Consumers and businesses alike can look forward to a slew of rule changes by the Federal Communications Commission designed to bring the agency that regulates interstate and international communications into the digital era. The changes, spearheaded by new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who has wide-ranging experience in the telecommunications and cable industries, will cover nearly every aspect of communications, from cell phones to what’s on TV.
Here’s what the flurry of FCC actions will lead to in the next few years:
continue reading http://ow.ly/v1Ppm
When I first met Jeremiah Denton, I greeted him as “Senator Denton.”
“Alvin,” he replied gently, “I was a senator. I’ll always be an admiral.” And he was.
Far more than politics, naval service forever defined POW, admiral, and U.S. Senator Jerry Denton, who passed away Friday at age 89.
Along with future-admiral Jim Stockdale and future-general Robbie Risner, Jerry Denton courageously led hundreds of American POWs through nearly eight years of torture, hardship, and imprisonment in North Vietnam. Shot down on July 18, 1965, Navy A-6 pilot Denton assumed leadership of the POWs in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, a role he would share with fellow Class of 1947 Naval Academy graduate Stockdale and Air Force ace Risner. No POW would prove any tougher or more irritating to the North Vietnamese than Jerry Denton.
After being tortured for weeks in preparation for a televised 1966 interview, Denton still refused to parrot his captors’ script. Instead he supported his government with his boldfaced statements – and managed to blink T-O-R-T-U-R-E in Morse Code, sending the first indication of the rampant mistreatment of American POWs in Hanoi. For his bravery, he received the Navy Cross.
Continue reading http://ow.ly/va7LU
The State of Hawaii House of Representatives honored the Small Business Administration’s State of Hawaii 2014 Awardees. Among this year’s awardees was Raymond Jardine, Jr., a retired Hawaii Army National Guard colonel.
Representative Cliff Tsuji introduced House Resolution 210 which recognized the Hawaii awardees. The resolution passed with 48 voting aye, none voting aye with reservation, none voting no and Representative(s) Awana, Evans, and Yamane excused.
The resolution read in part:
WHEREAS, in appreciation of small business owners and their contributions to the growth of the local economy, the House of Representatives joins the business community in recognizing the noteworthy, outstanding achievements of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s State of Hawaii awardees; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Small Business Administration annually recognizes the top entrepreneurs and small business advocates in Hawaii with prestigious awards, and 2014 marks another year of deserving recipients; and
WHEREAS, RAYMOND JARDINE, JR., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Native Hawaiian Veterans, LLC, is the recipient of the 2014 Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year Award for his commitment to advancing small business opportunities for veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Read the entire House Resolution http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2014/bills/HR210_.PDF
click on photograph to enlarge
In 1992, Boeing’s Phantom Works program began development on the Bird of Prey, a project managed by the U.S. Air Force, funded by Boeing, and borrowing the name from the Klingon starship in 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. It pioneered dozens of new technologies that we use in airplanes today, but the Bird of Prey was never meant for production.
Phantom Works is Boeing’s secret(ish) in-house development arm, tasked with engineering, prototyping, and building classified projects, often for the U.S. military. Its vice president is Alan Wiechman, an engineer whose CV includes the Lockheed Have Blue, F-117 Nighthawk, and the Sea Shadow ship. And Wiechman headed up the Bird of Prey’s development and design. Read more http://t.co/F5d692LmVP
Be sure to watch the video at the end of the article – remember Boeing developed the plane in 1990s.
The National Guard Education Foundation added nine names last month to its Medal of Honor Gallery at the NGAUS headquarters in Washington, D.C. The nine men who earned their nation’s highest award for valor were members of the Hawaii National Guard before they went to war.
In the February 2014 issue of National Guard magazine is an article about the nine members of the Hawaii Army National Guard who are Medal of Honor recipients. As mentioned in the article, LTC Mark Takai and MAJ Dion Kaimihana worked to get have these nine Guardmembers honored and to have plaque displayed at the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) headquarters in Washington.
The article fails to acknowledge the research done by Stephen Lum, a retired Hawaii Army National Guard member who works in the State Department of Defense Public Affairs office. Steve did most of the research about these nine soldiers and found their photographs.
Read the entire article Medal of Honor
The Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 1 Battalion-299 Infantry (Maui) went to Fort Lewis, Washington for training in September 1983. With Mount Rainer in the background, some of the soldiers took time to have a photograph taken.
click on the photograph to enlarge
TOP: MAJ George T. Okimoto (commander), Campos, CW4 Ed Amaral, CPT Albert S. Kawai, CPT Don Prewitt, CPT Theodore A. Daligdig III, CWO Francis A. Abreu, CPT Michael J. Mangca, CPT Claude T. Ishida
KNEELING: CPT Yoshinaga, 1LT Levon K. Wong, MAJ Edward R. Cruickshank, (Combat Support Company), CSM xxxx, Jimmy ??(C)
We need help identifying the unknowns.
Mahalo to Ed Cruickshank for submitting the photograph and Steve Lum for digitizing the photograph.
