na leo o na koa - moaa-hawaii · na leo o na koa newsletter of the ... judge kubo’s description...

Volume No. 15, Issue No. 9 Web Site: http://www.aloha-moaa.org September 2014

(Voices of Warriors)

Chartered January 27, 2000

Na Leo O Na Koa

Newsletter of the Aloha Chapter,

An Affiliate of the Military Officers Association of America

2007 Chapter Rating

Veterans’ Court Do you remember the stirring presentation by Judge Ed Kubo at our luncheon on 20 Febru-ary? Judge Kubo’s description of the Veterans’ Treatment Court he had founded in 2013 and how it was providing a greatly needed helping hand to vets who had strayed from be-coming good citizens inspired our life member MAJ Larry Enomoto, USAF, Ret., to be-

come a v e t e r a n m e n t o r in the Honolulu Veterans’ T r e a t -m e n t Court for a 26-year-old fellow Air Force veteran.

MOAA Picnic Rescheduled

Because of the expected dou-ble blow of Hurricanes Iselle and Julio the weekend of our annual MOAA Picnic in Au-gust, it was prudently post-poned to noon on Sunday, 21 September. (Hopefully, Mother Nature won’t pick on us again.)

P l e a s e make an effort to join us for fun, food and fabu-lous fel-lowship at Beach Pavilion 5A, Bellows AFS. All of this for only $15 per person!

Mail your Reservation Form on Page 7 ASAP! Mahalo!

Inside September Issue

Birthdays 7 Bridge Report 5 Calendar of Events 2 Chairman’s Corner 2 Chapter Leaders 8 Golf Report 6 Membership Application 7 Reservation Form 7 Retiree Appreciation Day 3 Survivor’s Checklist 3

The Veterans’ Treatment Court meets every Friday after-noon. Over time, the mentors and their respective assigned clients become best friends; the clients begin to realize that their mentor “has his back.” They learn to trust each other. The mentor must always be reliable, dependable and diligent to maintain the client’s confidence. This “big brother” relationship helps to guide the wayward vet to find the right path on his way to becoming a productive member of society instead of a lost soul ending up (back) in prison, homeless, or worse.

Judge Kubo’s Veterans’ Treatment Court has been so successful on Oahu that Chief Judge Ronald Ibara wants to emulate it on the Big Island.

Larry is very happy to be a vol-unteer mentor. He says, “It is rewarding to help another vet.”

Lawrence M. G. Enomoto

Judge Ed Kubo in his black judicial robe and his mentors in the Honolulu Vet-erans’ Treat-ment Court. Larry Eno-moto is be-hind the dog.

Nā Leo O Nā Koa No. 15, September 2014

Chairman’ s Corner

By Mark Webster

Two hurricanes last month ne-cessitated the cancellation of our annual MOAA picnic at Bellows AFS. This may be a blessing in disguise since it may be more

convenient for you to attend at noon on Sunday, 21 September. Please make an effort to join in the frolic, festivities and fellowship of this re-scheduled event. There will be BBQ kalbi ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, teriyaki chicken and beer and wine and soft drinks—all for only $15. Ad-ditionally, there will be special entertainment at 1330 (Hint: look upwards towards the ocean). Send in the Reservation Form on Page 7 of this newsletter ASAP if you have not done so already.

Also, in September, on the 18th, our Program Chairman, MG Stephen Tom, USA, Ret., is calling for a planning meeting of his commit-tee at 0930 at Hale Ikena for our annual Christ-mas Party at the Sunset Lanai, Camp Smith.

On 15 August the Aloha Chapter had an EX-COM meeting at Hale Ikena. For our gather-ing in October, it was decided that we would strive to have a Candidates Forum of the two Congressional candidates for the open 1st Con-gressional District, both of whom are military officers. It would be a joint early dinner meet-ing at the Oahu Veterans’ Center featuring Aloha Chapter life member LTC Mark Takai, HANG, the Democratic contender, and Hawaii State Chapter member MAJ Charles Djou, USAR, the Republican challenger. Both Mark and Charles are veterans of the recent con-flicts; Mark served in Kuwait and Charles in Afghanistan. Our Legislative Liaison, MG Robert Lee, USA, Ret., has agreed to be the moderator for this contentious event. The ma-jor hurdle for finalizing this forum, however, is coordinating the busy schedules of each candi-date with the availability of the Oahu Veterans’ Center. This should be decided in time for the October newsletter.

