GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM Pfcs. Adrian and Adrien Delos Santos, both 18 and twins from Maui, are the youngest of the 70 soldiers from the Hawaii Army National Guard called up to active duty.

Iraq duty beckons
70 on Maui

KAHULUI >> Twins Adrien and Adrian Delos Santos are headed to Iraq at 18 years of age because they joined the Hawaii Army National Guard to get free tuition at Maui Community College.

"We didn't think we'd get called up," Adrien Delos Santos said. "It's scary, but we have to go and do it."

The two privates had four years of ROTC training at Baldwin High School and were to start as full-time students at the community college this fall.

They were among the 70 soldiers in Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry at the Kahului Armory yesterday, going through procedures required for mobilizing them into active duty. They will be leaving Maui on Friday for Schofield Barracks on Oahu for training.

The soldiers range in age from 18 to their mid-50s and come from a variety of occupations. "They come from a cross-section of Maui," said 1st Lt. Kenneth Prather, who works as a Maui police detective.

Sgt. John Hada is leaving civilian life as a second-year straight-A student at Maui Community College. He is also leaving a wife and two children.

Hada, 34, said he is proud to come from a line of men who served in the military, including his grandfather and two great-uncles who enlisted in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team out of a Japanese internment camp on the mainland to fight during World War II.

"We'll get our mission done and get everybody back," Hada said.

First Sgt. John Turner, 55, an agricultural development supervisor for Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, said he last served on active duty during the Vietnam War when he was drafted into the Army from California and served with the 101st Airborne Division.

Turner, who has a 16-year-old son and 19-year-old daughter living on Oahu, said he viewed the recent call-up as a job. "You hope it doesn't happen, but when it's time, it's your duty," he said.

Hada's wife, Diana, said the family went to Kaahumanu Center in Kahului this past weekend to take a family portrait.

"It's something we could do together before he leaves," said Diana, carrying her 15-month-old daughter, Mika, and standing beside her 11-year-old daughter, Shelby.

"I wish we could do something to stop it. It's hard. It puts stress on everyone."