 M-C-B-H, Marine Corps Base, Hawaii, wow, exciting. Okay, and we have today as Spiros, Spiros... Spiros Kumparakis. Kumparakis, of course, I knew that, all right? And we have Megan. Megan is Megan Ostrom, that's easier. Thank you for joining us today. You guys are in the environmental effort at Kanihoi. So I have some questions for you. Welcome to the show. So why is Megan not in uniform? And Megan, you can still salute me if you wish. Well, Jay, it's great to see you again. Aloha, thank you for having me. Megan, I'm back here with you today. I think we first met a couple of years ago and I really appreciated that Megan is one of our civilian Marines who help ensure the continuity and the kind of connection to Hawaii. And I'll let Megan talk a little bit about herself, but she does a fantastic job of not only knowing how to make sure we connect with the community, but also how to lead our efforts to be part of the community. So this is about community then, your environmental efforts are about community. And I mean, the military has to avoid aggravating the community. It has to protect the environment. Marines are no exception. And Kaniyoi is right there and this is Christine Kaniyoi Bay, which is really an icon of environment. So it's very important what you do. So, but let me ask, you know, Spiros, what do you do? Is this all you do? Are you the commander? What is your situation? Well, Jay, I'm the commander of Marine Corps Base Hawaii and that's actually about eight properties across two islands. It includes Camp Smith, our Pulao Range over at Ava Beach, a small Pearl City Annex and Manana Housing there in the Pearl City area. And it also includes Bellows Training Area out by Waimanalo. Most people recognize Marine Corps Base Hawaii as the old Marine Corps Air Station, Kaniyoi Bay, but it's actually more than that. And as the commanding officer of the base, we have kind of core missions. We like to say that our mission is to project power from our 7,800 foot runway that's located here in Kaniyoi Bay. We produce readiness and we do that through our training and the training ranges we maintain. We promote resiliency. So what is that resiliency for our Marines, our sailors and their families, as well as our civilians who work for us. And then ultimately we protect our resources. So as you see in the emblem just over my head here, it's surrounded by those four Ps that we talk about. And today we're going to talk a little bit about how we protect resources and promote resiliency about half of our mission. It is I who should be saluting you, Spiro. This is last time, I am always impressed to talk to commanders, especially Kaniyoi, which is iconic in there, like forever and it's provided Marines to go anywhere in the Pacific region. That is really fantastic. How do you like your job? How can I get your job? It's a really good job, Jay. I would first say the first thing you have to do is go back in time, just a couple of years, choose Marine Corps and then be fortunate enough to survive some pretty interesting jobs that I probably should have gotten fired for and then be lucky enough to be selected for what I think is probably one of the best jobs in the Marine Corps. It's the fact that we, a base like this in a place like this is where people raise their families. It's where Marines and sailors prepare for war or those things that happen less than war. And it also is in a place with an incredible culture. The Mokapu Peninsula here at Kaniyoi Bay connected to both Kailua, Kaniyoi Bay and even Heia as the peninsula was part of Heia and its original aqua. As you learn about that and as folks like Megan have helped teach me over the last two and a half years, it just reminds you how special it is and why it's important to protect our resources because it is the only earth we've got. And if we don't really think about how we protect our resources, then what are we all actually doing here to make sure that we can have a better tomorrow for our next generation? All right, and also it's got great Mongolian barbecue. It does in the Friday night, Mongolian barbecue still goes there at the jewel of the Pacific, at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii Officers Club. And the lounge is still a pretty fun place to be on a first Friday. And your picture is there except you're in marine dress, right? Yeah, I am a little bit more dressed up in the way too many pictures around the base of me. Okay, thank you, it's really, it's always fun to talk to commanders. I died, you know, because I'm a civilian and I can say what I want and I really appreciate that. Well, Megan, what do you do for Spiros? So my role here at Marine Corps Base Hawaii for colonels, Kuparakis is really encroachment management and being aware and ready to manage those factors that can potentially negatively impact the ability of the Marines to be ready for deployment when they are called upon to whatever part of the world that they need to serve their mission. Encroachment factors have traditionally been thought of as those things that are right up against our fence line that can prevent Marines from reaching their readiness goals. So that could be development outside the fence line or within our airspace that negatively affects our aircraft. But kind of going back to what we talked a little bit about at the very start of the call with community, we look at encroachment really at a broader scale and how we are in our community together. And it's not just how we are as