Showing posts with label Hawaii. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hawaii. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Dying Wish of Vietnam Veteran, Fix the VA

Vietnam veteran's dying wish: Improve VA healthcare
Hawaii News Now
By Mileka Lincoln, Reporter
September 14th 2016

Hall was one of more than 4,300 veterans receiving VA care on the Big Island, where there are only four VA doctors.
KALAPANA, BIG ISLAND (HawaiiNewsNow) - Sixty-eight-year-old Roy Hall was holding his wife Edy's hand when he passed away on Saturday.

The combat-wounded Vietnam veteran and forever Marine died exactly one month after he was diagnosed with lung cancer at a Hilo emergency room.

Hall was a long-time U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs patient who claims his VA doctor missed the diagnosis -- and by the time someone else caught it, it was terminal.

Hall was one of more than 4,300 veterans receiving VA care on the Big Island, where there are only four VA doctors.

"I wish I would've gotten killed in Vietnam," Hall said, from his death bed. "Then I wouldn't have to go through this. I f***ing hate it."

In Hall's final days, it was his dying wish to share his story with others in hopes it could lead to improved health care for all service members.

His wife Edy, a veteran herself who served in the Air Force and beat both breast and colon cancer, calls it her husband's final mission.

In August 2014, Roy says he went to the Hilo VA primary care clinic seeking treatment for debilitating back pain.

Over the next two and a half years, Roy and Edy Hall say his physician repeatedly prescribed him pain pills and referred him to his VA psychiatrist for management of his PTSD.

"Eight months ago he started slowing down," Edy Hall said. "The pain was getting worse and worse. He didn't want to go back to the doctor because he kept telling him it was his PTSD or he was surfing too much, instead of even doing just an x-ray. Then he started losing weight like crazy. And then he even said, 'I think I have cancer.'"
read more here
Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Iraq Veteran, National Guardsman and Hawaii Congressman Passed Away

Congressman Mark Takai of Hawaii dies at 49
USA TODAY
Greg Toppo
July 20, 2016

Takai, a lieutenant colonel in the Hawaii National Guard and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, was first elected to the House in 2014, after serving 20 years in the Hawaii State House.
Mark Takai, right, U.S. Representative elect for Hawaii's 1st Congressional District, addresses and thanks his supporters as his children Kaila, bottom left, Matthew, top left, and his wife Sami, center look on. Takai died Wednesday at 49.
(AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
U.S. Rep. Mark Takai, a first-term congressman from Hawaii who represented an area near Pearl Harbor for two decades in the Hawaii State House of Representatives, died Wednesday.

He was 49 and had sought treatment for pancreatic cancer last fall.

Takai's death comes less than a year and a half after he rose to his congressional seat — and nine months after he announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

His congressional office in Honolulu confirmed that he died at home, “surrounded by family.”

He is survived by his wife, Sami Takai, and two children, Matthew and Kaila.
read more here


Friday, April 15, 2016

Remains of Nine Marines Recovered in Hawaii

Hawaii crash recovery efforts wrap up with 3 Marines still missing
Stars and Stripes
By Aaron Kidd
April 15, 2016

Mourners pause at crosses representing the 12 Marines who died in helicopter crashes Jan. 14, 2016, in Hawai. The crosses were adorned with flight gear, boots and Hawiian leis during a memorial Jan. 22, 2016, at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Remains of nine of the Marines have been recovered. WYATT OLSON/STARS AND STRIPES
The remains of nine of 12 Marines killed when a pair of CH-53E helicopters crashed during routine training earlier this year in Hawaii have been recovered and identified, the Marine Corps said Thursday.

Efforts recently wrapped up to find remains and salvage wreckage after the Jan. 14 crash about two miles offshore of Waimea Bay in Oahu, a Marine Corps statement said. Initial around-the-clock searches yielded no survivors, and the Marines — assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463, Marine Aircraft Group 24, 1st Marine Airlift Wing at Marine Corps Base Hawaii — were officially declared dead about a week later.

