Were you stationed at Kunia Hawaii? Are you sick?

Kunia veterans blame possible exposure to toxic pesticides for mystery illnesses

Hawaii News Now
By Mahealani Richardson
May 13, 2019

Veterans who worked at Kunia intel site claim pesticide exposure caused cancer, other illnesses

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A group of more than 100 Kunia veterans are suffering from neurological issues, cancer, birth defects and other illnesses after they say they were exposed to toxic pesticides.

Tara Lemieux, 50, of Maryland suffers from hand tremors, memory loss and other health problems.

She believes it stems from her days as an Army specialist from 1991 to 1995 at the Kunia “Tunnel” Field Station near Schofield Barracks.

Lemieux says nine out of the 12 members of her unit have died young.

"They didn't tell us that this beautiful absolutely picturesque once in a lifetime duty station that there was another side to it," said Lemieux.

Back then, the three story underground National Security Agency facility sat below Del Monte pineapple fields.

Lamieux believes she was directly exposed to toxic chemicals in 1991 when a broken water well flooded the underground facility. She and a handful of others were waist deep in water that was oily and smelled like chemicals.
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Man suspected in murder-attempted suicide was Camp Smith soldier

Man suspected in murder-attempted suicide was Camp Smith soldier
Star Adviser
By Gregg K. Kakesako
Nov 01, 2013

The military today released information on the soldier suspected of killing his 33 year-old wife from Singapore before turning the gun on himself in the couple's Waikiki apartment in an apparent murder-attempted suicide.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office officially confirmed the identity of Monday's apparent murder victim as Tara Insin.

Police have indicated that there is only one suspect after classifying the case as a murder and attempted suicide -- the husband, Leonardo Chavez, of the Dominican Republic.

Chavez is still hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his right cheek. No charges have been filed.

The couple had been married for only two months, but had been together for at least a year, according to friends in Singapore.

Although Chavez is assigned to the Pacific Command's Special Operations Command he is neither a Green Beret or a Navy SEAL, said Lt. Col. Brad Dobsenzenski, Special Operations Command spokesman.

Chavez enlisted in the Army in December 1995 and has been stationed at Camp Smith for the past 19 months.

Doboszenski said Chavez served in Iraq for two months from late November 2009 to early February 2010.
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Longer Wait For Disability Benefits In VA Secretary's Home State

While veterans know the care they get depends on what state they live in, the average American has no clue. Simply assuming this one nation treats all veterans the same is part of the reason they have suffered this long. The other factor is too many reporters take the narrow view. They report in lumps based on what they are told today completely forgetting about what they reported last year. When we're talking about this many years of war fighters coming home, especially National Guardsmen and Reservist, we've had plenty of time to get it right but expected the to wait plenty of time to get the care they were promised.

While the following report is out of Honolulu, you can read what states do a better job on this interactive map from Center for Investigative Reporting. Map: Where is the veterans' backlog the worst?

Longer Wait For Disability Benefits In VA Secretary's Home State
Honolulu Civil Beat
By Kery Murakami
04/01/2013

Although the federal Veterans Administration has been taking heat nationally for a growing backlog and increased times to process disabled veterans benefits, the office in VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s home state of Hawaii has been doing particularly poorly in processing claims in a timely manner.

And despite promises to improve its performance, agency data examined by Civil Beat, shows that in the Veterans Benefits Administration’s Honolulu office, veterans are waiting months longer and the backlog of disability claims has gotten significantly worse than a year ago.

In January, the latest period for which figures were available, 70 percent of compensation disability claims nationally had been pending longer than the goal of 125 days. That’s brought protests from veterans groups and criticism from Congress. However, the backlog was worse in the Honolulu office, where 77 percent of those claims had been pending longer than the 125 days.

The backlog of cases in Honolulu has grown since January 2012, when 69.4 percent of similar claims had been pending for that long.

