Ka`u Calendar News Briefs Monday, April 11, 2016

The public is invited to Storybook Theater of Hawai`i's presentation today from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center in conjunction with Boys & Girls Club. See more below. Photo from Mark Jeffers

HUNDREDS GATHERED AT THE 442ND Veterans Club’s 73rd Anniversary Banquet, where U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard delivered remarks to honor veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team for their service and sacrifice on the battlefields of World War II. The team includes, from Ka`u, Iwao Yonemitsu and the late Tokuichi Nakano.

The 442nd team includes, from Ka`u, Iwao
Yonemitsu and the late Tokuichi Nakano.
Photo by Julia Neal

“This is such an incredible celebration of our living treasures – our nation’s living treasures, and our local Hawai`i treasures,” said Gabbard, a twice-deployed Major with Hawai`i Army National Guard, about the gathering. “Every day that we get the chance to say thank you for your incredible bravery, for the example that you’ve set, and for the service and sacrifice that you and your family members have given to all of us – that is a very special day.”

Gabbard spoke about the significance of the event’s theme, 442nd: The Legacy Begins. “Your legacy of service will continue on through your stories, through your lives, the things you’ve shared with us. It will continue on through your sons and daughters and this great organization, the 442nd Veterans Club, that makes sure that you are always remembered, and it lives on through the soldiers that continue to serve proudly in the 100th/442, who proudly wear that ‘Go for Broke’ patch on their uniforms, knowing that it not only represents this country, but it represents the great heroes who have come before us.”
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MORE THAN 200 MEMBERS of the Hawai`i Air National Guard and the active duty Air Force returned with their F-22 Raptors to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam following a six-month-long deployment to the Central Command Area of Responsibility.

A pilot reunites with his son after landing.
Images from U.S. Department of Defense

The F-22 fighter aircraft and most of the Airmen departed from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in late September 2015. The Airmen and F-22 aircraft returned home in several groups over the past several days.
The Hawaiian Raptors are flown by pilots from HIANG’s 199th Fighter Squadron and the active duty’s 19th Fighter Squadron. Maintenance and support personnel are from HIANG’s 154th Wing and the active duty’s 15th Wing. This was the first operational deployment for the Hawaiian Raptors.

While in the CENTCOM AOR, the F-22 Raptors successfully struck a number of high-value ISIS (also known as Daesh or ISIL) targets. The Hawaiian Raptors were an integral part of Operation Inherent Resolve – an 18-nation air coalition that is driving Daesh back considerably in Iraq and Syria. Daesh has lost more than 40 percent of the populated areas it once controlled in northern Iraq and recently retreated from several key populations centers in Syria.

“Our people performed extremely well, and they did it with the Aloha spirit,” said one of HIANG’s pilots. “Maintenance did an outstanding job and made all their taskings. We integrated well with the other coalition forces and conducted our operations flawlessly.”

An airman embraces his family upon returning from his
six-month deployment.

Because of security considerations and host nation sensitivities, HIANG will not release names of its personnel who deployed and the country or base where the Raptors operated. HIANG will also not release the number of F-22 fighters that deployed. The CENTCOM AOR encompasses the area of Southwest Asia and most of the Middle East.

In 2010, the 199th Fighter Squadron converted to the F-22 from the F-15 Eagle and began flying the Raptors in partnership with the 19th Fighter Squadron.
All of the HIANG Airmen who deployed are part of the 154th Wing, the largest Air National Guard wing in the nation. Hawai`i Air National Guard is comprised of nearly 2,500 Airmen whose federal mission is to be trained and available for active duty operational missions.
A video of the Hawaiian Raptors team return can be accessed at http://dvidshub.net/r/yas7te.
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Four of 27 new correctional officers are assigned to Hawai`i Island.
Photo from Hawai`i Department of Public Safety

HAWAI`I COUNTY WILL HAVE FOUR NEW correctional officers following a graduation ceremony on O`ahu. Twenty-seven recruits from Basic Corrections Recruit Class 16-01 graduated from training and will begin their careers as correctional officers in facilities across the state. Three are assigned to Hawai`i Community Correctional Center, and one to Kulani Correctional Facility.

The state Department of Public Safety described BCRC as a nine-week training that includes 360 hours of classroom time and physical training. Recruits learn standard of conduct, professionalism and ethics, report writing, interpersonal communications, maintaining security, crisis intervention, security threat groups (gangs), firearms, self-defense tactics and physical exercise.
“These individuals chose a unique and challenging career path,” said Sergeant Dzuong Le, BCRC Sergeant-in-Charge. “The job of a corrections officer in a prison or jail is one of the toughest jobs anyone can do, but it can also be rewarding, too. As corrections officers, we are held to a higher standard. I know these men and women have what it takes to hold up that standard with professionalism, integrity and fairness.”
All incoming classes receive recruit field training along with basic corrections training. During the final weeks of training, they go into the facility and begin their job with guidance from their training sergeants.

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Lauren Holiday and Doug Chin encourage parents and youth
to say yes to healthy lifestyles and no to underage drinking.
Image from Office of the Attorney General

APRIL IS ALCOHOL RESPONSIBILITY MONTH. Hawai`i Attorney General Doug Chin and Olympic Medalist and U.S. Women’s World Cup Soccer Team member Lauren Holiday encouraged parents and youth in Ka`u and throughout the state to say yes to a healthy lifestyle and no to underage drinking. In a message from the Attorney General's office, they suggested that parents and caregivers start a conversation about the dangers of underage drinking. “Conversations about positive, healthy choices need to start at an early age and continue through their teen years,” Holiday said. Chin urged parents to help their children learn why underage drinking is “unhealthy, dangerous and illegal.”

Chin and Holiday suggested that parents see responsibility.org for information about the topic.
“There is no better time than Alcohol Responsibility Month to talk to your kids and teens about making smart choices, especially the choice to say ‘no’ to underage drinking,” said Lisa Graham Keegan, chair of Responsibility.org’s national advisory board. “The Responsibility Starts with Me message is extremely applicable to parents and teachers, as they are role models to their kids and students, and parents are the leading influence over their teens’ decision to drink — or not to drink — alcohol. We hope the campaign’s message of personal responsibility will empower parents and teachers to continue having conversations with their kids and students about responsibility, in all aspects of life, throughout the year and for years to come.”
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STORYBOOK THEATER OF HAWAI`I and its founder Mark Jeffers present a program about endangered species at Pahala Community Center during Boys & Girls Club today from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. The public is invited. Other community groups wishing to participate may call Jeffers at 808-335-0712.
For more information about the theater, see storybook.org.

DURING INVERTEBRATE INVESTIGATIONS with Robert Peck, of USGS, participants get in-depth information about Hawai`i’s endemic invertebrates. Tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Volcano Art Center in Volcano Village, Peck presents his photographs of various species and possibly specimen samples to inspire imaginations and present accurate representation in art pieces. Time will be allowed for sketching if desired. If registrants are interested in a certain species such as the Blackburn’s blue or any others, please let VAC know. If a specimen is available, Peck will be sure to bring it along.

JEFF PETERSON celebrates National Library Week tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. at Pahala Public & School Library. The 45-minute program is suitable for all ages. Young children must be accompanied by a parent or adult caregiver.

For more information, call 928-2015.

LEA KA`AHA`AINA, OF KEAUHOU Bird Conservation Center, and USGS Research Wildlife Biologist Paul Banko discuss the recovery and release of `alala, the Hawaiian crow, tomorrow at After Dark in the Park. The program begins a 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs; park entrance fees apply.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.