Marines here on the base, operating on the base, the Marines are part of the community, part of that external community outside of the base as well. And I'm sorry, I have a... So it's a confluence in sorts. One hand, you want to prevent encroachment. And Spiros, we had just some of this conversation before, I think, in response last time. So it's two things. It's you want to prevent encroachment to avoid any interference with the Marine readiness and training. At the same time, you want to avoid factors that negatively impact the environment. So it's kind of an intersection of those two things. Spiros, can you help us with the intersection? How do those two things intersect? Well, see, one of the biggest things we try to do is have a space to conduct training. And we understand that a lot of our training is impactful on our community. We have a fantastic training range down at Waimanalo in the vicinity of Waimanalo called the Marine Corps Training Aerospace. That's a perfect example of where the two come together. So we have an agreement with the city and county and there on the weekends at Bellows, we allow the city and county to take ownership so that around 12 o'clock on a Friday until about zero eight in the morning on a Monday, that Marine Corps training landing error where we will conduct amphibious operations is actually turned over to the city and county and managed there on the weekend. And we appreciate that type of relationship. And I think that's a good example of the confluence of kind of resiliency encroachment where we say, let's be good stewards. Let's make sure we've got a place that we can conduct an amphibious raid and amphibious landing. But when we're not training on it, how do we make sure that there's access appropriate and controlled access to that beautiful resource for families to go and have a great time on the weekend? I think that's a great example. And Megan has also continued to look for examples like that as we think about not just encroachment at the fence line. We don't want a large building to grow up next to a base because a nefarious actor might want to look inside the base and see what's going on. That's kind of what most people think of when they think of encroachment, but we think of it more holistically. What about a watershed area that if there was development or growth or environmental damage to a watershed that leads to the Board of Water Supplies water supply that then leads to the base? Well, that's an area that we would really like to collaborate with the city, county, the state and our federal delegation to say, let's think about how we protect that resource, which is important to all of us, so that ultimately as it flows down to the base and we're buying that water from Board of Water Supply, we feel comfortable and safe that that resiliency is there. So that's the kind of difference as someone who came from the mainland who spent a lot of time on kind of East Coast DC, you might see it as its defense line, but here it's about a collaborative effort with the community for resiliency of the community because we're definitely not alone when crisis happens and whether it's a hurricane, a tsunami or an attack, just as we remembered yesterday and December 7th, the 81st anniversary, it impacts the entire community when there's an event and so we want to be part of that conversation and we think we've got resources that can help. Oh, wow, I've had a lot of questions. So suppose, let me start with this. Let me go to Megan because I'll give her equal time. I hope that's okay. So Megan, what kind of factors are environmental factors that you want to deal with? They may have also the intersectional effect of affecting readiness, but there might be five factors that affect the environment and people get concerned about the environment and of course we all are concerned about the environment. So what can you do at Coneoie? What can you do as the environmental person at Coneoie to preserve the environment? So we have a lot of exciting programs that are available to us with our Approachment Management Program and many of these programs are not only available to us here in Marine Corps Base Hawaii, but they're available to us in our community as well and actually predominantly intended for use outside of the fence line of installation properties. One of those programs is the readiness and environmental protection integration program, the REPI program, which you may be familiar with. And that program is a partnership opportunity. It's a partnership program that's funded through Congress. Money goes to the Office of the Secretary of Defense where money is appropriated for conservation projects predominantly outside of military installations and those conservation projects largely focus on there's more landscape level type concerns, environmental concerns. Here at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, we're concerned about threatened and endangered species, which we are federally required to protect and enhance their habitat so that we can continue our mission. We're required to look at resiliency, like the Colonel was speaking to regarding water. So what can we do to protect our upper watersheds so that it is maintained with those native species that continue to act like a sponge and absorb so that our aquifers can be recharged and the community as a whole can have fresh drinking water. Cultural resources are also something that are vitally important to us here