Elite Army rangers train in Hawaii as Pacific interest grows
The soldiers were methodical as they went through their gear and prepared to venture into the jungle Tuesday. They had just arrived by helicopter at the Army’s jungle warfare school in Wahiawa — known as the Lightning Academy — after conducting a beach landing by boat and launching a simulated raid at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows.
After they accounted for their equipment, they moved carefully into the thick jungle as rain began to fall and humidity gripped the air.
They’re members of the Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment who have been in Hawaii the past two weeks. In the past two decades, the unit was continually deployed, conducting dangerous raids in Iraq and Afghanistan as Rangers were thrust into some of the most intense battles of those conflicts.