Deployment’s price

The state looks at aid for reservists
who will earn less with call-ups

FORT POLK, La. » The head of Hawaii's Department of Defense estimates that it would cost the state at least $200,000 to make up the difference in pay for 273 members of the 29th Infantry Brigade going through the final paces before leaving for Iraq at the end of this month.

Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, who as adjutant general for Hawaii commands both the Army and Air National Guard, said a survey of Hawaii's 2,200 citizen soldiers taken right after they were mobilized for 18 months of active duty in August revealed that 15 percent of them would suffer a financial hardship.

Lee said that unlike other states, whose soldiers have been called to active duty to Iraq or Afghanistan, the numbers here are relatively small. "The other states are reporting that one-third of their mobilized force would lose money," Lee added, "for another one third, there would be no change and another one-third would make money."

To offset the difference between a soldier's civilian and military pay, Gov. Linda Lingle earlier this month said her package of legislative bills will include a measure ensuring that any soldier who is a state employee would not lose any money while he is away in a combat zone for 18 months.

She encouraged county governments and private businesses to follow her lead.

State Sen. Norman Sakamoto, chairman of the Senate Education and Military Affairs Committee, believes Lingle's proposal is "something worthwhile to look into."

However, Sakamoto believes that such a proposal should be a part of an overall review of the needs of Hawaii citizen soldiers and their families.

He said in talking with soldiers from the 29th Brigade this week that some of the other concerns included child care, after-school care and education benefits.

Sakamoto was among the nearly 30 civilian employers and government officials who spent last week at the Army's premier training facility in central Louisiana participating in the National Guard program known as "boss lift."

"Boss lift" is part of the National Guard's Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve program that was begun in 1972 when the draft was abolished, according to Air National Guard Lt. Col. Ann Greenlee, who directs the local program. Although the plane ride didn't cost the participants anything, they were required to each pay $375 to cover hotel costs and some of the meals.

Several of the employers told the Star-Bulletin that they already are making up the pay differential for their workers.

Charles Kawakami, president of Kauai's Big Save supermarkets, is already subsidizing the salaries of two of his employees -- Rey Tiacist and Orlando Mateo -- who work at the Lihue branch.

Both had been planning to retire, Kawakami said, before the call-up came. Tiacist has been in for 26 years and Mateo for 26.

Kimberly Miyazawa, organization development for Servco Pacific, said the company is making up the pay difference for five of the 1,000 employee -- three employees with the 29th Brigade, one already in Iraq and the fifth at Schofield Barracks preparing to deploy.

Both Servco and Big Save also are maintaining the health and dental benefits for their workers' families.

Greenlee said this is one of the biggest concerns for soldiers, who are mobilized, and their families.

"The soldier is definitely taken care of," she said. "Although the family members are covered, they no longer can go to their private practitioner whom they are familiar with, but are now part of the military health system."

Although the time the employers got to spend with their workers was limited, they all were glad to have taken the eight-hour, non-stop tanker flight to Louisiana.

Sandi Ishihara-Shibata, principal of Kawananakoa Middle School, delivered 2,300 ribbons tied by her 850 students.

"Everyone did one or two," she said, "so all the soldiers could have one."