The remains of Sgt. Dillon Semolina, Sgt. Adam Schoeller and Cpl. Christopher Orlando were not recovered, the statement said.
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UPDATE

Parents blame Marine Corps for son's death in Super Stallion crash

  • The Associated Press
The parents of one of 12 Marines killed after two helicopters crashed during training exercises in Hawaii say the aircraft he was in shouldn't have been flying. They also dismissed the search efforts for the Marines as "an embarrassment."
Mike and Lisa De La Cruz, whose son 24-year-old Sgt. Dillon Semolina was the helicopter crew chief, said ongoing maintenance problems should have kept the CH-53E Super Stallions grounded, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. No trace of their son has been recovered.
Capt. Cassandra Gesecki, a spokeswoman for The III Marine Expeditionary Force, defended the search and said that "no time was wasted."
"U.S. Navy dive teams immediately supported the initial search and rescue effort and began the underwater search phase, ultimately locating the mishap site," she said.
Just days before the January crash, a Marine general fired the commander of the helicopter squadron. Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Joseph Butterfield had said higher command lost confidence in Lt. Col. Edward Pavelka's ability to lead Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463. The Marine Corps hasn't released details about the firing.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Community Gives Final Tribute to Sgt. Turner's Life

Memorial held in Florala for fallen Alabama Marine 
WTVM News
By Allen Henry
Saturday, February 27th 2016
The two marine helicopters flew over Lake Jackson at the end of the service as a final tribute to Sgt. Turner's life.


Sgt. William Joshua Turner was 25 years old.
FLORALA, AL (WSFA) - Hundreds of friends, family and community members gathered in Florala on Saturday to honor the life of Sgt. Joshua Turner.

Two United States Marine Corps helicopters greeted Turner's family at the Florala Airport early Saturday morning.

Community members lined the side of Route 331 to pay their respects, some knowing the pain the family is feeling all too well.
read more here

Monday, February 22, 2016

Boeing Faces Lawsuit After Osprey Crash in Hawaii

Marine's father vows lawsuit after fatal Hawaii Osprey crash 
Marine Corps Times 
By Jeff Schogol 
February 21, 2016
An MV-22 Osprey with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 (Reinforced), 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, lifts off at Udairi Range in Kuwait, July 29, 2012, as part of a live-fire event. (Photo: Cpl. Michael Petersheim, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit )
The father of one of two Marines killed in an MV-22B Osprey crash last year in Hawaii said he plans to sue Boeing and the other companies that make the aircraft.

Mike Determan told Marine Corps Times that evidence shows the MV-22B is unsafe to fly because sand and dust can get sucked into its engines, causing the aircraft to crash. Military.com first reported about the pending lawsuit and that Determan wants the Marine Corps and Air Force versions of the Osprey to be grounded and eventually replaced by the Bell V-280 Valor.

His son, Lance Cpl. Matt Determan, was killed on May 17, 2015, when the Osprey he was flying in crashed while landing in low-visibility conditions. Lance Cpl. Joshua Barron was also killed.
read more here

Friday, February 19, 2016

VA Pacific Islands Head Resigned!

Embattled director of Veterans Affairs in Pacific resigns 
Honolulu Star Advertiser 
By Dan Nakaso 
February 17, 2016 

Wayne Pfeffer, the embattled head of the Veterans Administration’s Pacific Islands Health Care System, has abruptly resigned, effectively immediately, and will be returning to the mainland.

Pfeffer had been on the job less than three years and oversaw a system that at one point in 2014 had the longest wait times in the entire VA system for an incoming patient to get an initial appointment with a primary care physician. In 2014, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard had called for Pfeffer’s resignation.

Acting director Tonia Bagby, a clinical psychologist, today referred to Pfeffer’s departure as a “retirement,” rather than a resignation.

Pfeffer was not on the job today after sending an email to the VA staff around noon Tuesday that read, “It has not been an easy decision for me, however due to personal reasons, I am retiring and returning to the mainland.
read more here

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Hawaii Marine Osprey Crash Caught on Video

Billows of Dust, a Sudden 'Pop' and an Osprey Falls from the Sky 
Military.com 
Hope Hodge Seck 
January 29, 2016
A screen grab of a video showing the May 17, 2015, crash involving an MV-22 Osprey at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Hawaii. The accident claimed the lives of two Marines and injured 20 other troops on board. (Defense Department video)
The moments before landing are eerily calm.

Caught on shaky hand-held video, two MV-22B Ospreys appear over a ridge of hills. The first Osprey turns in toward a small landing zone near a chain link fence, its rotors facing skyward for a vertical descent. As it comes within meters of touchdown, a choking cloud of brown dust billows up from the ground, completely obscuring the aircraft from view. The dust cloud grows even larger and more expansive, and the Osprey appears once again, ascending briefly. It hovers for mere seconds above the brownout, and a tongue of flame appears to shoot from its left nacelle.