It was also taking longer in the Honolulu office than the average nationally to process disability claims that require an assessment of the severity of a disability. Nationally, it took the VA an average of 279 days to complete such claims. It the Honolulu office, it took almost four months longer — an average of 390.2 days.
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UPDATE out of Nashville

Nashville VA office failures cited in report
Nashville staffers did not properly serve veterans in 4 of 5 areas, inspection finds
The Tennessean
Apr 1, 2013
One veteran lost $10,000 in disability benefits.

Others underwent incomplete evaluations for traumatic brain injury.

Homeless veterans went without help because no one tried to find them.

These are the service failures highlighted in a report issued last week by the Office of Inspector General that determined the Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Nashville came up short on four of five measures. The report was based on an inspection conducted in September. Edna MacDonald, the director of the Nashville office, did not dispute the findings and submitted a checklist for correcting the problems.

However, a spokeswoman noted that the report is not a comprehensive evaluation. The Nashville regional office, which has jurisdiction over VA services in the entire state, has an overall 91.2 percent accuracy record for rating claims, said public affairs officer Jan Dew.
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Wheeler Army Airfield soldier standoff with MP ends

Standoff ends peacefully at Wheeler Army Airfield housing
By Star-Advertiser staff
Mar 02, 2013

Military police have resolved a standoff at a home on Wheeler Army Airfield this afternoon.

A 25th Infantry Division soldier barricaded himself at about 1 p.m. Saturday in his home on Pikake Street at Wheeler, Army spokesman Dennis Drake said.

Police had surrounded the home, Drake said.

At about 3:30 p.m. Army law enforcement officials took the soldier into custody.

As a precaution, officials from the Army and Island Palm Communities relocated residents in the surrounding streets in the Wiliwili Housing area to an area community center, Drake said.

The Army is investigating the incident.

It is unclear if the soldier was armed.
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Navy Identifies SEAL Lost at Sea During Training

Navy Identifies SEAL Lost at Sea During Training
Feb 27, 2013
Honolulu Advertiser
by William Cole

The Navy identified the SEAL commando who was lost at sea last week during training off Kaena Point as Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Matthew John Leathers of Woodland, Calif.

The Coast Guard said it suspended its search for Leathers Sunday after "exhaustive efforts" to locate the 33-year-old, who went missing during an open-ocean training exercise last Tuesday.

Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps crews worked with Honolulu Fire Department and Ocean Safety to search an area covering more than 24,000 square miles using aircraft, cutters, small boats and shore personnel.

"In this case, I have the heartbreak of informing not only the family, but a close-knit military community, that a loved one could not be found," Capt. Joanna Nunan, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Honolulu, said Sunday in a news release.
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Police investigate assault at Scofield Barracks

Police investigate alleged assault on Army base
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Oct 19, 2012

HONOLULU — The Honolulu Police Department is investigating a report that two boys were assaulted at an Army base in Wahiawa.

HawaiiNewsNow says the families of the boys say the assault occurred on military property at Schofield Barracks.
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More than 50 Medal of Honor Heroes in Honolulu

Medal of Honor recipients pay tribute to WWII aviators
By WILLIAM COLE
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Published: October 3, 2012

More than 50 of 81 living Medal of Honor recipients are in Honolulu for the weeklong 2012 Medal of Honor Convention, an annual get-together of the nation's greatest war heroes.

HONOLULU — Eight Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipients, in town for a convention of the war heroes, paid tribute Tuesday to four World War II aviators who were at one time based at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa and singled out for bravery "above and beyond the call of duty."

The four Marines were killed in action during the war, and streets were named after them at Ewa Field, according to the event's organizers.

The weedy and neglected state of Ewa Field, which was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, came as a surprise to some of the Medal of Honor recipients who traveled to pay respects to their fallen Marine brethren, who also were awarded the nation's highest military honor.