at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. On our installation, we are honored to be the caretakers of many different sacred cultural sites and resources. And- Oh, is that so on Kaniyia Base? On the base, yes. Oh, wow, that's incredible. And likewise, it's very important that we care for those, but through some of these federal programs, we want to help the community and the state and the city and county and federal entities that are doing that excellent preservation work outside of our gates as well so that there's continuity throughout the community as a whole protecting all of our resources together as a collective. Okay, so does that mean that you go out with a shovel sometimes and move the earth around or do you hire contractors to do that? Do you speak with the city and county? Do you speak with the state government, ELNR? I mean, you out there talking to, say, as the Colonel mentioned, for example, a developer who wants to build a 39-story building to overwork the fence. Are you out there talking to people? Is that a part of your job? A big part, probably the biggest part of my job is being out in the community, talking with people. If I'm in my office and people can find me easily, I'm not doing my job right, actually. There'll be a note on my door that says, call cell phone. And a big part of that is not just me getting out there connecting with people, it's making sure that our commanding officer is building those relationships in a meaningful and authentic way. It's making sure that our Marines are out in the community building those relationships. And yes, at some times it could be lifting a shovel. Other times it's a meeting. It's about inviting the community on to our installation properties as well with that controlled appropriate access and how we work together collectively. So you have a budget where you can hire a contractor. On behalf of the Marine Corps, where you can get things done through environmental projects, am I right? So I'll take this one. I wish I had an unlimited budget, but obviously we have constraints, the fiscal constraints, and even something like a continuing resolution can slow down our progress as we're trying to move forward. But what I will say is that, as we look at three key elements, it's our natural resources, our cultural resources, and our historical resources on the base because we also have the importance of a place like Hangar 101, which was attacked on December 7th, 1941, and the very first Medal of Honor was given to, at the time, Chief Petty Officer John Finn, important location that's actually a historic landmark, and then the cultural resources that can date back over 600 years. And so those are the type of things that we want to protect. So we do have a fairly large environmental compliance team that are civilian Marines and contractors. We've got PhDs, we've got archeologists, and we have folks who have well studied and well versed in kind of native Hawaiian culture to make sure that we're not misstepping. And they're on site at job, so if we bring in a contractor to do work on the airfield to do repaving, they'll actually be an archeologist who will be on site so that if we were to find an archeological, something of archeological significance, say EVI or the Bones of Ancestors, we'll stop. And then we'll start to work very closely with our partners like DLNR, Bishop Museum, so many other, and the native Hawaiian organizations that we traditionally work with who have connections to the Mokapu Peninsula so that we don't do any missteps and anything wrong with the cultural resources of this base. That's very wise. So, the legislature's coming up in the middle of January, you're gonna be down there, you'll be walking the halls, and if you're walking the halls, are you gonna be wearing your fatigues and a dress uniform? If I leave the base and I'm off base, I have to dress up, so I can wear this on base, but if I'm stopped and walking through town, and you, or Jay, if you see a Marine walking through town in this uniform, you can tell him, Colonel Kuparaka said, that's not accurate, that's not a Liberty uniform, and you need to get in a more dressy uniform the next time you're out in town. Yeah, I don't have to put him on a reporter or anything, do I? Just a nice, subtle, tactful reminder is all we ask. Tell him, I was in the Coast Guard 50 years ago, and maybe that'll affect my influence. So, you know, back in the day, and I guess it's not that easy to get out there for an ordinary person, but I visited the firing range, and the firing range is actually in the write-up for this discussion. The firing range is really beautiful at the far end there, at the right-hand side, I guess that's the east side of the base, and you've got trained Marines to fire weapons, there it is. But I suppose there's an environmental impact on that. What can you do to minimize that impact if there is one, Megan? Well, as Colonel spoke about earlier, our environmental team that we have here on the base, they monitor for, you know, we do actually happen to have a red-footed booby colony that is thriving in the middle of our live fire range there in the colony, and is growing. And as part of, you know, kind of that balance of having to sustain training and keep Marines ready, we also have that responsibility for environmental stewardship, and as that we have measures in place that protect those birds and allow them to continue to live and thrive in the area. We also have measures in place for operational range