Then, its rotors still spinning, the aircraft simply drops out of the sky, crumpling on impact as the right rotor tears free and chews the dirt.

The circumstances of this May 17, 2015, crash, which claimed the lives of two Marines and injured the other 20 troops on board at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Hawaii, are laid out through the accounts of eyewitnesses in a 2,200-page command investigation obtained by Military.com. The investigation recommends disciplinary or administrative action for the pilots and some aircrew of the aircraft and for Lt. Col. Andreas Lavato, the squadron commander for Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161, to which the Osprey was attached, and Col. Vance Cryer, commander of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which housed the squadron.
read more here

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Community Comes Together For Family of Missing Marine

Community rallies support for missing Marine's family
KOAA News 5
By Lena Howland
January 31, 2016

FOUNTAIN - A community rallied in support of a grieving southern Colorado family as their decorated Marine was lost at sea in a helicopter crash.
The American Legion Post 38 held a fundraiser dinner for fallen Marine Sergeant Jeffrey Sempler on Saturday evening.

As News5 has reported, Sempler's helicopter crashed off the coast of Hawaii during a routine training session more than a week ago.

The search for him and 11 other missing marines has since been called off.

"It's been really rough, we were hoping that they would find him alive, but that didn't happen," Laurie Allen, the mother of Jeffrey Sempler said.

A mother's worst nightmare.

"I kind of knew it was coming but I didn't want to believe it," Allen said.

She hopped on a plane to Hawaii soon after learning the search mission for her son was called off.

"It's hard, everybody lost so much," she said after meeting with the families of the 11 other marines.

Sergeant Jeffrey Sempler, one of 12 missing Marines, now presumed dead.
read more here

KOAA.com | Continuous News | Colorado Springs and Pueblo

They did it in Pennsylvania too.

DUNCANNON, Pa. (WHTM) – A vigil was held for Sgt. Adam Schoeller, the marine who went missing off the coast of Hawaii, following a training exercise on January 14.

Sunday, the community gathered to honor a friend, son, neighbor, and comrade.

“We’re just going to miss him,” Adam’s father, Ralph Schoeller, said.

Even though Adam didn’t make it home, his memory is a homecoming.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Dad of Missing Fort Myers Marine Asks For Prayers

Missing Marine's dad asks for prayers; search suspended
News Press
Stacey Henson
January 20, 2016
The father of Marine Cpl. Thomas Jardas, of Fort Myers, says the
search for his son off the coast of Hawaii will likely end tonight.
Thomas and 11 other Marines are missing after a Thursday
helicopter crash. (Photo: Courtesy of the Thomas Jardas family.)
A few days ago, Tim Jardas was encouraging his son to see the world.

Today, he's asking for prayers. Cpl. Thomas Jardas, 22, of Fort Myers, is one of 12 Marines missing after a helicopter crash off the coast of Hawaii late Thursday.

Officials suspended the five-day search for the Marines on Tuesday night. The Marine Corps is transitioning to "recovery and salvage efforts."

Tim Jardas could not be reached for comment Tuesday night, but earlier in the day the father sounded resigned.

"Our faith is getting us through this, and I need people to pray for us," he said. "I know my boy is in Heaven, but the rest of the family still needs the prayers."
read more here

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Coast Guard Finds 4th Life Raft of Missing Marines

4th life raft recovered from crashed choppers, but still no sign of 12 missing Marines
Hawaii News Now
Jan 19, 2016
There was no indication that any survivors were ever on the three life rafts that were recovered, the Coast Guard said. There was also no one on board the fourth raft that was recovered on Monday.
Search crews had a moment of silence Monday morning for the 12 Marines still missing after two helicopters crashed off Oahu's North Shore. Image Source: U.S. Department of Defense
HALEIWA, OAHU (HawaiiNewsNow)
All four life rafts from the two choppers that collided off Oahu's North Shore have been recovered on Monday but with no sign of any survivors, according to an official with the U.S. Marines.

In spite of this, rescuers on Tuesday will continue searching for the 12 Marines who were on board the two helicopters when they crashed late Thursday. This would be the fifth day of search-and-rescue operations.

More than 60 Marines will continue combing North Shore beaches for debris through the day, while multiple county, state and federal agencies continue to participate in the search effort by air and sea.

