I'm a sub vet as well. I'm actually on the last 2 months of my shore duty, and I'm out. Oahu definitely has it's ups and downs...You really can't beat the weather here....If you're into water sports, or anything out doors, it's really the place to be. Housing might be in the same range as Cali....a little higher than northern cali though. As far as the racism thing, Hawaii is no better or worse than any other place I've lived in. It all depends on how you project yourself, and how people decide to react to it. A lot of caucasians have never experienced racism prior to coming to hawaii, and have a bad reaction to it, and end up hating the place.
Think about that last sentence I just wrote before you decide to react to it. When was the last time you were actually racially discriminated against, or called racial names in an offensive manner?
Don't get me wrong, it's not a "hate-on-whitey" free for all here. Just don't freak out the first time someone calls you the "h" word....it's not even derogatory to begin with...everyone just takes it the wrong way.