HANAPEPE – Families of Kaua‘i soldiers serving in Iraq, or on their way to the wartorn nation, met Friday night with Hawai‘i Army National Guard General Vern Miyagi. “Their (the soldiers) morale is sky-high,” Miyagi told the families. “They’ve had
HANAPEPE – Families of Kaua‘i soldiers serving in Iraq, or on their way to the wartorn nation, met Friday night with Hawai‘i Army National Guard General Vern Miyagi.
“Their (the soldiers) morale is sky-high,” Miyagi told the families. “They’ve had enough training, and now, they just want to get the job done.”
Miyagi and a group of Army specialists met with the families at the Hanapepe Armory.
About three dozen family members of Iraq deployment soldiers were on hand to hear the latest updates on their relatives.
In answer to one lady’s question, Miyagi told of the danger the Kaua‘i troops face in Irag.
“The area they are going to is not a safe zone,” he said, “It is active.”
Miyagi said that the group the Hawai‘i-based contingent is replacing suffered eight casualties during their tour in Iraq.
He said the deployment to Iraq was much different than how guard troops were sent off Kaua‘i during the Vietnam War.
“This time, we’re doing it right,” he said. “During the Vietnam war, individuals were singled out and sent. This time, the troops go as a team. They trained together, they shipped out together, and they’ll remain together.”
Miyagi said the Kaua‘i troops are well equipped “…with the best equipment from body armor to knee pads.”
Clementine Quel, the head of a group known as the Kaua‘i Family Support Group, said veterans had done a lot for the group in helping them cope with having family members in a war zone faraway.
She said along with having presentations from specialists from the Army National Guard, the families needed to come together as the wave of Kaua‘i soldiers makes their move into Iraq after training on the Mainland and being stationed briefly elsewhere in the Middle East.
Miyagi said the soldiers started movement this week to their final destination in Iraq.
The soldiers from the Hawai‘i Army National Guard are on the move, he said, “and, we should be hearing from them very shortly.”
One wife confirmed that she received a call from her husband earlier Friday afternoon informing her that he had just arrived at his camp in Iraq after starting out on Monday.
During this transitional phase, Miyagi said he and Gen. Robert Lee visited the troops at Fort Polk in Texas and were on hand as the soldiers boarded specially-decorated planes they flew aboard to Kuwait.
There was a special group of people in Alexandria who adopted the Hawai‘i soldiers, Miyagi told the Kaua‘i families. They had movies set up at the air base so the soldiers would have some entertainment while waiting on their planes. They also had Mardi Gras beads and had photos taken of the soldiers decked out in the decorative and festive accessories.
“We’re in the process of trying to get them certified as the Alexandria Family Support Group (for Hawai‘i soldiers),” Miyagi said. “They said that when the group returns, if they come through Atlanta, Ga., they’ll have a similar welcome home reception for them.”
“The support for the troops has been tremendous,” Miyagi said.
“Cards created by school children, and special decorations marked the planes the soldiers were using, and some of the officers joked with the pilots about checking their licenses.”
“You have got to be proud of them,” the general said.
“They know what kind of support they’re getting, and they appreciate everything that everyone is doing for them.”
“Stay close to the family group,” Miyagi said.
He assured each member that his staff will do whatever is needed to support the family members here, introducing Major Eric Iwanaga, the Guard’s Rear Detachment Commander whose primary task is to “take care of everything that is left back – families, equipment, everything.
Additionally, Kaua‘i has its own contact people in Quel, her husband, Sgt. Pat Quel and Milton Oshiro who are always available to help families.
Several of the veterans who were on hand to help dispense cold drinks sat in the back of the presentation, silently listening as the general made his presentation.
“Some of them (the families) are already stressing out,” one noted silently.
“But, at least they have the Group. When we shipped out to Vietnam, we only had the priest.”
During the solemn presentation, Quel said that three members of the 4-H Club’s Spunky Bunch were on hand at the armory to help with child care.
Quel said the 4-H has come on board as part of a national movement, and although the Kaua‘i leader, Laura Kawamura was detained on an off-island trip, three of the club’s members showed up to help keep the youngsters occupied while their parents tended to the business of trying to keep the family going through the presentations.
In addition to Miyagi, Quel said Jo Ann Yamamoto, the head of the Hawai‘i Family Support Group came with the contingent because she actually wanted to meet some of the people in the group.
Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) and dfujimoto@pulitzer.net