Navy divers have also been dispatched, and are using sonar technology around the last known position of the two choppers off Haleiwa. So far, they haven't seen any debris.
read more here

Monday, January 18, 2016

Coast Guard Finds Life Rafts of Missing Marines

Search off Hawaii Finds Life Rafts but No Sign of 12 Marines
ASSOCIATED PRESS HONOLULU
By Audrey McAvoy and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher
Jan 18, 2016
Marine Capt. Timothy Irish said Monday that aircrews wear personal flotation devices with their flight suits and get additional training on top of survival swimming training. There are various ways that life rafts could be inflated, including a cord being pulled by debris, he said.
A search vessel cruises the waters off the beach at Haleiwa, Hawaii, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016.
Authorities searching the area where two Marine helicopters crashed off Hawaii have found some life rafts that were carried aboard the aircraft, but still no sign of the 12 crew members who were on board.

Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Sara Mooers said Monday she believes three life rafts have been recovered so far. Some were inflated, but it was unclear how they came to be inflated, she said.

There is no indication that anyone was aboard the rafts, based on their condition and the lack of any personal effects, she said.

The search for the Marines entered its fourth day Monday, with plans to search into the night. Conditions have improved since the start of the search, with much smaller swells expected Monday.

Rescuers from various agencies have been searching since the Coast Guard was notified late Thursday of the crash by a civilian who saw the aircraft flying and then disappear and a fireball.
read more here

Miss DC is Sister of Missing Marine from Florida

Missing Marine is the brother of Miss DC
WUSA 9 Staff
January 17, 2016

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- One of the 12 Marines missing after two helicopters crashed in Hawaii is the brother of Miss District of Columbia Haely Jardas, according to Jardas' Facebook page.

Two helicopter carrying six Marines each crashed off a shore in Hawaii on Thursday. The U.S. Marine Corps released the names of the Marines, including Jardas' brother Cpl. Thomas J. Jardas, 22, of Fort Myers, Florida.

Jardas was crowned Miss District of Columbia in 2015 and competed in Miss America 2016.

The Miss District of Columbia Scholarship Program released the following statement Saturday on Facebook:
"Our thoughts and prayers are with Haely and the entire Jardas family. Haely's brother was one of the marines involved in the helicopter crash in Hawaii yesterday. Please help us pray for his safe return.

A special thank you to the USO and TAPS who helped get Haely and one of our volunteers escorted though security and completely taken care of to get her home to be with her family."
read more here

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Marine From Florida Among Missing After Helicopters Collided

Marines Identify 12 Missing After Helicopter Crash Off Hawaii
NBC News
by PHIL HELSEL
January 17, 2016

The Marine Corps on Saturday released the names of 12 Marines missing after two helicopters apparently collided in mid-air off the coast of Oahu Thursday, as the search continued for the missing air crew for a second day.

The missing air crew were identified as:
Maj. Shawn M. Campbell, 41, College Station, Texas.
Capt. Brian T. Kennedy, 31, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Capt. Kevin T. Roche, 30, St. Louis, Missouri.
Capt. Steven R. Torbert, 29, Florence, Alabama.
Sgt. Dillon J. Semolina, 24,Chaska, Minnesota.
Sgt. Adam C. Schoeller, 25, Gardners, Pennsylvania.
Sgt. Jeffrey A. Sempler, 22, Woodruff, South Carolina.
Sgt. William J. Turner, 25, Florala, Alabama.
Cpl. Matthew R. Drown, 23, Spring, Texas.
Cpl. Thomas J. Jardas, 22, Fort Myers, Florida.
Cpl. Christopher J. Orlando, 23, Hingham, Massachusetts.
Lance Cpl. Ty L. Hart, 21, Aumsville, Oregon.
Coast Guard and other aircraft and ships spent a second day searching for the missing Marines, but weather and high swells were hampering the effort.

As of 8 a.m. Saturday, searchers had scoured more than 5,000 square nautical miles, the Coast Guard said.
read more here
Sergeant Dillon Semolina
‘He Was Just A Fun-Loving Kid’: Missing Marine Left Mark On Community

Corporal Christopher Orlando
Family of missing Hingham Marine speak about son

Sgt. Adam C. Schoeller
PHILADELPHIA MARINE AMONG 12 MISSING AFTER HELICOPTER CRASH IN HAWAII

Friday, January 15, 2016

Search For Marines Continues After Helicopters Crash

12 missing after 2 Marine Corps helicopters crash off Oahu's North Shore
Hawaii News Now
By HNN Staff
Jan 15, 2016 4:33 PM EST

HALEIWA, OAHU (HawaiiNewsNow)
Rescue crews are searching for 12 service members who were on board two U.S. Marine Corps helicopters that crashed off Oahu’s North Shore late Thursday night.

