GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Navy Cmdr. David Valente, left, and Lt. Cmdr Pete Davi do a flight check before a recent training mission at Kaneohe Bay. The C-20G they pilot is the military version of the Gulfstream IV personal jet.
Kaneohe reserves
are jet-settersThe Navy squadron gives
shuttle service for U.S. Central
Command and others
Windjammers were descendants of the clipper ship, built of iron and steel rather than wood, and dependent upon sail rather than steam.
Today's modern-day "Windjammers" fly sleek passenger jets from headquarters at Kaneohe Bay and still get to roam the world.
In fact, 10 members of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 51 (VR 51) -- one of the newest squadrons in the Naval Reserves -- are currently 12,000 miles on the other side of the globe providing air shuttle service for the U.S. Central Command and others involved in the war on terrorism.
Navy Cdmr. David Valente, a 1975 graduate of Kamehameha Schools and a first officer with Hawaiian Airlines, said that on Feb. 26, 10 of his squadron members and one of his two C-20Gs, a military version of the Gulfstream IV jet, were deployed to Qatar, along the west coast of the Persian Gulf.
Valente's unit will probably see more action since the Pentagon has decided to stop all U.S. flights from Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia and move its headquarters to Al Udeid air base in Qatar by the end of the summer.
"The crews serve on a 29-day deployment cycle," said Valente, who during 11 years in the Navy was a P-3C Orion subhunter pilot and on two aircraft carriers as a "shooter," or catapult and arresting gear officer.
Valente assumed command of the squadron, located in Hangar 5 at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, on April 26. It is made up of 80 people, one-third of them are active-duty sailors and aviators and the other two-thirds are reservists like Valente.
GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Navy Cmdr. David Valente, left, Petty Officer Jake Ferguson and Lt. Cmdr. Pete Davi stand in front of one of two C-20G jets belonging to Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 51 at Kaneohe Bay.
The Kaneohe Bay squadron is one of 14 run by the Fleet Logistics Support Wing based in Fort Worth, Texas. Besides the Gulfstreams, the wing consists of C-130 cargo aircraft, C-9s (which is the military's version of the DC-9 jetliner) and C-40s (military versions of 737 jets).
Only VR 51 is stationed overseas, and it deploys from Kaneohe to the U.S. Navy air facility in Atsugi, Japan, six times a year.
Flying out of Kaneohe, Valente, 46, said his squadron has provided transportation for diplomats, like Madeline Albright when she was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; congressional parties; and various commanders stationed to the Pacific.
When not shuttling Navy leaders and other dignitaries, the squadron flies humanitarian relief missions such as those conducted last year to Guam after two major typhoons swept through the Pacific island.
"There was no air traffic out of there for a while," Valente said, "except for the military."
The Gulfstream can be configured to carry passengers with the maximum seating for 26, Valente said, or it can be configured to carry both passengers and cargo strapped down on pallets.
Following the Oct., 12, 2000, terrorist attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen, Valente's squadron flew a team of Naval Criminal Investigative Services personnel from Italy, and on its return took out another contingent of Air Force doctors and supplies. Seventeen sailors were killed and 39 injured in the attack on the Cole.
As preparations for the latest U.S.-led offensive against Iraq intensified, the Navy activated 11 reservists, including seven pilots, to meet the increasing demands on the Hawaii squadron.
Several local airline pilots, including Lt. Cmdr. Dan Smeller, a Radford High School graduate and pilot with United Airlines, volunteered, Valente said.
Petty Officer Sylvia Gushiken Randolph, a 1988 Kohala High School graduate, said she left the Navy in 1997 thinking she needed a break after being in uniform for nearly 10 years as an aviation electronics technician.
However, Randolph wanted to keep her options open and decided to explore what was available to her as a naval reservist. She was offered the job as a loadmaster with VR-51.
"I love this job," Randolph added. "It's because there is immediate gratification. You go all over the world. ... I love the traveling."
Randolph was part of the four-member crew that took the team of naval investigators to Yemen three years ago.
Valente, who worked as a Honolulu firefighter for nearly five years while studying for a bachelor's degree at the University of Hawaii's West Oahu College, chose nearly the same route as Randolph.
He spent 11 years in the Navy after graduating from West Oahu College in 1984 and the Aviation Officer Candidate School a year later. Valente joined the Kaneohe Naval Reserve unit in 1997.
