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Isle Guard allies
with Philippine forces

An Army National Guard
delegation aims to establish the
first Pacific partnership

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

A delegation of five Hawaii Army National Guard soldiers, led by Army Maj. Gen. Edward "Butchie" Correa, will leave the islands tomorrow to undertake a new U.S.-Philippine alliance.

The partnership between the National Guard and the Philippine armed forces is the newest in the military and the first one in the Pacific.

Thirty-one other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have similar alliances with European, Central Asian and Latin American countries.

Next week's meeting is the first of what is hoped to be one or two annual workshops.

Capt. Chuck Anthony, Hawaii National Guard spokesman, said that while in the Philippines, Hawaii's delegation will begin planning for a return visit by representatives of the Philippine armed forces in June.

"They could be observers during our annual hurricane disaster exercise," he said.

The purpose of the alliance is to help countries understand how the National Guard operates and what it does to help civilian authorities.

Correa, the leader of the Hawaii Army and Air National Guard forces, will head the delegation and will work with a group from Guam, which also has a sizable Filipino population.

Nearly 22 percent of Hawaii's citizen soldier and airmen force of 5,500 are Filipino Americans.

The group will return to Hawaii on Feb. 9.

"They will be a lot of information-sharing," Anthony said.

"We will be there to show how the relationship between the federal and state governments work."

Joining Hawaii's soldiers will be Lt. Gen. Edward Baca, former chief of the National Guard Bureau.

He will participate in ceremonies recognizing the deeds of a New Mexico National Guard unit on Bataan during the early moments of World War II.

The National Guard State Partnership Program was begun in 1993 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The program first involved the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The idea of using National Guard personnel was because of the dual roles they perform in a community, as military personnel and civic leaders.