Tax season is in full swing and criminals are seizing the opportunity for scams. Because of the recent major data breaches we’ve seen in the past few months, which exposed sensitive information on a large scale, we should be even more vigilant about taking steps to minimize our risk of ID theft and other online-related crime. Don’t become the next victim.
The Department of Accounting and General Services just issued a newsletter about scams during the tax season. Read the newsletter http://ow.ly/v109d
Yesterday, the Hawai‘i State Legislature met in joint session for the Hawai‘i Medal of Honor ceremony. The Legislature awards the medal to honor members of the armed forces with Hawai‘i ties who were killed in action while serving America in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
This year, families of four Servicemembers with Hawai‘i ties received the Medal:
Air Force Captain Reid Nishizuka
Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Edward Balli
Army Sergeant Tofiga Tautolo
Army National Guard Sergeant Drew Scobie
State Representative K. Mark Takai introduced the bill that established the Hawai‘i Medal of Honor in 2005. The bill became law in 2005, and the Legislature has had Hawai‘i Medal of Honor ceremonies since 2006.
In a recent press release about the medal ceremony, Takai said, “This Medal is a small token that can never fully repay the sacrifice that has been made for our freedom. This honor is borne of courage, driven by duty, and far too often—paid for in loss.”
Representative Takai is a lieutenant colonel who serves in the Hawai‘i Army National Guard.
Another legislative proposal has been introduced to ward off cuts in commissary funding — at least until the commission that is studying all military compensation completes its work.
Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., introduced the “Military Commissary Sustainment Act,” which would prohibit the Defense Department from reducing the amount of monthly funds for operating the commissary system in fiscal 2015 below the average monthly amount used in fiscal 2014, until the date of the report of the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission.
That congressionally mandated commission is scrutinizing all pay and compensation benefits for active duty and retired members, to include the commissary system, and is set to issue a report in early 2015.
The bill is identical to one introduced in the Senate by another Virginia lawmaker — Democrat Sen. Mark Warner — and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. Both House and Senate proposals have been referred to their respective Armed Services committees.
The president’s budget included a proposal to eventually reduce funding for commissaries by two-thirds — gradually cutting $1 billion of their current $1.4 billion budget over three years. The cut in the first year would be about $200 million. Over time, the remaining $400 million in annual taxpayer subsidies would fund overseas commissaries and those in remote locations. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel emphasized that no stores would be directed to close.
“Such a cut would raise prices and reduce the savings to our military families,” said Forbes, in a new release announcing his legislation. “Reducing commissary services is essentially cutting the pay of those who volunteer to wear this nation’s uniform and is an unacceptable breach of faith with our warriors and their families. My legislation will prevent any such reductions in the coming year, removing yet another burden that our service members and their families would have to face.”
Commissaries would have to operate more like military exchanges — where prices are marked up, rather than sold at cost as they are in commissaries. Current law requires items to be sold at cost. Savings in commissaries average 30 percent.
The TRICARE Service Center at Tripler Army Medical Center along with offices across the U.S. will close April 1.
TRICARE beneficiaries will still be able to manage benefits through TRI-CARE online self-service options at http://www.TRICARE.mil.
Under the “I want to…” section of the website, users can enroll or purchase a plan, file or check a claim, view referrals and prior authorizations, find a doctor, schedule appointments and more. Read more http://ow.ly/uSCed
Reference the earlier DOD announcement http://wp.me/p3639O-14x
On behalf of Brigadier General Stanley J. Osserman Jr., Commander, Hawaii Air National Guard. He requests the pleasure of your company for a ceremony honoring The Outstanding Airmen of the Year, Launa’ole Award Winners on Sunday, 6 April 2014 at 1:30 pm at the Hickam Officer’s Club Lanai, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, HI.
To view your invitation please click the link below. If you are unable to click on the link please copy and paste the address into your web browser.
https://einvitations.afit.edu/inv/anim.cfm?i=187554&k=0369450C7E53
Should you have any questions, please contact Capt Love Williamson at 733-4230.
Very Respectfully,
Capt Love S. Williamson
Military Personnel Management Officer
HQ Hawaii Air National Guard
3949 Diamond Head Rd.
Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 733-4230
NIPR: love.williamson@us.af.mil
Seichi Yamamoto, 95, of Honolulu, a retired National Guard supply sergeant and an Army retiree, passed away on February 23, 2014. He was born in Honoka‘a, Hawai‘i.
He is survived by brother Kelly and sisters Claire Kubota and Geraldine Omori.
The Issue: Support the recommendations of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force.
More Information: The National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force was created in the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act to “undertake a comprehensive study of the structure of the Air Force to determine whether, and how, the structure should be modified to best fulfill current and anticipated mission requirements for the Air Force in a manner consistent with available resources.” After a year of interviews, site visits, data collection, analysis and hearings, the commission released its report Jan. 30. The report contains a set of foundational conclusions, to include: read more http://ow.ly/uOpDr
