5 Million "Waltzing Matilda" in Funding to Hawaii Schools
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Hawaii Marine Motorcycle Safety Island Tour A-6 Volume 29, Number 24 Serving Marine Corps Base Hawaii June 15, 2000 B-1 $5 million "Waltzing Matilda" in funding to Hawaii schools Chief Petty Officer Doug Ho II U.S. Pacific Command Public Affairs Many military family members who attend Hawaii public schools may return from their summer breaks to witness first hand the benefits of near- ly $5 million in repair and maintenance funding, provided by the Department of Defense. Repair and maintenance work will be performed at 25 Oahu public schools, all of which have a military enrollment of 20 percent or greater. Mokapu Elementary, located aboard MCBH Kaneohe Bay, is No. 4 on the list. Lance Col. Trent Lowry According to Air Force Col. K. C. McClain, U.S. Pacific Commander director for manpower, personnel and administration, the money is, in Members of 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, the 2nd Royal Australian Regiment, and the Celtic Pipes and Drum of Hawaii part, the result of efforts by concerned parents of Radford High School held a formation for morning colors Friday at the base flagpole. Hawaii Marines welcomed the Australian unit, which is train- students; the parents were very active in drawing attention to the physical ing with 2/3 while Fox Co., 2/3 trains in Australia, with bagpipe and drum performances, including the Australian favorite condition of their school. They did an outstanding job of raising aware- "Waltzing Matilda." ness about the school's condition, said McClain. They testified in front of the school board, met with legislators and did everything they could to try to get money to improve conditions at Radford. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the ranking minority member of the K-Bay deputy ROICC earns Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, heard about the problem and was able to help. He secured nearly $5 million in defense appropria- tions to be used for the repair and maintenance of Hawaii public schools that had a high percentage of military family member enrollments. top engineering award McClain said that approximately $4.8 million has been released from DoD to the U.S. Pacific Command. The money will be sent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers(USA COE), who will do the contracting work Sgt. Robert Carlson naval military and civilian engineers by the projects is the collocation of Fleet Aviation Press Chief for the school repair and maintenance projects. The USA COE will begin society. Specialized Operational Training Group, awarding contracts in June; work is expected to start during July. The Society of American Military Glenn H. Higuchi, MCB Hawaii deputy Pacific, and Commander, Patrol Contracts for all of the work to be done must be in place before Sept. 30, Engineers recently awarded the Moreell ROICC, is only the fifth civilian engineer to Reconnaissance Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. the end of the DoD fiscal year. Medal to the MCB Hawaii Deputy Resident receive the medal since it was first awarded Originally planned as two separate facilities, In March, the Joint Venture Education Forum (JVEF) determined how Officer in charge of Construction. in 1955. $2 million in construction costs were avoid- the $5 million from DoD was going to be distributed. We wanted an open The award, named for the man credited Higuchi, a former Air Force engineering ed by consolidating the two units in the new process, with all the different stakeholders represented, said McClain, with founding the Navy Seabees, Rear Adm. officer and native of Honolulu, was recog- John W. Finn Building. JVEF chairman. Ben Moreell. is the top medal awarded to nized as being the most outstanding Naval In addition to several other BRAC pro- The JVEF includes representatives from all the major military compo- Civil Engineering Corps contributor to mili- jects, Higuchi and his team facilitated the nents and all the school districts on the island. tary engineering. completion of 290 new family housing units The JVEFs decision was to target all Hawaii public schools with mili- "Creative innovation by Mr. Higuchi and 656 units of bachelor enlisted quarters tary family member enrollments of 20 percent or greater. The list of helped bring in the on-schedule and under- on base. schools is based on 1998-1999 census data collected by the. State of budget completion of construction and base Not only were these accomplishments Hawaii Department of Education as part of the military impact aid pro- closure projects valued at $300 million," the recognized in the military engineering soci- gram. McClain said the targeted schools will receive assistance based on society said in Higuchi's award citation. ety, other government agencies have taken two criteria - percentage of enrollment, and category, or scope of work. "His efforts led to dramatically improved note. The U.S. Senate and the House of The scope of work can be health and safety, sanitation, exterior