Calling Military Training ‘Games’

Your editorial “Hold Up Those Naval Exercises” (May 3) suggests that the Navy should suspend “war games” until the results of an evaluation of the Puerto Rican government’s claims (that there are health risks from our training) are known. I take strong exception to your choice of the words “war games” to describe the training the Navy and Marine Corps conducts at Vieques. Use of such words trivializes the serious work and dedication of our air crews who train to go into harm’s way.

As they train for deployments to areas like the Persian Gulf, they are training for combat. In this year alone, there have been more than 200 separate incidents of Iraqi surface-to-air missile and antiaircraft artillery fire directed against Navy and coalition aircraft enforcing United Nations resolutions in the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq. There is nothing trivial about that.

Denying our military force the opportunity to conduct the realistic training at Vieques degrades its readiness to operate forward and its ability to take decisive and effective action against a threat. Last year, the USS Harry S. Truman Battle Group was forced to take a hiatus from training at Vieques. Still they deployed to the Persian Gulf into combat conditions without an adequate level of live-fire training. We must train as we fight. It’s not a game. It is serious business.

John B. Nathman

Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy

San Diego