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In the Military
Gregg K. Kakesako
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Kaneohe crew helps to rescue fishermen
A P-3 Orion aircrew from Kaneohe-based Patrol Squadron 4, VP-4 Skinny Dragons was part of a rescue effort that saved 12 Taiwanese fishermen this month.
The Skinny Dragons joined another P-3 Orion crew from the Japan-based Patrol Squadron 8, VP-8 Fighting Tigers, in responding to a distress call 650 miles east of Guam on Feb. 18, according to a Navy news release. The Skinny Dragons crew was led by Lt. Justin Wilson and was launched from Kadena Air Base, where the aircraft had been sent while on deployment. It was then dispatched to Andersen Air Base on Guam to relieve the P3-Orion crew from Japan and provide on-scene coordination.
The Jin Tong Long 33, a fishing vessel home-ported in Taiwan, had sent out a distress call because of an engine-room fire, the news release said. The VP-8's crew located the burning vessel and dropped life rafts, survival radios, food and water. The Taiwanese sailors already had abandoned their ship.
The Jin Tong Long's crew members were able to board the three life rafts. Meanwhile, the nearest vessel, a Panamanian merchant, Voc Rose, was located about 12 hours away. In the early morning of Feb. 19, VP-4 arrived on scene, relocated the survivors and directed the Voc Rose to the Jin Tong Long's location. VP-4 remained on the scene coordinating with the Coast Guard, providing video coverage while the Voc Rose recovered the 12 Taiwanese survivors.
The University of Hawaii law school will host a debate titled "Lt. (Ehren) Watada's Case and the Legality of the War in Iraq" between Eric Seitz, Watada's attorney, and Michael Lewis, a visiting law professor from Northern Ohio University, at 12:40 p.m. Tuesday at the Moot Court Room. It is free and open to the public. On Friday, the Army reinstated charges against Watada, a 1996 Kalani High School graduate, after his first court-martial ended in a mistrial.
Lewis is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Law School. Before pursuing a legal career, he was a Navy fighter pilot and attended the Navy's Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun). Seitz is a graduate of the University of California Boalt Hall School of Law.
"In the Military" was compiled from wire reports and other sources by reporter
Gregg K. Kakesako, who covers military affairs for the Star-Bulletin. He can be reached by phone at 294-4075 or by e-mail at
gkakesako@starbulletin.com.