Tammy Kubo, owner of Hawaii
Pet Nanny and mother of Kuwait-bound soldier Spc. William Lurbe
Jr., was among several hundred Hawaii residents who flew to
Fort Hood in Texas to see their loved ones at Wednesday's farewell
ceremony for the 29th Brigade Combat Team. "Seeing three
days of training comforts me. I know he has been trained really
well," she said.
Kubo, the Family Readiness Group leader for Delta Company of
the Army Reserve's 100th Battalion, joined a dozen business
leaders who were flown to Fort Hood in a Hawaii Air Guard KC-135
jet tanker to observe the training of the 29th Brigade and the
100th Battalion. She also is the wife of U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo.
Joining the group was state Sen. Mike Gabbard, whose daughter,
2nd Lt. Tulsi Tamayo, is a military police officer in the brigade
and who is on her second combat deployment and will be in Kuwait
for nine months. She was a medic when the brigade went to Iraq
three years ago.
The group was briefed on the techniques that will be used by
soldiers in the 100th Battalion and the 1st Battalion, 299th
Cavalry who will escort convoys from Kuwait into Iraq, driving
as far north as Mosul. They were shown how convoy teams are
trained to respond to reports of homemade bombs hidden along
the roadside or what to do if a Humvee or truck is hit by one.
The group also got to fire the weapons, like the M-16, M-240
machine gun and the .50-caliber machine gun, that today's soldiers
carry. However, no ammunition was used. The firing occurred
in an indoor, air-conditioned range using weapons modified to
"fire" light rays instead of bullets. The guns use
compressed air to replicate the kick each weapon gives off.
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The Go For Broke National Education Center in Southern California
has been awarded a $450,000 grant to study the role of Japanese-American
linguists during U.S. occupation of Japan. The program will
work closely with the U.S. Army Center of Military History.
It comes at the encouragement of U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka and
the National Japanese American Veterans Council, and follows
the Department of Army's 2006 publication of "Nisei Linguist:
Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During
World War II," by Dr. James McNaughton.
The Army Center for Military History will use the oral histories
collected through this program for a sequel to McNaughton's
work in the study. Christine Sato-Yamazaki, president and chief
executive officer of the National Education Center, said, "We've
been conducting oral histories for the past 10 years and have
already interviewed more than 900 Japanese-American veterans
of World War II."
The project started in September and will end in 2011.
The National Education Center had already interviewed several
Nisei linguists who served in the U.S. Military Intelligence
Service during World War II and then stationed in occupied Japan.
An estimated 3,000 Nisei MIS members served in Japan from 1945
to 1952, during the U.S. military's post-World War II occupation.
In addition to its work with Nisei veterans, the National Education
Center has developed educational curricula for schools in California,
Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Go For Broke National Education Center membership and information
are available at www.goforbroke.org
Please contact me if I can help you. My phone is 586-6830 and
e-mail is sengabbard@capitol.hawaii.gov.
Mahalo for the privilege of serving you!
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