05-18-2011, 04:50 AM
A friend in the National Guard says that those 'copters are based at the NG facility at Hilo airport and have been on training exercises involving formation flying and other pretty routine stuff. If we ever have a sudden natural disaster of some sort, we may find ourselves very happy to have well-trained helicopter lift capacity nearby. The National Guard has a long and commendable history of "errands of mercy," so a few days of bother seems like a small price to pay.