completely unusable for maneuvers due to the rough lava flows that occur over much of the surface area.  There are several geological features within the installation. Cinder cone hills or puu's, products of the latest eruptive activity on Mauna Kea, are found in the northern part of the installation and are surrounded by more recent lava flows from Mauna Loa. 

These recent flows (less than 200 years) are the most notable features of the central and southern landscape and together with the northern flows cover approximately 30% of the training area.  Recent lava flows surround and contrast with islands of vegetation call kipukas.  The two types of lava found throughout Hawaii, pahoehoe and 'a'a, are present at PTA as well.  The pahoehoe flows have smooth undulating surfaces and can be traversed on foot for short distances. The rough 'a'a, however, are jagged, slag-like piles of impassable material.

As the largest training area in Hawaii, Pohakuloa can be used to accomplish nearly all of the varying types of training required by the military forces.  PTA has a 51,000 acre impact area which is over 10 times the size of the one at Schofield Barracks.  There are approximately 32,000 acres free of recent lava flows and are considered fully usable for large maneuver exercises. 

Learn More About Pohakuloa Training Area HERE!!

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT~Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. 

Please remember: The Canteen is a place to honor and entertain our troops. The Canteen is family friendly. Let's have fun!

We pray for your continued strength, to be strong in the face of adversity.

We pray for your safety, that you will return to your families and friends soon.

We pray that your hope, courage, and dignity remain unbroken, so that you may show others the way.

God Bless You All ~ Today, Tomorrow and Always

 

 

[radu]

I keep hoping to sneeze to blow the funk out. LOL! There’s tickling but not enough to crank up a sneeze yet. I just keep blowing my nose to try to get it out that way.
I had to pour several drops of eye drops into my eyes to clear them out and that helped them a little. They were burning.

I’ve thrown some of the body powders and bars of soap into a bag of burnable stuff. It’ll make the smoke stink when Hubby burns it. Gotta share the “fun”. LOL! It’s what he gets for not helping clean the stuff out of the house.

I saw the radar a couple of minutes ago and cussed a little when I saw you were being missed by that big batch. Not fair! With luck, you’ll get something the next day or two.

We’ll get wet Thursday and maybe Friday. Glad it isn’t with another strong cold front that will give us storms.

[radu]

I knew you’d had him on the leash a few times lately but didn’t know if you still needed to do that. He HAS been rather naughty, running off. Sure don’t want him getting in trouble or getting hurt.

The radar does look a bit ugly over that way. Good to see there are no severe storms or tornados this time around. Just a lot of wet.

I guess that’s the system that will come through here later in the week.

I hope the plumber shows up early. No fun having a toilet that doesn’t work.

[luvie]

You get all the wet and we get all the dry. I guess that’s why you have gardenias and we have prickly pear. LOL!

Atta girl....sharing is a wonderful thing in a marriage. heh heh. So is karma good for the soul. ;)

Guess I’d better head out. I’m getting sleepy now. It is kinda late.

[radu]

We got some of the wet at the wrong time. The guys never did get to turn the dead rye under to fertilize this year. For some reason, they planted the corn at the same time they sprayed the rye with the intention of coming back to do that before the corn sprouted. But it rained and they never got to, and now the corn is about 3 inches tall. It’ll grow but won’t have the benefit of fertilizer this year unless he comes through with something to spray. He prefers not to.

Some things just beg to be shared. LOL! I’ve shared plenty of that Avon with him already and can’t help but giggle when he grumbles about it. Got him this afternoon when he burned the stuff I’d piled up last week. The wind always shifts suddenly and blows the smoke towards him. It’s workin’ with me. :-)

It’s very late for you1 I’m surprised you were up this late.
Sleep well and wake up to some rain. Wouldn’t that be nice?

[beachn4fun]

I’ve found little bits of money tucked in the oddest places and don’t dare pass on anything.

Good morning du ((HUGS))
You are so right in doing it that way.
The older crowd are famous for tucking money away around their home.
Before a great-uncle died, he told his wife to not throw anything out without going through his stuff; he had money tucked inside pages of books and magazines.

[beachn4fun]

Good morning, Everyone.

Good morning to our

Military, our Allies, and their families.

Thank you, Lauren, for preparing the
Canteen for today’s activities.

