In 2004, he embedded with U.S. Army 25th Infantry soldiers on their first major deployment to Iraq, reporting from Kirkuk, Hawija, Tall Afar and Halabja on the Iranian border. During the same year, Cole also reported from Afghanistan on the deployment of a separate 25th Infantry brigade, reporting from Bagram Air Base and Orgun-E in Paktika province on the eastern border with Pakistan.
In June of 2005, he traveled to Kuwait and Iraq to report on a deployment by the Hawaii Army National Guard. In Iraq he reported from Camp Victory in Baghdad and Logistics Supply Area Anaconda north of Baghdad. That fall, he accompanied a Hawaii-based Army Chinook helicopter unit to Afghanistan and then Pakistan to report on earthquake relief humanitarian assistance flights to remote Pakistani areas.
Cole received seven first-place awards, including the top public service category award, in the 2010 Hawaii Publishers Association Pa'i awards for a four-part series on a fateful U.S. Army battle in 2008 in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of nine U.S. soldiers.
Cole has observed operations while underway on U.S. Navy ships including aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers, submarines, joint high speed vessels and littoral combat ships; traveled extensively by Army and Navy helicopters; and flown into and out of combat zones and other mission areas on Air Force C-17, C-5 and C-130 aircraft.
A new Navy exercise focused on countering China and Russia in the European and Indo-Pacific theaters — perhaps at the same time — is underway, testing the ability to synchronize five fleets and three Marine expeditionary forces across 17 time zones while also employing fast-moving war- fighting concepts to combat adversary missile advances. Read more
State Child Welfare Services is trying to terminate the parental rights of a former Air Force husband and wife whose son died of abuse as an infant and whose daughter, born about 14 months later, was also severely battered and now has permanent brain damage, officials said. Read more
The U.S. strategy for the defense of Guam is coming into sharper focus with a combination of fast-moving Army and Air Force exercises and as lawmakers push the Pentagon for details of a 360-degree air and missile defense against cruise, ballistic and hypersonic threats faced by the key U.S. territory. Read more
The Army is undergoing its biggest modernization in 40 years. The Marines are ditching their tanks. Missiles and missions linking sea, air, land, space and cyberspace — all at once — are the U.S. military’s future in the Indo-Pacific region. Read more
The $7 per day parking fee would be managed by the park service, with a planned implementation date of 2023. Entrance into the visitor center and the USS Arizona Memorial program is free. Read more
The National Park Service said it is looking into replacing the theater building at the USS Arizona Memorial visitor center “to address existing deferred maintenance, improve (the) visitor experience, and make the structure more resilient to storm surge and other natural hazards.” Read more
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Biden says every federal government employee will be asked to attest to their vaccination status and anyone who is not vaccinated will be required to wear a mask and be tested. Read more
Overcrowding at Hawaii Community Correctional Center — and the need to transport 40 felons from the Hilo jail and Kulani Correctional Facility to the Halawa Correctional Facility on Oahu — prompted the state Department of Public Safety to seek Hawaii Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopter transport Tuesday. Read more
Some families made emotional appeals to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to not only disinter the men, but then take the step of identifying them through DNA and other methods. Read more
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency, in concert with the Navy, today fired four SM-6 Dual II missiles against a “raid” of two short-range ballistic missile targets in the “broad ocean area” northwest of Hawaii. Read more
An Air Force officer who died in 1967 during the Vietnam War when two B-52 bombers collided and crashed into the South China Sea has been identified as a result of one of a growing number of Defense Department partnerships with private research groups. Read more
The Army is in the midst of its most significant transformation in 40 years and wants to become a “multi- domain” rapid-reaction force operating with other service branches on land, sea, air, space and cyberspace to counter threats such as China. Read more
Hawaii will receive $3.1 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan to help detect and prevent potential COVID-19 outbreaks among people experiencing homelessness and prison populations, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said Friday. Read more
The Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai is expected to soon see two big missile defense tests as the United States seeks to counter a rapidly arming China. Read more
The funding proposal, which still needs to make its way through Congress, is seen as keeping the big radar, which now is approaching $2 billion or more due to ongoing delays, on life support. Read more
Biden is scheduled to arrive late Saturday morning at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Read more
Biden was expected to stop at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska today where she will greet military and veteran families who are staying at Alaska Fisher House. Read more
A 2019 fire that started in an electrical power area of the stately old 63-foot U.S. Pacific Fleet boat known as the admiral’s barge resulted in its total loss, damaged two other VIP boats and cost nearly $1.7 million in repair and replacement costs, the Navy said. Read more
The U.S. military is making some big training moves in Guam and Australia to practice deploying sizeable forces quickly and retain mobility in the event of conflict with China. Read more
The Navy said it will formally reexamine training and testing around Hawaii and Southern California, with the Center for Biological Diversity threatening to sue following the May arrival of an Australian destroyer in San Diego with two dead endangered fin whales stuck to its hull. Read more
The White House said today that First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Honolulu July 24 and July 25, with a stop in Anchorage, Alaska, on Wednesday. Read more