Notice This newsletter, my 105th issue of Nā Leo O Nā Koa, is promulgated electronically monthly as an official pub-lication of Aloha Chapter, Military Officers’ Association of America, P.O. Box 201441, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96820.

Views expressed herein are not necessarily chapter policy.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

13 Sep 2014 0800-1400, Military Retiree Appreciation Day, (Saturday) Nehelani Banquet Center, Schofield Barracks

14 Sep 2014 1300, Bridge Party, Fahrni Realty Class-(Sunday) room, Aiea. Hostess: Joan White

18 Sep 2014 0930, Committee Meeting planning for an-(Thursday) nual Christmas party, Mulligans, Hale Ikena

19 Sep 2014 0900, Golf Outing, Leilehua Golf Course,(Friday) Wahiawa, Oahu

21 Sep 2014 Noon, Rescheduled Annual MOAA Picnic, (Sunday) Pavillion 5A, Bellows AFS, Waimanalo, Oahu

? Oct 2014 1700, Candidates Forum/Catered Joint Din- ner Featuring Hawaii State Chapter member Charles Djou & Aloha Chapter member Mark Takai, Oahu Veterans’ Center

? Nov 2014 1000, Annual Patriotic Songfest, Center for Aging, TAMC

? Nov 2014 1130, Annual General Membership Meeting

4 Dec 2014 1730, Annual Christmas Dinner Party, Sunset(Thursday) Lanai, Camp H. M. Smith, Aiea Heights

(Note: Changed from a luncheon to a joint dinner)

In this newsletter you will notice a lengthy arti-cle on the steps to be taken in the event of the death of a veteran. Because of the importance of this topic to all of us, it will be reprinted in the updated Membership Directory to be distrib-uted at the Annual General Membership Meeting in November so that it is readily available. It will be mailed to those who are unable to attend.

If there are any changes to the last Directory, please advise [email protected].

In accordance with Article XII, Section 5, of the Aloha Chapter Bylaws, up to three mem-bers of the chapter need to be selected to comprise our Nominating Committee. In Sep-tember, I will appoint a Nominating Commit-tee to select replacements for the three mem-bers of the Board of Directors whose terms are expiring. They will be voted on at our General Membership Meeting in November.

No 15, September 2014 Nā Leo O Nā Koa

CSM Joel Jenkins, USA, Ret., who will give a Retiree Council update; and LtGen Jack Klimp, USMC, Ret., President and CEO of the National Association for Uniformed Ser-vices (NAUS), who will discuss the latest legis-lation affecting retirees and their families.

LTG Allen Ono will give the Closing Re-marks for this annual event and then it will conclude with a no-host buffet luncheon.

Personal Affairs and Survi-vor’s Checklist for Retirees

For your information, upon the death of a member of our Aloha Chapter family—military retiree, an auxiliary member or a sur-viving spouse—contact one of our chapter’s two Personal Affairs Co-Chairmen: COL Hal Okita, USA, Ret., on the Windward side of Oahu, or LTC John Jefferis, USA, Ret., Lee-ward, for any assistance you may need in your time of need. Their contact information is on Page 8 of this newsletter.

As further assistance, a survivor’s checklist follows. It is in two sections: Section A covers what you need to do NOW to have records im-mediately available upon the death of a mili-tary retiree, for the survivor’s peace of mind, and Section B covers what needs to happen when the military retiree dies.

Section A: Records & Actions To Be Taken Prior To The Death Of A Veteran Set up a file. Make sure that your survivors—spouse, children, and executor—know where it is. Keep it up to date. What to include: ____: The veteran’s DD-214 Form. Have 10 copies of this form in your files. NO earned veteran benefits, including burial, etc., can be received without the agency involved being provided with a copy of this form. ____: Ensure that a Will for the veteran (and spouse) has been prepared and is up to date.

