Recent natural disasters in the Philippines are deadly reminders of the importance of urban search and rescue. In early March, members of the Hawai‘i Army and Air National Guard train Filipino counter parts in urban search and rescue during a subject matter expert exchange at Camp Lapu-Lapu, Cebu, Philippines.
View the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS) video http://dvidshub.net/r/yldbg8
View photos:
SMEE Story Board Day 2 SMEE Story Board Day 3 SMEE Story Board Day 6 SMEE Story Board Day 8 Special Thanks to MSG Maria “Vickie” Durham for sharing these story references with Retiree News.Cybercriminals use images in a number of ways to infect your computer. In most cases, the photo itself is harmless; it’s just a trick to get you to do something stupid. But sometimes, a .jpg file itself will contain malicious code.
Let’s look at a few ways in which an image can contain some real bad news.
As you may have noticed, a lot of spam exists for the specific purpose of tricking you into visiting a particular website–often one that intends to download malware. Images can play a big part of that. You probably already know not to click a link in a suspicious email, but photos can be embedded in emails as they are in webpages—and do their dirty work when you open the mail.
Read more http://ow.ly/voIrs
Robert Davis continues to serve in the Hawai‘i Air National Guard – 39 years and counting. He remains a member of the 154th Civil Engineer Squadron and retire next year at age 60. In civilian life, Bob worked as a facility manager for NAVPAC until his retirement in 2010.
Bob worked as a realtor with Prudential Locations LLC part time about 10 years. Since his Navy retirement, he became a fulltime realtor continuing with Locations at their Pearlridge office.
Prudential Locations LLC recently announced their 2013 awards and Bob received with three awards:
* Honor Society: recognizing a milestone of sales and commissions
* Client Service Award: recognizing for superior customer service
* Aloha Aina Nominee: nominated for the Honolulu Board of Realtors’ People’s Choice Award
Congratulations to Bob on these awards, all well deserved.
If you own land in a flood zone in Hawaii, read this article.
HONOLULU (AP) — Nearly 14,000 federally subsidized flood insurance policies in Hawaii will start to see premium increases as Congress looks to get a federal program out of a $24 billion hole.
Legislation signed by President Barack Obama on Friday means homeowners won’t see premiums jump all at once as scheduled under a 2012 overhaul.
But the relief law calls for insurance rates for owner-occupied homes to increase by up to 18 percent annually, while businesses and second homes will see hikes of 25 percent a year.
Continue reading http://ow.ly/vpev7
Swiss Re, a global reinsurance company, has analyzed the disaster potential for 616 of the world’s largest cities. Each city is ranked according to its potential for earthquakes, storms, storm surges, tsunamis, and river floods. For each type of disaster, Swiss Re devised an extreme weather scenario in which defenses fail and the human and economic toll can be enormous.
Continue reading: http://ow.ly/voFT8
James Toshiyuki Minato, 92, of Hilo, a retired director for the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Workers Compensation Division, an Army veteran who served in World War II and a retired Hawaii Air National Guard captain, passed away on March 14, 2014 in Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home. He was born in Hilo. He is survived by son Fredrick, daughter Carol Kashimoto, stepdaughter Rose Marie Kurita, sisters Teruko Okumura and Karen Yamada, eight grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
What’s the biggest mistake many people over 50 make when it comes to their meds? Failing to read the warning labels that come with their prescriptions, according to a study done by researchers at Kansas State University. And that’s bad news. Not knowing what foods and drinks to skip while you’re on Rx drugs can cause serious side effects or lower the effectiveness of your medications.
To stay safe: Get the facts from your doc, and follow up with a 10-minute chat with your pharmacist to learn the ins and outs of your prescription—and what foods and beverages to avoid while you’re on it, suggests Lauren Aleksunes, Pharm.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University. In the meantime, here’s a cheat sheet.
Read more http://ow.ly/vgIED
In the mid 80s, the Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 1 Battalion, 299th Infantry (Maui) were training at the Pohakuloa Training Area when this photograph was taken.
click on photograph to enlarge
MAJ Thomas E. Weeks, LTC Edward R. Cruickshank (Cdr), commo sgt (unknown)
Mahalo to Ed Cruickshank for submitting the photograph and contributing editor Steve Lum for digitizing the photograph.
(Reuters) – If you want to understand the fight over Social Security’s future, look no further than your annual benefit statement – if you can find one.
The Social Security Administration stopped mailing annual statements in 2011 in a budget-cutting move that saves $70 million annually. The SSA rolled out an online statement the following year, but only 10 million American wage earners have signed up. That’s a paltry 6 percent of all workers.
The shift may not sound like a big deal given that so much of our personal finances has moved online, but the paper statement was an important annual reminder and education tool. The weak uptake for online services means young people who aren’t yet focused on retirement no longer get an explanation of where their payroll taxes are going. And older people close to retirement aren’t getting a critical projection of what they will receive at various claiming ages.