clearance program that keeps our ranges in a sustained factor, so we regularly clean those ranges, maintain those ranges for the overall use and enjoyment of our military readiness and our overall environment. So go ahead, Colonel, go ahead. Oh, I was just gonna add a surprising secondary effect from having a range like that. So the small island right behind that's not part of Marine Corps Base Hawaii is Mokomonu. Because we conduct firing, people can't visit it on a normal basis. And as a result of us conducting training on the Ulapal Crater, we have cultural sites and natural resources that are actually thriving because we don't allow humans to go when we're firing weapons. And so that reduction of contact has made for some very special places. So it's interesting that because we bomb inside of a very tight window and square or we shoot weapons into a very tight window and square, we're actually doing more to protect a larger area behind it because people don't have access. And the same holds true. And that's why we have to do that operational range clearance on a cyclical basis so that we can remove old either unexploded ordnance or lead material so it doesn't leach or move outside of our very, very controlled impact areas. How do you keep the booby birds out of the line of fire? By the way, I have a small Yorkshire terrier and she would probably help you if you needed somebody to bark them away. But how do you keep them out of the line of fire? The boobies love a certain spot up by battery Pennsylvania. And we've tried over the past probably 10, 15 years to move them in a direction that would keep them away from the direct line of fire. And they will not, they have their spot. They really like it. And so we have actually moved our range ever so slightly and changed our impact areas so as not to impact them. We've actually added cannons that fire water suppression to keep any fires that might happen from hitting them and keeping them safe as well. So I think the mitigation has really worked and they are thriving in a spot that I don't know why they're thriving so much. Good, outstanding, they also have an iconic quality about the booby birds. Although they can be a nuisance, I know when you fly to the South Pacific Islands, they're a risk in terms of getting into your engines and so far speaking of which, I remember the time it was called Coney O'aille Marine Corps Air Base. You referred to some aircraft a little while ago. Are there still aircraft flying in and out of Coney O'aille or is that history? How has it changed and how will it change? So we're really excited right now. So traditionally, this had been a maritime patrol base for the Navy with the PBY Catalinas and its original state. A few years ago, we had the P3s, those squadrons have all deactivated and now we have a permanent detachment of P8s that fly in and out, which is a fantastic detachment. So they're not actually home-based here. The home-based aircraft, the Navy used to have two C40s for logistics and then the Navy also has HSM-37, which is their 60 Romeo's, which deploy with the ships out of Pearl Harbor. Now for the Marine Corps, our two biggest squadrons are two VMMs, which are the V-22 Osprey squadrons. Those are our two largest squadrons. We used to have the 53 Sea Stallions and the HMLA, which is a light attack helicopters. Those two squadrons have deactivated this year. We're going through an environmental process right now through the NEPA process for the National Environmental Policy Act. We're conducting an environmental assessment, looking at the historical as well as the cultural and the natural resources to see if bringing in C-130s and MQ-9s would be appropriate to home-based here. And so we're reviewing that process, but within the plan, the comment on the Marine Corps believes he needs aircraft that can't not to fly around Hawaii, but to deploy from Hawaii. And so we think that if this were to be approved and we move forward with it, that now you would have aircraft like C-130s or K-130s, which can do refuel operations and equipment that can leave from Hawaii and go to Guam and the rest of the first and second island chain in the Pacific, as well as MQ-9s. And we're not looking at an attack variant. We're looking at a sensor variant that could loiter for many, many hours over some of our friends in the Pacific and let them know that we just want to know what they're doing. Yeah, I suppose if you had C-130s, you could resupply. They're applying the pipelines. Well, the V-22 can actually be refueled off of the K-130. So that V-22 that's local here can actually fly. And twice in the last two years, we've flown V-22s from Australia back to Hawaii and from Hawaii all the way to Guam. And we had support from one of the Coast Guard, KC-130Js that are now out at Barber's Point and they flew along with us to get to Guam. So it's a great maritime team right now. Yes, oh, I'm happy to hear that. So Megan, how do you deal with people in the environment outside the base and say planes? You wanna fly planes over my head? How do you deal with that? It's a lot of education, a lot of conversations and really helping people understand the mission as to why we train, where we train and the need for our Marines and Airmen and Sailors and everything to be ready. And once you start having those conversations and you kind of explain it in that manner and not in a passive way, but in a more personal way, like attending neighborhood board meetings, going to Native