Road Trip!

A quick drive-by post because this is the only way
I'll ever get to visit Hawaii. LOL

Y'all have a wonderful day.
Grab a cup of joe or tasty tea.
Chat with the military and/or the family they left behind.

The FR Canteen is

Come on in and sit for a while.
There's always plenty of coffee, tea,
pancakes, conversation,
silliness,
and plain old BS

REMEMBER THEM ~ DEFENDERS OF FREEDOM

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT

Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above Honoring those who have served before.

[poconopundit]

Hey, Kathy!

Spent two weeks at this Army camp in 1978 when I was stationed with the USMC out of Kaneohe Air Station.

Yes, it sometimes snows at the top of Mauna Kea, and one time drove a jeep to the top of the mountain to see the astronomical observatories. The summit is known to have one of the clearest view of the heavens, and by the looks of this picture, it's attracted many more observatories than the few I saw in '78.

At the Army camp, I distinctly remember walking around the camp at night where it was pitch black and the stars were so incredibly sharp in the night.

Every few seconds you could see meteorites flaming out in the atmosphere under such clear, pitch-black conditions. It was spectacular.

Then on the way home, the helicopter flew over the scenic east side of the Big Island. Your felt as it God himself came down to etched these beautiful cliffs and waterfalls with his own hands.

[V K Lee]

A beautiful state from its shores to its peaks.
The lack of an apple tree is, perhaps, the only reason this is not seen as our Garden of Eden.

[left that other site]

Good Morning, Beachie!

((((HUGS))))

[poconopundit]

Thanks VK. Ah, but fresh papaya with a squeeze of lemon on the half shell is to die for!

[luvie]

Well, I'm lookin' everywhere
...but not finding the rain that was promised.
Well, there were a few drops on an iris.
That's not nearly enough!
Maybe today will be the day!
Hope all y'all have some beautiful weather.
It's cooler here....not complainin'!
The kittehs prefer warm though.
Y'all have a Terrific Tuesday!
((((hugs))))

[radu]

Howdy, beachie.

LOL! Books and magazines are where we HAVEN’T found anything. And she has a gazillion of them throughout the house. Most are gone now but there are still a lot to go through.

She tucked it in odd things. There were two compasses in their little boxes and one box had a piece of paper folded up inside. I found a $20 bill when I unfolded that little piece of paper. Another box that looked like it was for a necklace had wheat pennies in it. Little stuff like that.
no million dollars discoveries yet. LOL! But there’s still a LOT to go through. I’m one against 100 years or more of hoarding. (8-0
Some of it is “How cool!” and other stuff is “WHY?”

I hope you’re enjoying beautiful Spring weather like we are.

[radu]

Well drat! I’d hoped you’d get some rain.
Maybe the stuff building up over NM and AZ will move over your way.

[luvie]

It has been sprinkling a bit. We’ll see what happens in the next few hours. Hubby just mowed [your hubby’s favorite job. LOL!] and now would be a perfect time for it to just pour!

[luvie]

Update: it’s raining hard now with lots of thunder. Sounds wonderful to listen to. I’m not sure the kitties are very happy right now. I’d bring them all inside if I didn’t think it would be bedlam! LOL!

[radu]

WOOHOO!!!!

Glad you got some rain tonight!

[luvie]

It’s been mighty nice all right. There were a couple of tornado warnings south of us, but I think they’ve now expired. Of course, there were no tornado chasers out here. LOL!

[radu]

I checked the radar earlier when I saw you’d had some rain and there was a severe storm warning box showing south of you. That storm still has the box around it as it moves east, but I haven’t seen tornado warnings pop up. That’s good news for folks in the path of the storms.

I’m glad the nasty stuff missed y’all and just gave you rain, even if the kittehs might not have appreciated it. LOL

[luvie]

I haven’t seen hide nor hair of them so I imagine they are in their dry spots. I’m glad I fed them a bit early tonight so they didn’t have to go into hiding when hungry.

It’s been a nice long rain. Hubby is checking the gauge.......aaaaaand the answer is.....we have 8/10ths of an inch and the rain has stopped for now.

[radu]

Good that you fed them before the rain moved in! It would have been a long, miserable night for them.

You got a NICE amount of rain tonight. Is there any more in the forecast this week?