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 time in 15 months, an armed sailor aboard a submarine undergoing maintenance at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard has died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Read more
The Hawaii National Guard said it is sending about 80 of its citizen soldiers to Washington D.C. to support U.S. Capitol Police until early May. Read more
Since the designation of the nation’s first National Heritage Area in 1984, there are now 55 NHAs nationally, but none in the state of Hawaii. Read more
A resolution introduced in the state Legislature calls for the Missile Defense Agency to “resist” siting a $1.9 billion defensive radar in Hawaii because it is a “prime example of wasteful Pentagon spending” during a time of unprecedented need for public services in health, education and welfare. Read more
The Marine Corps in Hawaii is losing all of its traditional helicopters — more than 35 in all — in a radical restructuring across the entire service branch to save $12 billion and spend it on new approaches to potentially fight China in the Western Pacific. Read more
Delivery of “DDG 118” represents the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy. Read more
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The military in Hawaii has started to vaccinate all eligible defense personnel 16 and up and created a drive-thru vaccination center at Wheeler Army Airfield. Read more
The trip will “highlight his vision for the Indo-Pacific region as a priority theater,” the Defense Department said. Read more
The imbalance of forces between China, which already has the world’s biggest navy in its backyard, and that of the United States, which needs to surge additional forces across the vastness of the Pacific, was put into sharper focus Tuesday at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Read more
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package passed Saturday by the Senate and poised for imminent passage in the House will provide over $6.1 billion in estimated funding for Hawaii. Read more
The Missile Defense Agency is back seeking public comment on two possible locations for a powerful ballistic missile defense radar on either the North Shore of Oahu or the west side of Kauai — both looking toward North Korea — with Congress most recently pumping $133 million into the plan. Read more
A fast-rising Navy admiral with Middle East experience and a background as an aircraft carrier fighter pilot has been nominated to take over U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor as some of the top Navy jobs in the region fall into place. Read more
China could soon be emboldened to try to “forcibly change” the existing order in the western Pacific, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said. Read more
The greatest danger the United States faces in the Pacific “is the erosion of conventional deterrence” with China, said the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, who submitted to Congress an assessment calling for $27.3 billion in spending from fiscal 2022 to 2027 to counter the rising Asian power. Read more
Family court records detail some of the emotional volatility that accompanied the relationship breakup. Roth’s history also pointed to the problem of sexual trauma in the military. Read more
A former Air Force staff sergeant and mother of two battered infants, including a son who died, is trying to regain custody of her daughter, now 3, who suffered “numerous” brain bleeds, a skull fracture, rib fractures and bruising on her face, according to court documents. Read more
The director of the Defense Health Agency acknowledged Friday that about one-third of service members still don’t want to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but he expects that to change with much greater acceptance to come. Read more
The Hawaii-based U.S. Pacific Fleet submarine force is getting a new commander, while Navy Region Hawaii will be saying goodbye to its current boss. Read more
Military members are not required to get COVID-19 shots because Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were approved under “emergency use authorizations” and not after full study. Read more
The Marine Corps later this year plans to activate in Hawaii its first-ever Marine Littoral Regiment — the centerpiece of a sweeping force redesign enabling troops to operate in small units with ship-killing missiles. Read more
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono has been appointed chair of the key Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, which provides oversight of most U.S. Navy and Marine Corps programs. Read more
