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In the Military Gregg K. Kakesako |
See also: For Your Benefit
VA-Pentagon project aims
to improve budget processThe Department of Veterans Affairs will conduct a pilot project for the budget and financial management practices of Hawaii's VA facilities -- Tripler Army Medical Center as well as the Air Force 3rd Medical Group and the Alaska VA Health Care System in Anchorage -- under partnership with the Pentagon.
"The purpose of the studies in Hawaii," said Dr. Enrico Camara, head of the joint venture, "is to improve the VA's financial, business and budget process."
The Defense Department spends about $20 billion a year on the medical needs of some 6.2 million troops, family members and retirees. And the Veterans Affairs Department spends about $25 billion a year caring for 4 million former service members, primarily the poor and the disabled.
In Hawaii, Camara said the VA spends about $20 million a year in buying medical services from the Department of Defense since it is one of two states without a VA hospital. Last year, of the 243,000 people eligible for VA care, only 150,000 were actually enrolled in the VA system, Camara said.
A 25th Infantry Division soldier was temporarily sidelined during a field training exercise Oct. 31 in Japan by what was believed to be a snake bite. Spc. Gene Cedar -- an infantry soldier with the Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry -- had to be treated while training in the Oyanohara Training Area near Kumomoto when he was bitten on his forearm. An Army spokeswoman said that Cedar returned to duty after he was treated. "We're not sure what bit him," said Capt. Kathy Turner, 25th Division spokeswoman. "We only know that it wasn't poisonous."
More than 500 Schofield Barracks soldiers went to Japan on Oct. 24 to participate in "Orient Shield 2004" -- an exercise conducted annually with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. They returned to the islands Nov. 11.
Navy Capt. Greg Parker, commander of Submarine Squadron 22, and Cmdr. Christopher R. Van Metre, commanding officer of the attack submarine USS Hartford, were relieved as a result of an investigation into an Oct. 25 incident in which the sub scraped bottom in La Maddalena, Sardinia, Italy.
The Navy said Parker, Van Metre and three other officers and three enlisted crew members were disciplined in a nonjudicial punishment proceeding and charged with dereliction of duty. Each received individual punishments. In addition, one of the officers and one enlisted were administratively relieved of duties.
In the first time in nearly a decade, the Pearl Harbor-based destroyer USS Paul Hamilton conducted operations in Hawaiian waters with the Russian navy vessels Marshall Shaposhnikov and Pechenga on Oct. 28 and 29. The three ships conducted multiple exercises including a simulated search and rescue operation.
The Kaneohe Bay Officers' Club will hold a special Oahu officers' mixer beginning at 5 p.m. Nov. 20 at its renovated facilities at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Call 254-7650 for more information.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
"In the Military" was compiled from wire reports and other
sources by reporter Gregg K. Kakesako, who covers military affairs for
the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. He can be reached can be reached by phone
at 294-4075 or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
