Isle Guardsmen may
head to KosovoMost isle soldiers have diplomas
By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-BulletinMore than 200 Hawaii Air National Guard personnel and five KC-135 jet tankers could be involved in the United States' newest mission to bulk up NATO's Kosovo muscle.
Capt. Chuck Anthony, Hawaii National Guard spokesman, said he didn't know if the KC-135 tankers were part of the 29 refueling aircraft tagged by Secretary Defense William Cohen to move to Europe to support the new NATO mission.
However, some of the unit's nine tankers are scheduled to leave Feb. 27 for southern France on a previously scheduled five-week rotation to refuel NATO aircraft enforcing the no-fly zone over Bosnia.
This is the third time the Hawaii Air National Guard has been deployed to support NATO's air campaign.
The first deployment was to Pisa Air Base in Italy in October 1995. Last year Hawaii Air Guard tankers were sent to France and Italy on similar missions.
The first three jet tankers will leave Hickam Air Force Base Feb. 27 with 140 maintenance and other personnel from the 154th Wing. A change of crew and aircraft will take place midway through the rotation, Anthony said.
The unit is commanded by Lt. Col. Skip Vincent.
In November, three Hawaii tankers were part of an air bridge over the Pacific Ocean used to refuel B-52 bombers flying to the Persian Gulf as part of the buildup facing Saddam Hussein. In 1996, the unit performed a similar mission for Operation Desert Strike, in which cruise missiles were launched against Iraq.
The Navy also is contemplating the use of Tomahawk cruise missiles, carried on ships like the Pearl Harbor-based destroyers USS Paul Hamilton, Hopper and Fletcher. However, the three have finished their tour in the gulf and are expected back next week.
Most Hawaii soldiers have
By Gregg K. Kakesako
high school degrees
Star-BulletinMore than 90 percent of soldiers recruited for the Army in Hawaii have their high school diploma or have passed an equivalency test, according to local recruiters.
Ray Graham, spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Company in Hawaii, would not comment on Army Secretary Louis Caldera's recent proposal to lower its recruiting standards. But he said Hawaii's bad economy makes recruitment here easier than on the mainland. In addition, Graham said, "there's a propensity of people here to enlist because we have a large military population."
Under current policy, if a potential recruit walks into one of seven Army recruiting stations here but doesn't have a high school diploma, he or she isn't allowed into the Army, he said.
But the recruit is allowed to take the Armed Services Vocational Battery test and if scores well, Graham said, is told to come back after obtaining a high school general equivalency certificate.
Last fiscal year, local recruiters -- whose jurisdiction extends to American Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Japan and South Korea -- nearly made their goal of 1,057 active Army and Army Reserve soldiers, missing it by only 42 soldiers.
Capt. Chuck Anthony, Hawaii Army National Guard spokesman, said the proposed lowering of educational standards won't make much difference.
But Howard Sugai, spokesman for the nearly 3,000-member Army Reserve command here, said the change "would widen the reach of our Army Reserve recruiters."
