Aaron Pollick continues do an outstanding job on his Hawaii Army National Guard – Historical Facebook page.
A recent post shows a 1950 photograph of the advanced ROTC cadets of the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa attending training at Fort Lewis, Washington. Among those in the photograph are Alexis Lum, the future Adjutant General, Dewey Kim, the future chancellor for UH community colleges and Sol Kaulukukui, who served in the Hawai’i National Guard where he served in Vietnam and retired as a colonel.
Aaron provides comments about his experiences with General Lum. Be sure to continue reading at “see more” when you get to the site.
LTC Laura Soares shared the following information about three upcoming Hawai‘i National Guard events.
Transfer of Authority
There will be a Transfer of Authority (TOA) ceremony between the former Adjutant General Maj Gen Darryll Wong and the newly appointed Adjutant General BG Arthur “Joe” Logan. There will be a formation with Hawai‘i Army and Air National Guard representation with colors.
Where: 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Readiness Center
When: Sunday, February 8, 2015
Time: Ceremony starts at 1500
Uniform: ABU/ACU; aloha attire for retirees and guests
Senior Enlisted Leader Change of Responsibility
There will be a Change of Responsibility ceremony between the outgoing SEL, CMSgt Robert Lee and the new SEL CMSgt William Parker.
Where: Hale Koa Luau Gardens
When: Sunday, March 8, 2015
Time: Events start at 1700
Attire: Aloha
Cost: to be determined
CMSgt Lee will pay for 50% of cost for E5 and below
Retiree News will post updated information as planning for these events continue.
TAG Retirement Ceremony and Dinner
Maj Gen Darryll Wong’s retirement ceremony will be on Sunday, April 12, 2015. The ceremony will be at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, with the specific location to be determined (either at DV1 or the F-22 Hanger).
A dinner will follow later that evening at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Tapa Ballroom.
Retiree News will post updated information as planning for these events continue.
Rockne Edward Araujo, 71, of Hilo, a retired police sergeant for the Hawaii County Police Department, a supervisor for Securitas at the Hilo Airport, actor for Downtown Laundry Express TV commercials and National Guard veteran who served in the Vietnam War, passed away on January 6, 2015. He was born in Hilo.
He is survived by wife Viola “Vi” Hoeptner-Araujo; son Michael; hanai son Toby Kahauolopua; daughter Jennifer Hoeptner; mother Dorothy; brothers Christopher Araujo and Henry Kennedy Jr.; sisters Sheri Saurer, Trudy Takayama, Edith Delos Santos and Janice Sears; and five grandchildren.
From the This Day in Aviation website
Major Roger J. Smith, United States Air Force, a test pilot assigned to the F-15 Joint Test Force at Edwards AFB, California, flew the McDonnell Douglas F-15A-6-MC 72-0119, Streak Eagle, to its seventh Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) and a U.S. National Aeronautic Association time-to-altitude record. From brake release at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, the F-15 reached 20,000 meters (65,616 feet) in 122.94 seconds.
click on photograph to enlarge
Congratulations to Chief Wada on his retirement!
You can register to receive an email every time there is a new post. In the “Follow Blog via Email” section and press “Follow”. On the next screen, enter your email address and press ENTER. Shortly, you will receive a confirmation email to your address from WordPress.com. You acknowledge the email and you are a registered reader.
After you compete this short registration process, you get a notification email every time there is a new posting. The email has a quick teaser of the posting, along with tags that indicate how the posting relates to special topics/areas.
Thanks to these Retiree News readers who registered to “Follow Blog via Email”: James Sawa, Simon Wong, Nathan Koide, Stanley Miura
Thanks for the following new registered reader whose email address did not include a recognizable name: guybax, fikailua
Special thanks to Stephen Lum who shared this photo
Wayne T. Iha, 66, of Honolulu, passed away December 25, 2014, at the Veterans Affairs’ hospice facility at Tripler Army Medical Center following a courageous battle with cancer.
He was preceded in death by his father, Fred Iha. He is survived by mother, Shirley Iha; sister, Cynthia Oshiro and nephew, Garrick Oshiro.