See Checklist Page 4

At the annual Military Retiree Appreciation Day at Schofield Barracks on 13 September, sponsored by Hawaii’s U.S. Army Retiree Coun-cil, our Aloha Chapter will have a table set up with a banner and manned by COL Curtis Lee, USA, Ret.; LTC Hal Takenaka, USA, Ret.; and, hopefully, COL Hal Okita, USA, Ret.; and LTC Bob Kozuki, USA, Ret.; to in-troduce our chapter to potential new members. They will also have MOAA recruiting material and Personal Affairs information available.

Also available for the attendees during the first hour will be medical checks and flu shots.

At 0905 Aloha Chapter member LTG Allen Ono, USA, Ret., Chairman of the U.S. Army Retiree Council, Hawaii, is scheduled to deliver the Welcome Remarks.

Following LTG Ono’s brief remarks, CSM Donald Devaney, USA, Ret., Co-Chairman of the U.S. Army Retiree Council, Hawaii, will give a tribute to our recent deceased retirees.

GEN Vincent Brooks, USA, Commanding General, U.S. Army Pacific will then give the Opening Remarks for this event.

TAMC/TRICARE information will be pre-sented by BG Dennis Doyle, USA, and COL David Dunning, USA—Commander, Pacific Region Medical Command (PRMC), and Com-mander, Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC), respectively.

There will also be talks by COL James Hor-ton, USAF, Ret., Director of the National Me-morial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl;

Checklist continued from page 3

Be specific about your desires for the distribu-tion of assets in your estate. No Will means that your estate ends up in the State Court sys-tem, even if there is a surviving spouse. ___: Strongly consider having a Revocable Trust established for the veteran’s (and spouse’s) estate. In Hawaii, the estate will go into probate, even with a valid Will. Without the Trust, probate can take up to a year to settle and is expensive. ___: Prepare and execute an End of Life Direc-tive (“Living Will”) that clearly states the veteran’s (and spouse’s) preference relative to life support. If this document is not available to the doctor or hospital where the veteran (or spouse) is being treated and they may require life support, these persons/agencies are required to continue a life support program. Make copies! If the patient is discharged, the “Living Will” will be destroyed; you’ll need another for the next hospitalization. ___: Have a Life Insurance File readily avail-able with its location known by all family mem-bers. Include the veteran’s medical files and any Veterans’ Administration (VA) benefit award correspondence. ___: Have a Financial File also available with bank accounts, retirement accounts, stocks/bonds/annuities, income tax returns, credit card accounts, investments real property documents, etc. This can include employment information such as 401(k) accounts and medical plans. If these docu-ments are kept in a safety deposit box, ensure at least two people other than the spouse know the location and where the key is. Also ensure that two persons have the home safe combination. ___: Have a Personal File readily available with funeral arrangement preferences, medical re-cords, home insurance policies, and contact in-formation on children and other close relations. A “Letter of Instructions” telling what you want done with your possessions will be useful. ___: Finally, if any of the above information re-sides in a Home Computer, ensure that password and PINs are written down or put on a flash/thumb drive and stored in a secure, known location.


Section B: Death Of A Military Retiree

___: Notify the Funeral Home of the death to pre-pare the deceased for burial. Note: if the death occurs outside of a hospital, normally the remains are taken to the nearest hospital for a medical doc-tor to certify the death and determine the cause to meet death certificate and local legal requirements. ___: Advise the Funeral Home if Full Military Honors are desired. Provide them with a copy of the deceased veteran’s DD-214 Form. The funeral home arranges for this ceremony. Ad-ditionally, request at least 10 copies of the Death Certificate, which is processed by the funeral home with State agencies. ___: Report the veteran’s death to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) at 1-800-321-1080. Also, request that Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) forms be sent to the surviving spouse to be completed and submitted to DFAS. Note: DFAS will in-differently remove the last month’s re-tired pay to the deceased from his/her bank ac-count normally within 48 hours of this notifica-tion. Expect 8 to 12 weeks for the SBP forms to be processed and the surviving spouse to receive their first SBP allotment. The back SBP pay will be part of the first allotment.

See Checklist Page 5

No 15, September 2014 Nā Leo O Nā Koa

Due to the Hurricane Iselle scare during the second weekend of August, and for the safety concerns of those who signed up to play that Sunday, we decided to cancel our bridge session for the month.

