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.
For the second year in a row, the Defense Department is reportedly planning to zero out funding for the $1.9 billion Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii — a move that could represent a death knell for the costly radar that’s now seen as less of a priority among evolving missile threats and competing demands. Read more
Dillingham Airfield, which has been riding a wave of business generated by mainland tourists seeking to skydive or take a glider flight, may be able to continue general aviation activity beyond a June 30 cutoff with a new agreement close at hand between the state and Army. Read more
Gov. David Ige recently noted that Maj. Gen. Suzanne Vares-Lum made history as the first Native Hawaiian female to attain the rank of general officer in the Army. Read more
On his 100th birthday Thursday, USS Arizona survivor Ken Potts, one of just two men still alive from the ill-fated battleship, was feted with an Army Black Hawk helicopter ride, a meet-up with a Navy F-18 Super Hornet and crew, and a parade of well-wishers who drove past his Provo, Utah, home. Read more
The Navy has confirmed that the sailor who died from an apparent self- inflicted gunshot wound Sunday at the Kahala Hotel & Resort was a lieutenant commander assigned to the Naval Submarine Support Center at Pearl Harbor. Read more
Russell Cruz, 40, of New York was a submarine warfare-qualified supply officer, the Navy said. Read more
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Hawaii is one of just 11 states with National Guard troops on a second round of security duty at the U.S. Capitol, as they also help with COVID-19 and vaccinations back home. Read more
After years of delays, Veterans Affairs is moving ahead with an 88,675-square-foot outpatient clinic in Kalaeloa named after former Hawaii U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka which is expected to greatly improve access to veteran care when it opens in the fall of 2024. Read more
An official said there was no misconduct on the part of Cmdr. Kathryn Dawley. Read more
Servco Pacific Inc., which says it is Hawaii’s largest private company and one of the top 15 largest automobile dealer groups based in the United States, is planning to lease acreage at the former Naval Air Station Barbers Point for what could eventually be a huge auto lot, according to officials and business owners there. Read more
The Coast Guard’s five newest cutters in Honolulu — including two of the service’s most capable 418-foot vessels — continue to reach farther across the Pacific to combat illegal fishing and counter the growing influence of China. Read more
In a discussion Tuesday on the future of the Army in the Indo-Pacific, two top service leaders reiterated that the ground force isn’t stepping on the toes of the Marine Corps or Air Force budgetwise or operationally in developing long-range missiles. Read more
The Marine Corps just wrapped up a pair of ambitious multiservice island-hopping exercises, offering a blueprint for how it plans to fight in the Western Pacific by bringing to bear fast-moving and highly connected forces from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Space Force. Read more
Honouliuli National Historic Site has its first superintendent, but the generally slow pace of planning within the National Park Service means it might take five or more years before construction of visitor services could even start at the wartime internment camp that held Japanese Americans. Read more
The Army said Ryan is a native of Pearl River, New York. He graduated from the United States Military Academy and began his military career as an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper with the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment in 1992. Read more
The likely new head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on Oahu told a Senate panel that the possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan “is much closer to us than most think” but gave less specificity than current commander Adm. Phil Davidson, who recently cautioned such a move might happen in the next six years. Read more
A Marine stationed at Camp H.M. Smith conducting skydiving training at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows this morning hit and was caught in a tree and was treated and transported in critical condition to The Queen’s Medical Center, officials said. Read more
The Marine Corps in Hawaii will be getting six big MQ-9A Reaper drones that can be armed with missiles as the Corps as a whole pursues “a deliberate but aggressive” path toward unmanned systems to gain advantage over China. Read more
Tripler uses an approximation of 150,000 for active duty, retirees and dependents in Hawaii, but that includes an undetermined number of children under 16 who are not eligible for the vaccine. Read more
Both the F-22 and Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II are stealth fighters with advanced sensors that are intended to integrate with other U.S. forces. Read more
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating the apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Read more
