PUHI — Sgt. Eddie Resinto of the Hawaii Army National Guard Company A, 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry Regiment, has picked up some Arabic phrases, learned much about the local culture, and learned to hula, during his first five months in
PUHI — Sgt. Eddie Resinto of the Hawaii Army National Guard Company A, 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry Regiment, has picked up some Arabic phrases, learned much about the local culture, and learned to hula, during his first five months in Iraq.
Learned to hula?
Yes, for special presentations as part of an Asian-Pacific cultural group thrown together over there. They performed at one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces, and at Camp Anaconda for a group of people including Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the top-ranking American Army commander there, Resinto said.
“I never did dance hula” before learning “Hukilau” and “Honopaipai” from fellow service members from Maui, O‘ahu and the Mainland, he said.
Other Kauaians who joined in the dancing were Staff Sgt. Steven Cardinez, Spc. Danny Tabura and Spc. Kenny Louis, Resinto said.
The wore shorts, sashes, and plastic lei.
On a more serious note, Resinto, who is a delivery truck driver for Honsador when he’s not serving as a citizen-soldier (Garrett Hiranaka is the Honsador operations manager, and Jeff Mira is store manager), described his Iraq duties at Camp Victory South in Baghdad.
Working 12-hour shifts at the Austin Gate, Resinto and other soldiers are assigned to an entry checkpoint, ECP2, -where they conduct “100-percent personal searches” of Iraqi civilians who work on the base, he said.
Thousands of people pass through the checkpoint on a dai-ly basis, and the cars and trucks they drive must also be searched on a daily basis, he said.
And, since many of the work-ers wear the same clothes day after day, “they stink,” he said, making parts of his job less than enjoyable. Mandatory, full-body physical searches (men and women are separated and checked by soldiers of their respective sexes) are part of the daily routine, he explained.
The citizen-soldiers are in Iraq as “peacekeepers,” and to train Iraqi troops and members of security forces so that they will eventually be able to maintain order in their country without American assistance, Resinto said.
He is learning some Arabic words, and said learning about a different culture is an educational plus of his deployment, he said. “It’s a good experience.”
When not working the checkpoint, he lifts weights, eats, talks to his family on the telephone, or via e-mail at the base Internet cafe, and simply rests and waits for the next shift, he said.
There’s a softball league on base, and opportunities to play ping pong, basketball, chess, and other games. Salsa and hip hop dancing instruction and dances break up the monotony for some soldiers, “to keep the soldiers busy,” he noted.
He is part of the mostly-Kauaian softball team whose members won a tournament against teams whose members get time to practice regularly and have played together for a long time.
He averaged around one hit a game during the recent tournament, but said it is hard to hit the spongy softballs very far.
Still, there is a limit on things off-duty soldiers can do, because “there’s danger,” he said.
Resinto and other soldiers in Iraq live day to day, do their duty, and look forward to the day soon they can come home for good, he said.
Resinto, who filled out a leave-request form in Louisiana earlier this year before his unit shipped out to Iraq (those with children graduating from high school were reportedly given higher priority for the June leave times), ended up like many other citizen-soldiers on Kaua‘i missing his eldest son’s commencement walk with members of the Kaua‘i High School Class of 2005.
But, he was in attendance at the graduation party for E.J. Ikaika Resinto, at Hanamaulu Cafe recently.
E.J. Ikaika Resinto, 17, plans to attend Kaua‘i Community College’s culinary-arts program, with a dream to become “a great chef,” according to his mother, Shan Resinto.
While missing the Vidinha Stadium commencement exercises was a disappointment for Eddie Resinto, being surrounded by family and friends at his son’s graduation party made up for most of that disappointment, he said.
“The family was very happy” that Eddie Resinto, 42, was able to make the party, Shan Resinto said. E.J. Ikaika Resinto said his dad’s job is more important than his graduation day, that his dad is his “hero,” and that he is “very proud of him.”
“I knew that he was going to be coming home (for the party),” E.J. Ikaika Resinto said of the disappointment of not having his father at his graduation ceremony.
And how did he cope with having his father abroad, in a war zone, for his entire senior year? “Probably by maturing a lot, getting my acts together, doing everything for dad,” he said.
“Keeping faith in God, and prayer,” also helped, he added.
“He’s the big man of the family now. I don’t need to worry about” the family while he’s away, Eddie Resinto said.
While home, Eddie Resinto was able to take in two of his younger son’s Pop Warner flag-football games. In the first game, Ridge Resinto, 12, played middle linebacker, pulled several flags, and had two pass interceptions, one he returned for a touchdown, for one of the Lihu‘e K-PAL (Kaua‘i-Police Activities League) squads.
Eddie Resinto (he and Shan Resinto have been married 17 years) described the hectic schedule and hours of waiting around associated with the nearly-three-day ordeal it was just to get from Baghdad to Puhi.
From South Baghdad to Kuwait, the C-130 flight is 90 minutes, followed by hours of waiting around for paperwork-processing and other military duties, including turning in his helmet and body armor, before flying on commercial jets to Germany, Ireland, Dallas, Los Angeles and, finally, Lihu‘e.
He’ll do the same thing in reverse tomorrow, Wednesday, June 29, when he returns for his last six months or so of service in Iraq.
Wednesday will be “sad, of course,” said E.J. Ikaika Resainto. “I know he’s going to be coming home. I’ll have to wait until next February to see him, and remain strong for the rest of the family.”
“I going cry,” Eddie Resinto said.
“We’ll survive,” Shan Resinto said. “It’s great having him home.”