"We were surprised when we heard about this because the Marines, we're deep, deep in the history of our Corps, and we'd never heard of this air station," said Richard Pittman, 67, who in Vietnam in 1966 went to the aid of fellow Marines who were under heavy fire on a jungle trail.

Pittman grabbed a belt-fed M-60 machine gun and took out two enemy positions before continuing further and facing down as many as 40 enemy fighters, first with his M-60 and then with a pistol and an enemy rifle until the enemy withdrew.

For his bravery, Pittman was awarded the Medal of Honor.
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Rep. John Mizuno led a silent march after grandson died

Lawmaker seek answers in death of Marine's son
September 28, 2012
HONOLULU
AP

A Hawaii state lawmaker is pressing military officials for a formal investigation into the unexplained death of a 16-month-old boy who died while under the care of his Marine father.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Friday (http://bit.ly/V6uqOz ) that Rep. John Mizuno led a silent march outside the state Capitol with the boy's mother.

The boy died May 20 while under the care of his father, 24-year-old former Marine Cpl. Christopher Bahm. The boy's mother, Jerlee Bahm, says the father was in the process of being kicked out of the Marines when the boy died.

Jerlee Bahm told the newspaper the Marine was court-martialed and found guilty of abusing her. The Iraq and Afghanistan veteran also had traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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3 Marines Accused Of Hazing To Appear In Court

3 Marines Accused Of Hazing To Appear In Court
by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HONOLULU September 8, 2011, 04:18 am ET
Three Hawaii-based Marines are appearing in a military court to face accusations of hazing and beating a fellow Marine who would later committed suicide in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Benjamin E. Johns, Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III and Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby face an Article 32 hearing, the military justice equivalent of a grand jury proceeding. The hearing will be held at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay, where the three are assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division.
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original report
Marine Suicide tied to hazing

Honolulu Police Department award goes to two hero soldiers

Two soldiers honored for car crash aid

By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Aug 28, 2010 8:39:20 EDT

Staff Sgt. Cameron Grimone and his wife were giving a friend visiting on leave, 1st Lt. Joseph Fontana, a scenic tour of sunny Honolulu when a terrible crash happened before their eyes.

An old Toyota pickup truck raced by them on the H-1 Freeway, slammed into an embankment and flipped three times. The truck was on its side and on fire, the driver’s legs were pinned beneath the cab, and his head was bleeding heavily.

What Grimone and Fontana did next earned them the Honolulu Police Department’s highest medal for bravery, the Civilian Medal of Valor. Grimone received the award at an Aug. 7 ceremony, though Fontana had returned from Iraq the day before and missed the ceremony.

The two childhood buddies from Saranac Lake, N.Y., said they did not do anything extraordinary. As soldiers, they were trained to help, and that’s what they did.
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Two soldiers honored for car crash aid

DOD reports female soliders death in Kuwait

DoD Identifies Army Casualty


The Department of Defense announced the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

PFC Cwislyn K. Walter, 19, of Honolulu died Feb. 19 in Kuwait City, Kuwait, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. She was assigned to the 29th Special Troops Battalion, 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Hawaii National Guard.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx

At least 3 killed in Coast Guard Helicopter Crash

At least 3 killed in Coast Guard helicopter crash

The Associated Press


Published: Friday, September 5, 2008 at 10:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, September 5, 2008 at 10:30 a.m.
HONOLULU -
An official says at least three U.S. Coast Guard crewmembers were killed when their helicopter crashed in waters about five miles south of Honolulu, and another crewmember is missing.
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http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080905/APA/809051299

Soldier, found unconscious, dies at Schofield

Soldier, found unconscious, dies at Schofield

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 24, 2008 8:59:15 EDT

HONOLULU — A 25th Infantry Division soldier died after being found unconscious and not breathing at Schofield Barracks, the Army said.

The Army says the incident is under investigation and is withholding the soldier’s name until it notifies the soldier’s next of kin.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/ap_schofield_062408/