A Celebration of Life will be held from 1:30 – 4:30 pm, on Saturday, January 24 at the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans clubhouse (Club 100) at 520 Kamoku Street. Parking is available at Ala Wai Elementary School.
There will be a viewing at Hosoi Garden Mortuary on 30 N. Kukui Street from 10 am – 12 pm on Monday, January 26, followed by a graveside service with full military honors beginning at 1 pm at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Special thanks to Dennis Fujii and Stephen Lum who worked Wayne’s biography
Wayne was born June 16, 1948 in Honolulu. He graduated from Saint Louis School in 1966.
In 1968, he joined the Hawai‘i Army National Guard as a member of the 29th Support Battalion. Shortly after returning from his Advanced Individual Training, he was called up to active-duty when soldiers of the 29th Infantry Brigade, the Hawai‘i Army National Guard were activated for 18 months. The activation was a result of the USS Pueblo incident in South Korea. During his mobilization, Wayne backfilled positions at Schofield Barracks when the 25th Infantry Division deployed to the Republic of South Vietnam.
After deactivation, Wayne continued his education at the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa where he was a member of the Imiloa Fraternity.
After graduation, Wayne worked full-time as a Classified Personnel Specialist with the State Department of Education. He retired from the DOE after more than 35 years.
Wayne continued his service with the Hawai‘i Army National Guard.
During his years, Wayne served in the 12th Admin Company as a Personnel Specialist and then transferred to the 117th Public Affairs Detachment as a still photographer.
With the 117th PAD, Wayne deployed five times to the Republic of Korea for Exercise Team Spirit in support of US Forces Korea, twice to Thailand for Exercise Cobra Gold in support of US Army Pacific, and three times to Panama in support of US Southern Command. He first was just months before the US invasion during Operations Just Cause to capture of the former Panama President Manuel Noriega.
He retired as a Sergeant First Class (E-7) from the Hawai‘i Army National Guard after 40 years of service.
His other passion was photographing Robert Cazimero’s hula hālau traveling several times to Japan with Robert and photographing Robert and his brother Roland.
He also served as a photographer for the sons and daughters of Hawai‘i’s World War II Nisei veterans documenting many veteran events. His father, Fred Iha, served during WWII with the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion. Wayne really enjoyed and looked forward to attending the weekly social gathering at Club 100 with the Wine Gang every Thursday afternoon. It gave him a chance to socialize with other sons and daughters as well as with the Nisei veterans.
A pride and joy for Wayne was driving his BMW. He always owned a BMW, buying a new model every seven years or so.
Of note, Wayne appreciated and wanted to thank Oncology Nurse, Pat Nishimoto, from the medical staff at Tripler Army Medical Center, for her visits with him and his mother at their home and making arrangements for Wayne to be admitted to the VA’s Hospice facility at TAMC.
James “Jimmy” Morris, 55, of Honolulu, a former Hilton Hawaiian Village employee and an Army National Guard veteran, passed away on January 7, 2015. He was born in Honolulu.
He is survived by brother Anton and sisters Yvonne Lima, Mariann Esquerra and Tina Morris.
Edward W. Walker Sr., 84, of Waimea, Hawaii, a Hamakua Sugar Co. retiree, a field supervisor for Greeters of Hawaii’s Kona orchid farm, owner of Walkers Ranch and a Hawaii National Guard veteran, passed away in the Queen’s Medical Center on January 8, 2015. He was born in Kona.
He is survived by wife Maryann C.; son Edward Jr.; daughters Maxie and Diana Dias; hanai son Jonathan Castillo; hanai daughters Esther Enad and Janet Castillo; brothers Herman and Raymond; sisters Violet Demotta, Shirley Cruz and Betty Jane Kali; nine grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.
The following article came from Army, the magazine of the Association of the United States Army.
Our Army needs to rethink how it produces plans and orders during active combat and how it manages its officers.