The Marine Corps said the active search and rescue mission is for two Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters, each with six personnel aboard. Officials said the helicopters collided near Haleiwa and landed in the water.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Fara Mooers said the Marine Corps Air Station in Kaneohe requested assistance following reports of a collision at around 10:40 p.m. She said a Waialua resident reported hearing aircraft and then saw a fireball. Another individual reported seeing a flare.
read more here
Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

Monday, December 7, 2015

Remembering Pearl Harbor

Department of Defense 74th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Attack

Pearl Harbor Day ceremonies to mark attack
CNN
By Katia Hetter, Marnie Hunter and Brad Lendon
December 7, 2015
As of two years ago some 2,000 to 2,500 Pearl Harbor survivors were believed to be still alive, according to Eileen Martinez, chief of interpretation for the USS Arizona Memorial.
(CNN)On the day the nation pays tribute to those who perished in the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona memorial will honor the man who was the ship's oldest surviving officer.

As part of the 74th anniversary of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day on Monday, the ashes of retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Joe Langdell, who died at age 100 in February, will be interred in the ship with full military burial honors.

The USS Arizona battleship was bombed and sunk during Japan's surprise morning attack on Pearl Harbor that pulled the United States into World War II.

The remains of many of the 1,177 U.S. military personnel who died aboard the Arizona are still inside the submerged wreck. It was the greatest loss of life ever in an attack on a U.S. warship, the National Park Service says.

The memorial was dedicated in 1962.
read more here

102-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor returns to Hawaii
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow)
By Victoria Cuba
Posted: Dec 06, 2015

Even at 102 years old, Jim Downing still remembers the attack on Pearl Harbor as if it were just last week.

Now back in Hawaii for the 74th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, he feels all the memories come rushing back.

“When I think about what happened here on December 7... That's a sad memory,” said Downing, the second oldest Pearl Harbor survivor.

On that very day, fire hose in hand, he remembered seeing the Japanese fighter planes flying straight overhead, his fellow comrades falling around him.

The overwhelming feelings of surprise, fear and pride at the sight of them can still be felt until this very day.

“I kind of ran the whole gamut of emotions,” he said.
read more here

Oldest U.S. vet, 110, helps mark Pearl Harbor Day
USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
December 7, 2015

America's oldest living veteran is helping the nation mark Monday's 74th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by participating in a wreath-laying ceremony at the National World War II Memorial in the nation's capital.

Former Army private Frank Levingston, who turned 110 last month, served in Italy during World War II. He enlisted in 1942, shortly after the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack in Hawaii that killed 2,400 servicemembers and brought the United the States into the war.
read more here

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Fort Carson On Roster of Contaminated Army Bases

Hundreds of pounds of depleted uranium likely buried at Fort Carson, Army says
The Gazette
By: Tom Roeder
Published: October 18, 2015
The Army says 12,405 acres may have been contaminated during the Davy Crockett days. Fort Carson is joined on the roster by installations in Hawaii, Washington state, Georgia, Kentucky, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and California.
The Davy Crockett weapon in this undated Army photo featured a 51-pound warhead that packed a nuclear punch. To train with the weapon and aim it in combat, troops used a 1-pound spotting round made from depleted uranium. An estimated 1,400 depleted uranium rounds were fired at Fort Carson.
The Cold War legacy of nuclear waste at Fort Carson was quietly exposed in a routine application by the Army for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission permit to leave uranium buried on the post.

Depleted uranium, as much as 600 pounds, is thought to be in the ground at several sites from training shells fired in a 1960s classified program to give soldiers a nuclear- tipped bazooka called the Davy Crockett, according to Army documents. The training rounds were smaller spotting shells to train crews on the use of the atomic weapon without the big boom and a mushroom cloud. The Davy Crockett was never fired in combat.

Since discovering the uranium munitions in Hawaii in 2005, the service has done 10 years of detective work to figure out which bases participated in the testing program.
read more here

Monday, August 3, 2015

Army Specialist Caleb Collins Died Trying To Save Friends

Selfless Soldier St. Aug Alum Remembered As A Hero
Eyewitness News WWLTV
Thanh Truong
August 2, 2015


NEW ORLEANS -- The funeral for a local soldier who died while trying to save a fellow service member from drowning in Hawaii is now set for next week.