Hawaiian Civic Club meetings or other community civic organization meetings, inviting people onto our installation to meet our pilots and our operators. Our community understands what we need to do and why we need to do it. And part of that too is us also understanding how we are in a community and that, yes, the Marine Corps does have an effect on the community and being mindful of each other's needs, requests and that it's going to be a give and take. But it's a continual conversation that we have together. It's not something that happens in a vacuum or in a silo. It's something that we will continually work through as a community. I hope that conversation actually includes the notion of patriotism to the United States. But I think that's a driving feature, at least for me, all you got to do is say, this is in the interest of the United States and I'm yours. And I think a lot of people could react that way, just help us for the country, man, the country. It's not a question of you and your NIMBY, it's the country. Do you use that particular line of discussion? I think what we tend to focus on is there is a mission, there's a reason behind everything we do. And if there's a perception that we're doing it because we're jewelry writing around the island, we want to make sure we explain the why. There's a reason why a Marine will fly at night on MVGs to prepare for the most difficult flying they'll ever do. That's very difficult training and they've got to get through those wickets. And if they don't train that way, then I don't want to send them into combat. And so we appreciate the patience that folks have with us. And when they do have questions, we're more than willing to answer them and hopefully answer them in a way that makes sense. Respectful conversations are always good. It doesn't mean you're going to win over a critic, but it does hopefully mean we have a dialogue that we can continue to discuss things in the future. If you have any hard cases, send them to me and I'll explain the patriotism angle, okay? The other thing is, okay, so we have kind of a pivot. Obama was talking about it a few years ago and it's certainly coming true now for a lot of good geopolitical reasons. And Hawaii has to be strong, it has to be well staffed essentially with the military. Very important that we have the military present and functioning here in Oahu and all through the islands. So people say that in the future, there'll be more. And the pivot goes for a while. And assuming that, how does that change things for Kaneo'i Marine Corps base? Because you might see more troops there. You might see more of a mission, more training, more of a hub, if you will, of military activity in the Pacific. Has that looked to you, Colonel? Well, I think we're already there. I think our commandant, General Berger, who was actually stationed here, understood the importance of Hawaii and over three years ago, started coming up with something called force design. And so we're already two years into that force design. I think the units and the type of fighting we'll do will be different. They may be smaller, a little more agile and need to be able to get into places quickly. So when we talk about MQ-9s and KC-130s, and then we talk about this group called the Third Marine Latoral Regiment, which was the old Third Marine Regiment, it's already redesignated and we're looking at how they conduct training. They deployed as an MLR out to the Philippines last year or earlier this year at Balakantan. They'll deploy again to the Philippines to build that continued relationship as Balakantan, shoulder to shoulder. And they're a unit that does something other than just close with, destroy the enemy by fire maneuver. We're bringing in new systems like anti-ship missiles that can be fired from the shore. We're looking at integrating sensor packages that give target quality data so that if a commander needed to punch a hole in the side of a ship, you don't have to just think about another ship doing it, but Marines could actually do that on the commander's behalf. Wow. So we've been through a couple of wars in Middle East, Central Asia, and the Marines have been there, they're always there. And I wonder how that's changed not only the rules of engagement, but the manner of engagement and thus the training for engagement. Have you seen that? I'm sure you have seen it in your career about how a Marine force, large or small, operates differently in a world that's different. Well, I think the first thing is we've got a lot of great experience from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. And we wanna take those lessons learned and apply them to a different dynamic. The rules of engagement will be different in the Pacific. I think the biggest thing that's different is the number of allies that we have that are in harm's way, if you will. And the type of weapon system a potential adversary has. It makes the stakes very, very high. It doesn't give you the dominance in the air that you might have had over Iraq or Afghanistan. And so it makes us think about how we're going to deploy and create what we call the stand-in force. The Marines who are located in Hawaii, most of their bosses are in Japan. They are part of the stand-in force. And we don't do anything without our partner, the Japanese, without the Australians, without our New Zealand partners, and our growing and continued relationship with the Philippines. And of course, Korea, our only place that's actually on