Isle reservists Forty-three Hawaii Army National Guard and Army reservists -- most of them intelligence and security specialists -- will spend another year in uniform as part of the war on terror.
proud to finish
war on terror
The Pentagon asks key security
specialists to stay on active dutyBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comThey will join the 45 Hawaii Air National Guard law enforcement specialists who will continue to provide security for military bases here and overseas.
Thirty-nine of them, members of Hickam Air Force Base's 154th Security Forces Squadron, are patrolling bases in an unspecified location in the Persian Gulf, where they have been since May. An additional nine have been pulling sentry guard duty at Hickam Air Force Base and other Air Force installations here.
The Pentagon on Monday announced that 14,000 Air Force National Guard and reservists who serve as military police, pilots, intelligence officers and mechanics might be needed for a second year in the war on terror.
Several of the Army Guard and Army reservists interviewed yesterday at Fort Shafter, where they have been members of the Joint Rear Area Coordination-Hawaii, say they don't mind since they want to finish what they started.
They hold the distinction of being the first Hawaii reservists to be activated to plan and carry out homeland defense, the military said.
Sgt. 1st Class John Gladson, who spent 10 years on active duty and another five as a reservist, said: "I was taught that if your country called, you go. There is no if, ands or buts. Someone had to put their life on the line for every line of the Bill of Rights."
Maj. Bradley Higgins, who served for four years in the Marine Corps and 19 in the Hawaii Army National Guard, views the 12-month extension as completing "a mission that is not yet completed."
Lt. Col. Florenda "Dede" Figueira, operations chief, said not all of the 84 reservists mobilized after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were kept in uniform.
Those reservists who said such an extension would create a financial hardship were allowed to return to their civilian jobs, said Figueira, who was a sales and training manager at First Hawaiian Bank before she was mobilized last fall.
"The mission came first," said Figueira, who has been a member of the Hawaii Army National Guard and the Army Reserve for 20 years. But allowances were made if the extension was going to "cause undue hardships."
Several soldiers, who worked in the tourist industry before they were mobilized last fall, said there is a silver lining into the Pentagon's decision to keep them in uniform for another year.
Because they stay on active duty, their co-workers benefit.
Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Aiello, whose 12 years of seniority with Northwest Airlines ensured him job security even after airline travel dipped last year, said the airline was able "to call someone back who would have been laid off."
Under federal law all reservists placed on federal active duty are ensured their same jobs when they leave the military.
"The fact I went away and got mobilized meant someone got to stay because I went away," Gladson said, who has worked at Duty Free Shoppers for 10 years.
Col. George "Bev" Garrett, director of the JRAC, said at the height of the mobilization there were 444 reservists mobilized for homeland security on Oahu, Japan and Guam. Some were placed on active duty as early as Oct. 18. Of that number, 110 were from Hawaii.
In developing Hawaii's homeland defense program, Garrett said, the Army drew on the military's past support of civilian needs, such as the aid offered following the destruction caused by Hurricane Iwa in 1982 and Hurricane Iniki in 1992.
Garrett said Lt. Gen. E.P. Smith, Pacific Army forces commanding general, focused on developing a training program, collecting and analyzing intelligence information and then sharing whatever information was gathered. He emphasized that when it comes to homeland defense, the primary responsibility still remains with civil authorities with the military standing by to provide emergency assistance.
One of the continuing problems that stems as far back as Hurricane Iwa was the incompatibility of military and civilian radio systems. What resulted was the development of the Pacific Mobile Emergency Radio System -- a narrow band radio system used by the military and which is now tied into the Honolulu Police Department channels and eventually will be linked to the Fire Department as well.
Garrett also said the military now has enough of these mobile radios that "if we came and the on-scene incident commander was not able to talk to us, we would hand him a radio" that he would use until the situation is over.
With five antennas and retransmission sites on Oahu, Garrett said, there is now a communication link from the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island up the island chain to Kauai.