As for the session in September, Joan White graciously offered to host again. The session will be held on Sunday, 14 September, and held at the Fahrni Realty Classroom, beginning at 1 pm. Those in-terested in playing need to contact Joan by e-mail at [email protected], or by telephone to 681-6266, not later than Wednesday, 10 September. Shirley

Aloha Chapter Party Bridge

___: Notify deceased vet-

eran’s life insurance companies

of death. Processing of death

benefits cannot occur until

death certificates have been

issued. In Hawaii this can take

up to six weeks. Ensure that

the current policies are readily

available.

___: Notify any local or

other locations’ newspapers

of the death so an obituary

can be printed. Funeral

homes will many times assist

in the drafting of an obituary.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

usually requires that the

obituary come from the fu-

neral home.

___: Finally, Notify any fra-

ternal or professional organi-

zations of the decease of the

veteran so they can publish

this information to their mem-

bership. DFAS notifies the

deceased veteran’s military ser-

vice for inclusion in their

“Retired Newsletter” to those

service retirees. Your Aloha

Chapter MOAA Personal Af-

fairs Officer will notify the

MOAA National magazine,

“Military Officer.”

Checklist continued from Page 4

___: Notify your Social Secu-rity office of the death of the military retiree at 1-800-722-1213. Note: Normally a tele-phone interview can be set up with a Social Security coun-selor to get information they need to process their paper-work. Social Security will re-quest the ORIGINAL wed-ding license from the surviv-ing spouse be sent to them, NO copies. It will be re-turned to the surviving spouse after their verification. The other option is to go to the local Social Security Of-fice with the marriage license for their validation of mar-riage. ___: Contact the local Veter-ans’ Administration for bur-ial benefits. This is to in-clude partial payment for de-ceased burial preparation. The telephone number is 1-800-827-1000. In Hawaii call the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl, to set up a time for the burial service at 532-3720. For burial in a Hawaii Veterans Cemetery, contact the State Office of Veterans’

Services at 433-0422. Advise either office if the burial will be with or without full mili-tary honors. A DD-214 Form on the deceased vet-eran is required for burial in a federal or state veterans cemetery.

___: Notify the deceased military retiree’s current or recent employer, if any, so that pension, medical plan, company savings plan, and insurance can be dealt with properly. ___: Update your surviving spouse military identification card at any military installa-tion. ___: If the deceased veteran had been receiving Veterans’ Administration (VA) benefit payments, contact the VA to have a determination made if cause of death was service re-lated. If deemed service re-lated, surviving spouse may be eligible for VA Dependent In-demni ty Compensa t ion (DIC). If DIC is awarded, this will be offset by SPB pay-ments in the same amount, but DIC is non-taxable. The telephone number is 1-800-827-1000.


August Golf Report It seems that whenever I send out the notice for sign-ing up for the month's golf outing, the responses ini-tially seem to be mostly Nays. I am trying to deter-mine the reason behind this initial apathy. As in previ-

ous months, the majority of the responses to our August 22nd golf outing at the Navy/Marine Golf Course were negative. I de-cided that I would not be overly concerned with the initial replies. True to form, the tally on the deadline of Friday, 15 August, was 17 members and 8 guests; however, I was informed that I had missed one of guests, so the final tally was 17 members and 9 guests for a total of 26 players, two of whom were female players.

Having been an absentee coordinator last month, I was anxious to play this month. See-ing the blue skies with spotted clouds in the morning was a wonderful sight indeed. As Joe Kuroda would have said, "lucky come Hawaii golf weather," of course, with a chorus of "Oh what a beautiful morning." Everyone cer-tainly missed his serenade since Joe has not been playing golf the last several months due to his sore shoulder; we miss you Joe!

I intended to be really early so I left Mililani before 0730. The traffic at the H1/H2 inter-section was a bit crowded; however, it soon cleared up and the traffic moved very smoothly. Shortly after I arrived quite a while before our start times, the MOAA players be-gan showing up. It wasn't long before I was able to account for all of the players except for one who had called and said he was on his way.