the continent, we have Marine bases and Army bases there in Korea. And so it's a dangerous neighborhood. And the biggest danger is probably a natural disaster. And so while we have to think about competition and fighting against a pure threat, we also have to think about the continued and most likely action, which is the United States and its assets coming to save people's lives after a natural disaster. And so we want to be prepared for all of those types of operations. And that kind of drives the size of force you want here in Hawaii. And the other thing Hawaii provides, it's a path through location. We call it a regional support activity. So not only do we need to be prepared to send Marines away, but as a Marine expeditionary unit flows through from California or aircraft come through, this should be a place where they can rest for a few minutes, rearm, and then get them to where they need to go to conduct the missions of the United States. And I think that holds true for the entire joint force, for the Navy, for the Air Force, for the Coast Guard, for us in the Army, it truly is the middle Pacific that provides that regional support activity. Now people always wonder, they wonder whether in the case of, for example, extreme weather or some other kind of natural disaster. Or worse, whether the military in Hawaii will be there to help the civilians. And I take it from what you're saying, the answer to that is yes. And that we need not be concerned that if some, for example, a hurricane hits Hawaii, which is likely to do one of these days, that the Marines and all the other services as well, will stand up and help people even in a time of great distress, am I right? You're correct, we actually have plans ready and teams ready to do those direct support to civilian authority missions, disk emissions here in Hawaii. And our base becomes an important hub, as well as the Army and Navy and Air Force bases become important hubs to support our local authorities. And I'd say the other piece to this, to come back to the environment, you know, our President, our Secretary of the Navy, our Secretary of Defense have all talked about climate change. And I would say the Department of Defense and the military here at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, we understand that the climate is changing. And so we have to build a resilient base with the appropriate funding to make sure that we can survive as tides continue to rise as types of weather events become more erratic and less, you know, more difficult to forecast. We need to make sure that we're looking at, you know, engineering with nature in mind so that we have that resiliency so that if we are hit, our bases are those resilient places for the community. Yeah, it's like when you fly in a plane and the oxygen mask is supposed to come down over your head, the adults should put it on first so that the adult can help the child. That's the same thing. You have to be ready to help us and you're not gonna be ready unless you're not only sustainable, but also resilient. But I would be remiss if I did not ask Megan about the base, the base, the Caleole Marine Corps base. It is beautiful. It has always been beautiful. It is a long tradition of being beautiful. And when you drive through the base and you see such care, such attention to every open space and every building, every sign, every roadway, is it still like that, Megan? And what do you have to do with that? Are you down there mowing the lawn too? That would be fun from time to time to jump on one of those riding mowers. I think that might be more enjoyable than responding to email. But, you know, I have been fortunate enough to have been born and raised here in Wynward O'ahu and now continuing to live here and work just down the road for my parents, raise my kids here now. And every day I drive in and I get to, you know, come through Kailua onto a little bit of the H3 and look out, didn't see Kaneohe Bay on one side, Kailua Bay on the other and drive and look at the Nuupia ponds, which are beautiful. And Marine Corps Base Hawaii has spent over 20 years restoring those ponds. When I was young, those ponds were completely choked out with mangrove and you couldn't see any of the open water. The habitat wasn't there for the endangered native water bird species. Now that habitat is there and it's thriving and that's in thanks to the Marine Corps. And it doesn't mean that, you know, that they're done. The work continues. The environmental improvement here continues. The team is never stopping to explore those opportunities here on the base and then in partnership with the community as to how can we continue to keep this place beautiful and make it beautiful for the years to come while the Marine Corps are the stewards of this peninsula. You know, as Bureau, I just remembered that one of your predecessors, a couple of commanders ago was like so into environment and energy, it'll clean energy that, you know, I was on the energy policy forum at the time. This commander was like everywhere. And he was famous within the energy community. Do you remember who that might be? He retired a long time ago, but it was quite something the way the Marines were presenting on clean energy at the time. So I don't know which commander it was off the top of my head, but I've talked to several of the commanders than whether it be my predecessor, Colonel Lioness, his predecessor, Kid Colleen and Toaster Anacarico. There's just a lot of history and