Ballistic Missile Threat at Commander's Call

The Pacific Region Wing Commanders convened in Kauai, Hawaii this weekend for their annual commander's call. Among the multitude of items on the agenda was the new Continuous Compliance Program that is being developed in Pacific Region. Today, the commanders were joined by their new Compliance Officers to work through the second stage of the new program.

At the beginning of the meeting, a ballistic missile launch alert was received that Hawaii was the target. The region staff sprang into action and not only handled our Airmen but hundreds of civilians at the hotel. Pacific Region Vice Commander Col Tim Hahn was immediately appointed as the on-site incident commander.

Also present from the Pacific Region staff was the former Hawaii Wing Commander Col Jeff Wong, who is also a State of Hawaii Emergency Services Director. Both he and Col Hahn took control of the situation, began organizing Incident Command System (ICS) personnel, organized a shelter in place and kept hundreds of people calm during the 30 minutes until the alert was determined to be a false alarm. The actions of Col Hahn, Col Wong and the other members of the PCR team epitomize the professionalism and dedication of our entire organization.