LIHU‘E – Following a short stay at home, members of the Army National Guard bid farewell to their friends and families.
On leave following their training at Fort Bliss, Texas, the guardsmen got to spend part of their holidays with their families before leaving for Louisiana enroute to their eventual deployment to Iraq where they will serve a year’s tour of duty.
Sgt. Pat Quel was on hand at Lihu‘e Airport where he personally greeted as many of the departing soldiers as he could, shaking each one’s hand and giving them a big hug as he wished them the best on this leg of their journey, which began on New Year’s Eve.
Sgt. Quel noted that they will be in Louisiana where they will get combat evaluation based on their performance at the training program at Fort Bliss.
This will be followed by a transfer to Kuwait where they will undergo further training at a site where a live fire range is located.
Sgt. Quel said the troops will also link up with their equipment at this point as a lot of the equipment including rice and rice cookers were shipped prior to the soldiers coming home for their holiday leave.
“They’re getting new stuff,” he said. “They’ve got new weapons and all of their things will be new.”
From there, the troops will drive to Iraq, a three-day experience where they will take up their posts for a year of duty.
“I don’t know why they had to leave today (New Year’s Eve),” Sgt. Quel said while waiting for more soldiers to pass the checkpoint. “Just one more day would’ve been good.”
USDA inspectors noted that there had been soldiers checking in most of the day, many trickling through the airport as they took flights on Hawaiian and Aloha airlines to make connections in Honolulu. The last of the soldiers will leave on New Year’s Day, they explained, but the bulk of the troops were scheduled to depart on New Year’s Eve.
Most of the soldiers checking in on New Year’s Eve were scheduled to leave on two United Airlines flights – one departing at 10 p.m., and the other leaving at 10:30 p.m.
Norvin Olivas of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said that family members were given special passes to accompany their soldiers to the gate where they could bid their final farewells and aloha.
“This is a cooperative effort,” Olivas explained. “Everyone, the airport staff, the airlines, and TSA all worked together to make this happen.”
Additionally, Olivas noted that departing soldiers and their families were expedited through the check-in process with special lines for their security clearances, thereby minimizing the time they spent in lines.
Tessie Estenzo, whose brother Denicio Tabura was leaving, said “We’re having a birthday party for my daughter in Hanamaulu, but for this, we gotta take a break (to see Tabura off).”
Michael Tambio was on hand to see his daughter Raquel off where she is studying to become a physical education teacher at Oregon State.
“They didn’t have any other flights, and school starts Monday, so I have to leave tonight,” Raquel said.
But, that was not all that bad as the Tambio family is good friends with Alex Duldulao who was waiting for the rest of his family to show up.
“We all had dinner the other night,” Tambio said as he chatted with Duldulao.
Clem Quel, head of the Family Readiness Group on Kaua‘i, was also on hand, and had her hands full trying to track down paperwork on a soldier who had a family emergency and couldn’t leave with the rest.
“A lot of them (families) said they didn’t want to come to the airport,” she said. “But, a lot of them came, and it’s good that they get to be able to go to the gates.”
“This is good,” Sgt. Quel said as he wished Bernard Remidio well. “When we left for Vietnam, there was nobody here. I called from Honolulu. Nobody even knew where we were going.” That scenario rekindled memories of pre-9-11 days as families made their way to the parking lot following the departure of their soldier relatives.
Sgt. Teofilo Serrano, Jr. had his family in tow as they went through the check-in process.
“It’s going to be hard,” he said. “But, no worry – we’re going to be fine.”
Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) and dfujimoto@pulitzer.net.
