Lawmakers
await Middle East
deployment newsThree politicians with reservist ties
could be placed on active duty
State Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo will know in the next week whether she will be called up as part of the Hawaii National Guard mobilization for 18-month service, including a likely Iraq deployment.
On Friday, the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade was told it could be placed on active duty starting in September.
Tamayo is one of three local elected officials serving in the Army Reserve or National Guard, but she is the only one who might go to the Middle East.
Also in the 29th Brigade is Rep. Mark Takai (D, Newtown-Pearl City), who is a captain with a medical command unit attached to the guard headquarters command. Takai said his unit is "not deployable."
"I doubt my unit would be named unless the entire headquarters was named, but there is always a chance that my specialty would be needed," said Takai, a preventive medical specialist.
City Councilman Charles Djou, a lieutenant in the Army Reserve, said that although 80 percent of his unit has been mobilized, he was not.
Tamayo (D, Waipahu-Ewa), who is an E-4 specialist, said she is also in the headquarters medical command with Takai, but that a separate medical company being deployed has 28 vacancies.
"They will be filled by pulling individuals from our unit," Tamayo said. "When I enlisted, I enlisted because I wanted to serve my country and state, so this doesn't come as a surprise.
"If I were put on the list and asked to go, I would be extremely honored," Tamayo said.
She and Takai are both running for re-election this fall and the Guard's mobilization complicates their political future.
Takai said he had checked with the state Elections Office and was advised that if serving overseas, a candidate for office could still register and vote. State law requires candidates for office to be registered to vote in their district on election day.
But the time away from home that National Guard soldiers are expected to serve raises another question. The tour of duty is expected to be 18 months, with the time period starting in September. The citizen soldiers would not return until the closing months of the 2006 Legislature.
Takai said there is no state law addressing that problem, although other states allow legislators in the Guard to name a temporary replacement or permit the Guard member to vote in the Legislature on a delayed basis.
Djou said he is supporting a City Council bill that would allow the Council to pick a new, temporary Council member to fill in for a Council person during deployment.
Hawaii National Guard
www.dod.state.hi.us/hiarng