Caleb Collins was assigned to the Army's 25th Infantry Division, but before that, he was a member of the St. Augustine Purple Knights, a high school his father says helped mold his son into a soldier ready to sacrifice.

With children, you hope they'll grow up to do great things.

"It's very common for them to say, 'When I grow up, I want to be like my dad.' Well, isn't a blessing that I get to say I want to be like my son," Ernest Collins.

It's been less than a week since Ernest Collins lost his only son. On July 25, Army specialist Caleb Collins was with friends taking pictures near the eastern shoreline on the island of Oahu. That's when a massive wave rolled in, knocking one of his friends into the water. Caleb immediately dove in.

"He had actually reached his friend, and the two of them were actually making their way back to safety, when a second huge wave came in and swallowed them up," said Ernest Collins.


Their bodies were found the next day.
read more here

Sunday, May 31, 2015

US Navy Ship Struck USS Arizona Memorial

Witness: US Navy Ship Struck USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii 
Military.com
by Brendan McGarry, Amy Bushatz and Michael Hoffman
May 27, 2015
The USS Arizona Memorial is the final resting place of most of the ship's 1,177 crewmen who were killed during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, according to the National Park Service. The 184-foot-long memorial structure spans the mid-portion of the sunken battleship, according to the service.
A U.S. Navy ship struck part of the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor on Wednesday morning, according to a woman whose husband witnessed the accident.

Photos submitted by the woman, who declined to be identified because her spouse serves in the Navy, show the naval hospital ship USNS Mercy sailing dangerously close to the USS Arizona Memorial. Her husband took the photographs from nearby Ford Island.

"It went right over the dock," she told Military.com. "You could hear the metal crunching. My husband said you could see mud and water being kicked up. It backed up to within feet of hitting the white memorial building."

Tug boats were guiding the hospital ship from its port at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam at around 7 a.m. local time.

A Navy official who asked not to be identified said of the incident, "It looks like one of the tugs that was pushing her as she left the harbor might have hit the visitor landing to the Arizona."

It's unclear how much, if any, damage was done to the USS Arizona wreckage.
read more here

Monday, May 18, 2015

Osprey Hard Landing Leaves Marine Dead and 21 Injured

MV-22 Osprey 'Hard Landing' in Hawaii Kills One Marine, Injures 21 
Associated Press
May 17, 2015

A Marine Corps Osprey aircraft made a hard landing in Hawaii on Sunday, killing one Marine and sending 21 other people to hospitals as dark smoke from the resulting fire billowed into the sky.

The tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey, which can take off and land like a helicopter but flies like an airplane, had a "hard-landing mishap" at about 11:40 a.m., the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit said in a statement. Officials didn't provide details about the conditions of the injured.

Twenty-two people were aboard the aircraft, including 21 Marines and one Navy corpsman assigned to the unit, spokesman Capt. Brian Block said in an email.

The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit is based at Camp Pendleton in California and is in Hawaii for about a week for training.

The Osprey was being used for training at Bellows Air Force Station on Oahu at the time of the hard landing. read more here

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Amputee Iraq Veteran Golfing Again

Iraq War vet off the sideline, on the links after leg amputation 
KSL Golf
By Rod Zundel
May 1, 2015

HERRIMAN — Bryant Jacobs of Herriman is an Iraq War veteran who was hit by a roadside bomb in 2004. He eventually lost his leg, but that hasn’t stopped him from enjoying the game of golf he loves.

Jacobs almost enlisted right out of high school, but went to college briefly and “absolutely hated it,” he said.

After the events of Sept. 11, he and a friend quickly joined the Army. “I think that patriotism came out of everybody,”
Jacobs said.

“Whether it was joining the military or gaining a new respect for our country, we really focused on what our country was about and what we do.”

Jacobs was stationed in Hawaii, but the day he got to his unit, they left for Iraq.

He was a combat engineer, or in other words, a fancy way of playing with C-4 every day, he said. 

“Our main objective was taking care of IEDs and caches that we would find,” Jacobs said. “We would dispose of it and blow it up. We got to blow stuff up every day. It was a great job.”

Nearly 11 months into his tour, Jacobs’ unit was clearing the roads before a mission when he got hit by a roadside bomb in December 2004.

They were traveling 50 miles per hour, and then chaos ensued.
read more here