Hawaii Army National Guard
Gov. Ben Cayetano and Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono spent
yesterday with Hawaii Army National Guard soldiers
doing training exercises at the Big Island's Pohakuloa
Training Area, between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

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Cayetano, Hirono
suit up to train
with Guard

The two state officials
don camouflage fatigues and
chow down on field rations

By Gregg K. Kakesako

Star-Bulletin

More than 2,000 Hawaii Army National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers will spend the next two weeks on the Big Island preparing for the "Super Bowl" of Army training events to be held next year in Louisiana.

Elements of the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade, which includes members of the Army Reserve's 100th Battalion/442nd and two units from Oregon and California, will travel to Fort Polk to go up against some of the active Army's best.

"That is the premier training event," said Brig. Gen. Dennis Kamimura, 29th Brigade commander, "not only for the Reserves, but also for the active components.

"This is as close to war as you can get without killing anyone."

Yesterday, Gov. Ben Cayetano and Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, outfitted in camouflage fatigues, spent a day with the soldiers at the Big Island's Pohakuloa Training Area, between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

The two politicians not only visited with Hawaii's citizen soldiers, but got to sample the Army's field rations, called Meals Ready to Eat, and each pulled the lanyard on the Army Guard's new 105mm howitzers sending a projectile three miles down range.

This was Cayetano's second visit to the area to observe troop training. In past years, Cayetano also has gone to Schofield Barracks when the Guard was performing its summer maneuvers.

For Hirono it was a first not only for herself, but also for a lieutenant governor.

Generally, only the governor, as commander in chief of the Hawaii's National Guard, dons combat boots and fatigues and romps in the field with his troops.

"I didn't know how closely the reserves work with the active Army," Hirono said. "It's good for me to come out and see how it's done."

The 29th Infantry Brigade is one of 15 "enhanced brigades" in the Army and is closely aligned with the 25th Division (Light), which means that it is in position to be called on if a worldwide emergency occurs.

That also puts Hawaii's citizen soldiers in line for more modernized equipment and upgraded training.

Col. James Sikes, commander of the 25th Division's 3rd Brigade at Schofield Barracks, described the quality of the 29th Brigade's officers and noncommissioned officers as "excellent."

The governor's message to his troops at each stop was "a thank you" and words of encouragement, noting that the Hawaii Army National Guard is well-respected outside the islands.

"We are right there at the top," the governor told reporters who accompanied him.

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Governor praises improved
economy in Big Isle speech

By Rod Thompson
Star-Bulletin

HILO -- The state economy is beginning to recover and more improvement can be expected thanks to measures passed by the Legislature this spring, Gov. Ben Cayetano told the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce.

"We may be seeing a gradual recovery," Cayetano said last night.

"Please give credit to the Legislature for what they have done."

The state Council on Revenues is projecting a 2.4 percent increase in tax revenues this year over last, a doubling of an earlier prediction, he said.

This enabled him to restore about $400,000 in funds for the Hawaii County emergency medical helicopter, which might otherwise have been grounded.

But he backtracked on placing a new prison in the Big Island's Kau District, saying it will be built either in the Saddle Road area or at the existing Kulani Prison.

Speaking partly in jest, he said he decided against Kau because of the opposition of J.W.A. "Doc" Buyers, president of C. Brewer & Co., which is a major landowner there.

"You guys play rough here," he said to Buyers, seated in the chamber audience.

He slammed any perception that this legislative session was largely a failure.

The Legislature passed the biggest personal income tax cut in the history of the state, 25 percent over four years, he said.

A cut in corporate income taxes is still needed, he said.

With authorization from the Legislature, he waived landing fees for overseas aircraft, making Hawaii the only state without such fees, he said. The purpose is to attract more direct flights.

The new convention center, "the most beautiful in the world," already has 60 bookings, he said. And, the Miss Universe Pageant, which cost the state $3.3 million, was seen by half a billion people and has already paid for itself, he said.

He has released $600 million of his $1 billion program of speeding up construction of new public buildings such as schools, resulting in a turnaround in the previous construction industry decline.

Although his speech was mostly an upbeat report on the economy, without naming his Republican gubernatorial opponent, Maui Mayor Linda Lingle, he concluded with digs at the Maui economy.

The Big Island has had the largest increase in the state in per capita income, 9.5 percent, compared with Maui's 4.8 percent, the smallest, he said.

The Big Island has the highest home-ownership rate, 53.3 percent, while Maui has the lowest at 40.1 percent.

"Maybe there's a Big Island model we can follow," he said.