or interi- operational capabilities and quality of life Representatives have recognized ROICC's or work. conditions throughout the base." efficiency. The JVEF worked straight down the list, in order, until we ran out of Base Realignment and Closure projects Higuchi credits the ROICC staff and the money, said McClain. We realized that there are more needed projects completed successfully by the ROICC MCB Hawaii ROICC, Lt. Cmdr. Ian C. than can be paid for with this money. But we felt that - because the include the base closure at Naval Air Station Lang, with successful completion of the pro- money was allocated specifically for schools with high concentrations of Barbers Point, movement of 2,300 personnel jects and making the award possible. military dependents - if we started with the schools that had the highest and 38 aircraft from the station to Kaneohe "We have an outstanding cadre of profes- concentration and worked down, that would be the fairest method. Bay, and modifications to the airfield to sionals on the construction staff here," he Hawaii's Superintendent of Education, Dr. Paul LeMahieu, said, thiS accommodate the P-3C "Orion" aircraft. said. "There has also been significant inter- An example of innovations and cost sav- face between civilians and military groups. See FUNDING, A-6 Higuchi ings realized by the ROTC during the BRAC NATO chief says allies must spend more for defense lim Garamone Kosovo, Operation Allied Force last year proved its from Serbia, the U.N. Security Council Resolution Initiative aims to fix these problems. It commits American Forces Press Service urgency. that authorizes the NATO mission would not run NATO members to improve alliance capabilities in BRUSSELS, Belgium - The same commit- Robertson reviewed the allied record lest, he out. five areas: mobility, sustainment, effective engage- ment that saw NATO triumph in Kosovo will see the said, anyone forgets Kosovo was a NATO victory. But the Kosovo campaign also exposed some ment, survivability and communications. alliance through painful changes that will allow the "We reversed the worst ethnic cleansing seen in the NATO warts. "The United States carried far too "Several nations are bringing in the kind of radi- 19 countries to adapt to a new world, NATO European continent since World War II," he said. much of the load (in Kosovo) and Europe has to cal reforms we need, new equipment is being Secretary-General George Robertson said here. "Over a million refugees are now back home, and shoulder more of the burden - something Europe ordered or developed in key areas such as strategic Robertson spoke June 8 at a press conference after a decade of discrimination the majority has acknowledged openly in setting itself its new, airlift and precision guided weapons," Robertson during the NATO Defense Ministerial. He said Kosovar Albanians are now able to start rebuilding ambitious goals," he said. said. But, he added, NATO nations cannot just shift NATO nations are transforming their militaries, but their lives and homes." He said NATO must restructure forces to meet money from one account to another. that some nations need to dedicate more resources to But more needs to be done and NATO has the today's threat and shape tomorrow's future. "The "Strong defense means two things for NATO's finish the transformation. will and resources to see it through, Robertson said. Cold War may be dead and gone, but too many of nations - spending wisely, but also spending At heart is funding for the Defense Capabilities "Much of Kosovo is peaceful, but we know that ten- our armies are structured to fight yesterday's bat- enough," he said. "You cannot get defense on the Initiative. The DCI is a road map NATO members sion lies just beneath the surface and the levels of tles," he said. "We simply do not have enough of the cheap, and there can be no real security without agreed to follow to arrive at the goal of new capa- violence are unacceptable," he said. He also reas- flexible, mobile forces needed for the new century." bilities. While the DCI was in planning before sured the people of Kosovo that contrary to reports But, he said, NATO's Defense Capabilities See NATO, A-6 Civilians rewarded for their flawless work efforts Index Lance Cpl. Trent bonny Hawaii base facilities department, earned Iwami said after the ceremony. Y2K contingency plans for MCB News Combat Correspondent a share of the Federal "The base has always been doing Hawaii. Yemeni Minefields 2 WAIKIKI - Two workers from Manager/Supervisor of the Year award good things, and I think this award "He handled his responsibilities very Pilot Training 3 MCB Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, earned top with Christopher H. L. Ching, of Pearl reflects the efforts of everybody." well, as you can tell by the results of the ISMO Technology 4 honors at the 44th Annual Excellence in Harbor Naval Shipyard, as the voting for As acting public works officer, Iwami BRAC, Y2K and other projects," said Navy Missile Exercise 5 Federal Government Awards, June 8 at the category ended in a tie for first place.