Hawaii is the nerve center of US defense activities in the Pacific. CINCPAC (Commander-in-Chief Pacific), headquartered at Camp H. M. Smith in Honolulu, directs the US Pacific Command, largest of the six US unified commands and responsible for all US military forces in the Pacific and Indian oceans and southern Asia. Military prime contract awards in the fiscal year 2001totaled $1.3 billion.
As of 2002, Hawaii was home base for 62,597 Department of Defense military and civilian personnel on 7 military installations and properties. The US Navy and Marines accounted for 24,899 personnel; the Army, 26,990; and the Air Force, 9,641. Pearl Harbor is home port for 40 ships. The major Army bases, all on Oahu, are Schofield Barracks, Ft. Shafter, and Ft. DeRussy; Air Force bases include Hickam and Wheeler. Military reservations occupy nearly one-fourth of Oahu's land area.
There were 120,587 veterans of US military service in Hawaii as of 2000, of whom 19,844 served in World War II; 13,132 in the Korean conflict; 35,738 during the Vietnam era; and 18,312 during 1990–2000 (including the Persian Gulf War). Veterans' benefits totaled $245 million in fiscal year 2002.