Our Army’s penchant for overdetailed, hyperscripted planning procedures – resulting in operations orders that are hundreds of pages long – is for dull, unimaginative people who are good at slavishly following a cookbook recipe. It is not for people who possess the spark of combat creativity. It is an American penchant that makes some allied armies laugh at us. It is a gem of military history that great German generals, with two or three key staff officers at their side, wrote operations orders in minutes, using the hood of their personal vehicle as a desk.
Webmaster comment: When this article was emailed to personnel with Army accounts, the email reply was, “The message that you sent to an @us.army.mil user with subject “Article from Army Magazine” was not accepted for delivery since it contained unauthorized content.“
Roy Sakata, a Hawaii Air National Guard retiree, now serves as the Manager, Oahu District Airports, State Department of Transportation. Roy served as a C-130 Hercules pilot. His office released the following Airport Notice.
Airport Notice #15-001
Date: January 12, 2015 to May 29, 2015
Time: 24 hours a day
Location: 2nd Level roadway fronting the Overseas Terminal
Effective Monday, January 12, 2015, contractors will begin work replacing the roof located on the 2nd level of the Overseas Terminal building. The work will require barriers to be placed at the inner curbside lane of the 2nd level “departure” roadway to create a passenger unloading zone and facilitate the replacement of the metal roof. The roadway lanes will be reduced by one lane.
Barriers will be erected around thee work areas which will be located at various locations along the front of the building spanning Lobbies 4 through 8. The work is being staged so as to ensure there is access to each lobby for the duration of the project.
Additional security will be placed curbside to assist with directing traffic. Vehicles approaching the area should slow down and exercise caution. Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we make improvements to our airport.
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii – The Hawaii Air National Guard (HIANG) will be hosting a large-scale “Sentry Aloha” fighter exercise beginning Tuesday, January 20. Area residents, particularly along Oahu’s Leeward Coast may see an increase in fighter aircraft as they approach Honolulu International Airport for landing.
“Sentry Aloha” exercises have been conducted by the HIANG, about four times per year, for several decades. What makes this particular “Sentry Aloha” different is the number of visiting fighter aircraft participating in the exercise. In the past a “Sentry Aloha” would typically involve one visiting fighter squadron and a limited number of aircraft. For this exercise, F-22s and F-16s from Alaska, as well as F-15s from Massachusetts will participate. Currently, there are more than 400 visiting airmen and nearly 60 aircraft from six states participating. “Sentry Aloha” exercises are held to provide the Air National Guard, U.S. Air Force and DoD counterparts a multi-faceted, joint venue, with supporting infrastructure and personnel that incorporates current, realistic, integrated training to equip the warfighter with the skill sets necessary to fly, fight and win. During the exercise, area residents are likely to see an increase in fighter aircraft take-offs and landings.
“Sentry Aloha” has been growing in size and complexity following the HIANG’s conversion to the F-22 Raptor. The F-22 is the U.S. Air Force’s premier fighter aircraft. The HIANG’s 199th Fighter Squadron flies the F-22 Raptor in conjunction with the 19th Fighter Squadron of the U.S. Air Force. The 199th is tasked with augmenting the active duty U.S. Air Force with air superiority fighters during war or other operational contingencies. The fifth-generation F-22 Raptor has unparalleled stealthiness, supercruise, unmatched maneuverability and improved sustainability that would enable the aircraft to strike deep and fast, day or night, paving the way for friendly air, ground and naval forces to operate freely; gather and distribute intelligence across the battlefield. Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam is home to a total of 20 F-22 Raptors.
The 199th Fighter Squadron is part of the 154th Wing, the largest Air National Guard wing in the nation. The 154th Wing flies and maintains F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft, KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft and C-17 Globemaster III transports in conjunction with the active duty’s 15th Wing. The Hawaii Air National Guard is comprised of approximately 2,500 airmen whose federal mission is to be trained and available for active duty operational missions. It is also tasked with Hawaii’s air defense mission, protecting Hawaii’s airspace around-the-clock, 365 days a year. Its state mission is to be trained and available for domestic operations at home, including relief and recovery operations following a natural disaster.
New Year’s is upon us, and that’s when many people – including retirees – make resolutions. What’s yours? Saving money? Getting in better shape?
