Iraq orders
canceled for
veteran on Kauai
Inouye's office cites
a 'computer discrepancy'
The Kauai resident who was ordered back into the Army for a tour in Iraq 13 years after his honorable discharge will stay home after all.
David M. Miyasato said retired Army National Guard Maj. Gen. Alexis Lum, who works for U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, called him yesterday to say his mobilization orders had been revoked.
"It's a great day. It's an even greater Veterans Day," said Miyasato, whose plight gained national media attention after he sued the Army last week to stop his mobilization orders.
Miyasato said that Lum told him the problem had been caused by "an internal computer discrepancy."
But Miyasato's attorney, Eric Seitz, said he has no plans to dismiss the lawsuit against the Army until he is assured that his client is safe from a mobilization order.
Miyasato, who is married with a child, received orders in September to report to Fort Jackson, S.C., by Tuesday "for no more than 24 months active duty."
It came as a surprised for Miyasato, who believed he had fulfilled his Army duties. Miyasato served in the 1991 Gulf War after enlisting just before he graduated from Kauai High School in 1988. He completed his eight-year enlistment in August 1996.
Miyasato, who was a truck driver and refueler during his enlistment, wrote to the Army several times protesting the mobilization order. Miyasato asked Hawaii's congressional delegation for help after he did not get a response from the Army.
Rather than face an absent-without-leave charge, Miyasato hired Seitz, who filed a federal lawsuit on Friday seeking a restraining order. Within hours the Army responded and gave Miyasato a 30-day exemption.
After hearing from Lum yesterday, Miyasato said, "I am definitely relieved, and the weight has been lifted off our shoulders." Miyasato's wife, Estelle, gave birth to their first child, Abigail, in March.
During his Army stint, Miyasato was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division in Germany and was sent to the 4th Squadron, 7th Cavalry. Before Christmas 1990 his unit was deployed to Saudi Arabia, and later joined the ground war in Iraq.
On Aug. 15, 1991, Miyasato received an honorable discharge.
Miyasato started an auto-tinting shop in Lihue two years ago. He said he never re-enlisted, did not sign up for any bonuses and was never told that he had been transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve or any other Army Reserve unit.
In July, 4,166 soldiers in the Individual Ready Reserve received mobilization orders. Of those, 843 have neither reported nor asked for a delay or exemption, according to the Army. At least two other veterans have filed suit against the government after being ordered to report to Iraq.
Last week, the Army agreed to honorably discharge Capt. Jay Ferriola, who was told to go to Iraq even though he had notified the Army he was resigning his commission.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Frank Daimler Jr. in California refused to grant an injunction stopping another soldier, known only as John Doe, from being transferred because his California National Guard enlistment does not expire until May.
The soldier, believed to be a member of the California infantry battalion assigned to Hawaii's 29th Infantry Brigade, was affected by the Pentagon's "stop-loss" program, which extends enlistment during war or national emergencies.
He signed up under a National Guard program for veterans that offers military education and family medical benefits for a one-year trial. Before that term expired, he was called up for an 18-month tour that will extend his enlistment by nearly a year.
