Pfc. John Chiment, atop a Stryker vehicle, answered a question yesterday from Margot Goodwill, left, and Jim Erickson.
Stryker draws
praise and scornThe vehicles' size concerns
protesters but impresses others
Seeing a Stryker armored assault vehicle in person provoked both admiration and aversion at Alii Beach Park in Haleiwa yesterday.
"I've seen it on TV and it's really neat to see it in real life," said Dawson Jones of Pupukea. "I'm impressed with the technology inside the Stryker."
But Misti Pali, a University of Hawaii-Manoa student, is worried about the environmental effects.
"It's worse seeing them here," Pali said. "It's as big as a tank. I don't think 300 of those aren't going to do any damage."
Hundreds of people came to see two Stryker vehicles in the first of three public showings on Oahu, part of an Army public awareness campaign.
People were allowed to climb inside the Stryker, take a look at the equipment and ask any questions to soldiers who operate the 38,000-pound machine.
Two versions of the Stryker were flown in from Fort Wainwright in Alaska and Fort Lewis in Washington on a C-17 cargo jet last week.
Pfc. John Chiment from Fort Wainwright, a radio operator of the Stryker, said the most frequently asked question was whether the vehicle has air-conditioning.
"No," he tells them with a laugh.
Chiment added that he feels absolutely safe in the Stryker and was glad the community could see it.
"It gives people an opportunity to see it and to dispel any rumors and fear they may have," he said.
Irene Yamada, of Haleiwa, said: "There's nothing wrong with it. If it can do all they say it can do, it's a good investment by the government."
Yamada noted that the Stryker wasn't much different than she thought when she had seen it on television.
However, protesters weren't impressed with the vehicles.
"It's a war machine, but the showing is done in a way that's it's almost a toy," said Kyle Kajihiro, as he watched a child take a picture in front of the Stryker.
Kajihiro, a program director of the American Friends Service Committee of Hawaii, which opposes the Stryker in Hawaii, said he will be going to the other showings to educate people on the negative environmental effects of the Stryker.
Big Island residents were the first to get a glimpse of the Stryker vehicles over the weekend.
"Both the Army and the protesters got their message out, and the community had the opportunity to hear both sides," said Army spokeswoman Capt. Kathy Turner.
Earlier this month, the Army approved the conversion of the 2nd Brigade of Hawaii's 25th Infantry Division (Light) into a Stryker Brigade when it returns from Iraq to Schofield Barracks. The 291 Stryker vehicles for the unit are scheduled to start arriving in May 2006 in Hawaii.
The Strykers will be on display from 5 to 7:30 p.m. today at Wahiawa District Park and tomorrow at Waianae Intermediate School.
25th Infantry Division
www.25idl.army.mil