Shortly before our scheduled 0900 tee time, it was announced that the first group of the

Norm Fujiwara

MOAA group report to the first tee; thus the group led by Kelly Lau with John Ma, Ken Munechika and Ira Tagawa, teed off; they were followed by Mert Agena, Walt and Janice Kinoshita and their guest, Kerry Kiy-abu; the third group, led by Gordon Cho, consisted of John Seely and Eddie Lee, they were followed by a fivesome of Myron Brumaghin, Bob Nagao and their guests, Dave Umeda, Carl Watanabe and Andie Soto; followed by a threesome of Gary Hamada and my guests, Tony Marks and Rick K.; they were followed by Ken Yamada and his guests, Dennis Kawano, Norris Atsumi, Evelyn Atsumi and Charles Taka-yama; the final group consisted of Mel Soong, Curtis Lee and yours truly.

After a wonderful day on the golf course, we did our blind partner jack pot and in third place were the partners Janice Kinoshita and Bob Nagao; in second place were the partners Mert Agena and Gordon Cho; and the grand champions, who topped the second place group by the sum of 12 strokes, were the part-ners Walt Kinoshita and Myron Brumaghin. Congratulation to our mega jackpot winners, especially the grand champions, and also a big Mahalo to all the other players who made our monthly outing a wonderful day on the golf course.

Now for our thought of the day: “Always re-member that you are absolutely unique — just like everyone else.”

Our next golf outing is on Friday, 19 September, at Leile-hua Golf Course, Wahiawa.

Aloha, Norm

Add these Websites to your “Favorites”

http://www.aloha-moaa.org http://www.moaa.org

No. 15, September 2014 Nā Leo O Nā Koa

Hau'oli lā hānau! Partial List of

September Babies Kirk Durante 9/01 Kenneth Okazaki 9/01 Cedric Chong 9/03 Shirley Ihara 9/04 Ira Tagawa 9/05 Rodney Kimura 9/06 Robert Frye, 96 9/08 Satoru Izatsu 9/07 Leroy Perry 9/11 Lisa Seward 9/11 Robert Lee 9/14 Stanley Tanaka 9/19 Sunny Young 9/19 Michael Fricano 9/25 Tony Bamer 9/27 Gordon Cho 9/27 Norman Fujiwara 9/29

Best Wishes for many, many more Birthdays!

Aloha Chapter

Military Officers Association

Of America

P.O. Box 201441

Honolulu HI 96820-1356

* 2002 5-Star Chapter


* 2004 Winner Best Website

* 2004 2nd Runner-Up Electronic Newsletter


* 2005 Winner-Cat VII "Give Me 10" Recruitment Campaign



* 2007 2nd Runner-Up Print Newsletter


* 2008 2nd Runner-Up Print Newsletter

Aloha Chapter Awards

2014 Aloha Chapter Leadership

Directors

Effective 1 January 2014

(Term in years indicated in parenthesis)

(1) Mark Webster, USN Chairman

734-5994 [email protected]

(1) Lawrence Enomoto, USAF Parliamentarian


(2) Wesley Fong, USA


(2) Mel Soong, USA


(1) Robert Kozuki, USA


(2) Ira Tagawa, USA


(2) Harold Takenaka, USA


Executive Committee & Committee Chairs

President: John Ma, USA 486-4805 [email protected]

Vice President: Stephen Tom, USA 295-2570 [email protected]

Secretary: Ira Tagawa, USA 487-5448 [email protected] Treasurer: John Kim, USAF 988-3349 [email protected]

Community Affairs: Wesley F. Fong, USA 595-6127 [email protected]

Legislative Liaison: Robert G. F. Lee, HARNG 486-1488 [email protected]

Membership: Lawrence Enomoto, USAF 685-1521 [email protected]

Personal Affairs: Harold Okita (Windward), 262-0882; & John Jefferis (Leeward) 372-6601

Programs: Stephen Tom, Ira Tagawa. Melvin Soong & Helene Webster

Publications/PR: Mark Webster, USN 734-5994 [email protected]

ROTC/Veteran Affairs: Harold Kuwahara, USA 944-4010 [email protected] Bridge: Shirley Ihara 239-7947 [email protected]

Fundraising: Herb Nakagawa, USAF 271-1172 [email protected] Golf: Norman Fujiwara, USA 626-4630 [email protected]

Scholarships: Curtis Lee, USA 836-6733 [email protected]

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