Read more: http://ow.ly/vgFK5
Defense officials have ordered a review of options that include consolidating commissaries and exchanges, as well as having commissaries adopt an “Exchange-like business model,” according to information obtained by Military Times.
The review will be conducted by the Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation Office, according to an internal Pentagon email sent Thursday by Christine Fox, acting deputy secretary of defense, a copy of which was obtained by Military Times and later verified by defense officials.
Fox’s email also says she has directed the Defense Department to ask Congress for two “significant changes” in law: allowing commissaries to raise prices rather than sell groceries at cost from distributors and manufacturers; and allowing commissaries to sell generic products, rather than limiting the stores to selling name-brand goods.
Read more http://t.co/KAeDWK88lN
The Navy is pushing ahead toward eliminating tobacco sales on all its bases and ships, as well as all Marine Corps facilities, according to sources inside and outside the Pentagon.
Officials are reportedly considering removing tobacco from all sales venues, to include any exchange-operated retail outlets, as well as MWR-operated retail outlets where cigarettes may be sold. Six commissaries on Navy bases currently sell tobacco products.
Changes may be coming to the other services, too. A Defense Department memo dated March 14 that was obtained by Military Times encourages the services to eliminate tobacco sales — and even tobacco use — on military bases, although it stops short of ordering specific actions.
Read more http://t.co/qpcvw7z5m5
As you know, late last year a data breach at Target compromised the debit and credit card information for 40 million Target customers (plus the online account information of 70 million more). This left many people are wondering if it’s time to switch back to cash.
While I don’t think we should abandoning plastic entirely, there are some places where using cash is better for security. And it shouldn’t be much less convenient than using a card.
Before I talk about that, however, I do have a bit of security advice that might strike you as ironic. The place you go to get cash could be stealing your information. I’m talking about your ATM.
Read more http://ow.ly/vaJdh
Thanks to Gordon Lau for sharing this article.
Chief Lee asked me to post this in Retiree News. He is actively soliciting support from our retirees. Our Hawaii Air National Guard retirees can share their experiences and advice to the newest members of the HIANG organization. Please contact Chief Lee is you have question or want to volunteer some time to the new Student Flight. Mahalo
From: LEE, ROBERT S III CMSgt USAF ANG HIANG/SEL To: HIANG, CMSGTs ALL HIANG; HIANG.1STSGTROSTER; 154WG SNCOs Cc: BERRY, REGINA H Maj USAF ANG 154 FSS/CC Subject: Student Flight Resurrection coming in June 2014Aloha HIANG Enlisted Leaders,
There is a need for our organization to develop and maintain a structured, formal training environment for our Student Flight members. We know very well that there are a plethora of reasons for this to be developed, from ensuring security clearances are accomplished in a timely manner, being an active participant in our newly assessed team members careers, providing the development of their military commitment with structure, discipline, proactive participation…..this is where their career development begins for our newest members…..and the list goes on.
I have solicited to the HIANG Commander (and received his approval) that the Student Flight program fall under the jurisdiction of the HIANG Command Chief, to provide oversight and assistance in coordinating the effort to make this program highly efficient and effective for the entire organization as a whole…….bottom line, win-win.
MSgt Chris Perez, your Recruiting and Retention Superintendent has diligently developed the foundational piece as well as set the structure for this program from timelines, daily schedule, expectations, accountability way aheads etc. Instruction will be by “block” format, with subjects taken right from the Military Basic Training manual, some local on station “good to know” information, things that will fill their toolboxes for success. We are looking at providing a day of structured instruction for your “Blue Shirts” while letting them return to their units on Sunday.
We have secured a location for all the members to utilize while a part of the program. The Student Flight will be run by an junior officer and we have a couple candidates to date to kick this program off in June.
What we need is SNCOs that are interested in teaching a 45 minute block on a weekend, someone who wants to assist in the development of our newest members. I look to all you SNCOs to see if you can find one hour of your time during a Saturday UTA weekend to devote to teaching a block of instruction. This not only develops our airmen, but it develops you as well in public speaking, leadership and management skills.
We are reaching out to you, our Active Duty partners and retirees to be a part of this.
This subject will come up at our Top III Council meeting, Chiefs Council meeting….anywhere we can reach each and every one of you in soliciting your assistance.
Shoot me an email if you have any questions or concerns.
Honored to serve,
Very Respectfully
//SIGNED//
Robert S.K. Lee III, CMSgt, HING Senior Enlisted Leader, Hawaii National Guard State Command Chief Hawaii Air National Guard Comm: (808)672-1220 Work Cell: (808)722-7199 Fax: (808) 733-4227“The world will turn to Hawai’i as they search for world peace because Hawai’i has the key…and that key is “ALOHA” – Aunty Pilahi Paki
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