tradition of the base commanders. In fact, I still talk to many of them. There one is Babar, he was a fantastic commander here. It was the first Colonel who was selected on a board to be the commander, Babar Rice was his name. And so I get a chance to meet them every once in a while and we talk about just how things are going. Clean energy, energy reduction, any way that we can reduce the demand on HECO and the local community is fantastic. But at the same time, we also have ACs that aren't only running in our housing, but go down to server farms to make sure that servers are gonna stay cold enough to keep a data center open. And those types of things and keeping very, very sensitive equipment and large aircraft or large technical equipment in an air conditioned space, that uses up a lot of energy. So for me, it's not just about the environment, but it also costs us a significant amount of money to the taxpayer per year. So we do it and we look for opportunities, not just because it's the right thing to do, but it's the right thing on so many levels, both for the environment, as well as to the bottom line and the taxpayer's dollars that we're charged with managing. You know, I asked you before how I could get your job. I'm even more focused on that now. You must love your job. You sound like you love your job. And it's great. I love the job because we're surrounded by incredible people who love this place more than I do because they grew up here and they wanna make sure it's taken care of. And then the question is leaders, right? We always ask ourselves, are we listening to our people? Are we listening to the community? Are we taking the advice? And then how do we make decisions that in a very short amount of time as a commander, create positive change in the right direction? And so the good news is we've got such a great team. The bad news is budgetary constraints only allow you so much discretionary spending. And so as we look to that little discretionary we have, we wanna put it in the right places. And we think protecting our base and the environment and the resiliency of our community is a really good place to invest taxpayers' dollars. Megan, how much of that do you agree with? I completely agree with it. And adding on top of that is that's where our partnerships come into play. So earlier you were asking, well, who do we work with? And it's the Department of Land and Natural Resources. It's the city and county of Honolulu. It's the University of Hawaii and the research and innovation that they're doing here on our installation with, you know, wave energy testing locations offshore. And then, you know, we've got Hawaii, it's due to marine biology, you know, right in our backyard as well that we partner with. It's looking at that resiliency in the community. So we on the peninsula, we are dependent on resources coming in from the outside. So there are programs, you know, thanks to our federal delegation who advocate for these things in Washington, DC, where there are grants available to our military communities to help with resiliency, for energy resiliency, for our water infrastructure, for our roadways, because this base is sustained not only by Marines, but by their civilian workforce who live in Kaneohe, Kailua, some even, you know, over the mountain in Ewa. And we all depend on having those resources available to us to be ready to serve in our own way. And we have to second that. Go ahead, go ahead. I have to second that, you know, as we work with all levels of elected officials from our neighborhood boards up to the federal delegation, we've seen it time and time again and I've seen it in the last two and a half years. Our federal delegation is doing a fantastic job to explain to the rest of the United States why Hawaii is important. And when they do that, it helps, it actually comes back to help not just the local community, but the readiness of the military forces here and the command and control from, you know, Admiral Acollino and Indo Pecom all the way down to a Lance Corporal who needs to be ready to get on a plane tonight, just in case there's something going wrong in the world. And Hawaii supports that. So going back to your comment about patriotism, that that's really what it's about. Do we have Lance Corporals ready to follow an Admiral's orders to go make the world a better place? And who does an ally want, who wants to have an ally that also doesn't care about the environment? And I think when you look across the world at how other countries are taking care of their own resources and how we take care of ours, it is a factor that makes us the ally of choice in the world. Thank you both and thank you for your service. Okay, Spiro, Megan, it's been a great discussion. Really appreciate it. Thank you for joining us today on Think Tech. I hope we can meet again soon. The Colonel and me, we have a thing going. We're gonna do this again and again. Jay, I just wanna thank you again. And I still remember the comment you told me. It was very, it really hit home with me. It's like, when you come over the Polly or the H3 and you see that peninsula, you said, that's my big brother. He's quiet right now, but if someone pushed me around, my big brother is gonna come and punch you in the mouth. And so we still are your big brother ready to go punch somebody in the mouth. We want that. We look to you for that. Thank you both so much. Aloha. All right, Jay. Aloha. Thank you. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.