MCB HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii -- Marines conducting live-fire training at U'lupau Range Training Facility aboard MCB
Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, will be able to train more efficiently after the installation of five
buoys, Oct.3-5.
The buoys cost the base an estimated cost of $75,000, and were assembled and installed
by the crew of the USS Coast Guard Cutter Kukui of Honolulu.
The Coast Guardsmen will continue to perform maintenance on these eight-foot-high
floating devices that mark the surface danger zone for boaters, fishermen and aircrews
traveling around the crater.
"According to the Code of Federal Regulations, Note A, on nautical chart 19357 of Oahu;
small arms firing areas are closed to navigation when ranges are hot," said Maj. John S.
Claucherty, deputy chief of staff, G-3, MCB Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay.
Prior to the installation of the buoys, there were no objects to mark the area as prohibited
to boaters during live-fire training. The buoys mark the triangle-shaped danger zone for
5.56 mm ammunition used on the range.
"The range also flies 8-foot-long flags when the range is hot," Claucherty added."
"Previously, this was the only way boaters knew live-fire training was going on."
"The majority of boaters understand the Marines are training for war, and they respect
that," Claucherty explained. "They will go around the buoys, and the benefit is that when
the flag is down and the range is not hot, the buoys are FADs [Fish Aggregation
Devices]."
The range will soon install strobe lights that will illuminate the range's red marking flag
during night live-fire training.
"The base staff is doing this and other similar projects to directly support the tenant
commanders preparation for war," said Claucherty.