 Think, Check, Hawaii. Civil engagement lives here. Welcome to another edition of Hawaii in Uniform. I'm your host, Calvin Griffin. And for those of you, while we start this out, for those of you who may not have seen the program before, of course, we talk about military veterans' issues and some of the people that are involved. Today, my guest is Mr. Rene Petashio. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. We'll be talking with him in just a moment. He's a veteran's advocate. He's been around for quite some time. He does a lot of good things with the military and veterans. But before we do, this being Memorial Day weekend, I just wanted to put a few things out there about what's happening. On Sunday, there's a counterlight vigil that will be held at Punch Bowl, and I will start between five and end around seven. And for those of you who may not have participated in the program before, it's very moving. It's a way of showing our respect for those who have paid the ultimate price. Unfortunately, sometimes we have more veterans there than we have people in the civilian side. But if you really want to get to talk to some of the veterans and hear some of their experiences and sharing the camaraderie, that's a good place. And it would be, again, start Sunday at five, between five and seven. And also on Monday, starting at 8.30, at Punch Bowl, there's a ceremony there. And again, it's open to the public. But if you're going to go, you might want to get there a little bit early, because parking may be a little bit difficult anyhow. And on Monday, there'll be a lantern floating ceremony down at Alamoana. And I think that starts about 2 p.m. Well, I'm sorry, some 7.30 to 8.30 p.m., that's the best one. And also for your veterans after you are trying to get your cap cards, and if you're not familiar with that, that's the access card that you'll need to get on the tripler. Though I think they changed that, I think, effective sometime next couple of months, where you're going to have to have that to make it easier for you to gain access. You're still not going to be denied access to the tripler facility. But this will make it a little bit more easier if you do have that card. And also down at the Oahu Veterans Center, they have the vet mobile. That will be coming there, I think, this the third Thursday of every month. And there's a lot of good information that you can get from down there concerning health care, VA representatives who will be there to talk to you. And it's a great facility. If you haven't been there before, go down and talk to Claire Levinson. She's the Executive Director. And she can point you in the right direction as far as getting additional information for some of the things you need. But at this moment, I want to introduce to the program, Renee, may I call you Renee? Please. Okay. A little bit back to yourself. Like you were in the military before? Yes. I served 26 years in the Navy, 13 years as an unlisted, and 13 years as a Chief Warrant Officer. Okay. Was I considered a Mustang? Or... That's what they call us. For those of you in the civilian world, we, when you transition from enlisted to civilian, I mean to not civilian, to officer, you know, that takes some doing, anyhow. Well, what were some of your military experiences? I was mostly in personnel and administration, and I served also for five years with the intelligence community at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. And yeah, just mostly administration. Yeah. Good. I know that you've been around for a while, anyhow, because before, one thing I do when I talk about it, I know you're involved with the Veterans Treatment Court. Yes. Could you tell the audience a little bit about that, because this is something that was basically spearheaded by Judge Edward Kubo? Yes. Yeah. Could you tell our viewers about that? Of course. The Veterans Treatment Court is a program started by the judicial system to help veterans who are involved with law. Most of them are usually incarcerated on different types of crimes, and Veterans Treatment Court is a program offered for them so they can get out of imprisonment, go through, offer them some counseling, rehab programs, and sometimes even offer them jobs, work with the civilian sectors to offer them jobs, so they can, when they get out of imprisonment, they can go to a, we may say, a little bit of more normal life instead of being locked up, for them to be able to earn a little bit of income so they can pay for their fines and any other expenses incurred with their imprisonment. And it's a two-year program. It's a very wonderful program. And as a matter of fact, they consider Hawaii has the highest success rate in the entire program. It's a two-year program where they really have to go through with the help of mentors like me, and of course you too, you've also been a mentor, to kind of just be a sounding board for them or kind of like a big brother to lean on to in case they get a little bit sidetracked and to steer them in the right direction so that they can move on. So after two years of the program, they graduate, and then they go to their normal lives. I personally have three veterans who graduated from the program already and went on to be in the civilian community, join their families, and on to their normal life. For this program, so people won't misconstrued, this is not a get-out-of-jail-free card or nothing like that. No. This is they have to really earn. Yes. You know, so go through the program, be due diligence as far as going through the different programs, things that they turn you out. You mentioned you had three graduates so far. Yes. Okay. What encouraged you to get involved with the treatment court? You know, where I came from back in the Philippines, because I grew up in the Philippines, born and raised in the Philippines, and what we had in the Philippines before I joined the military compared to now is almost like a 180-degree turnaround. I came from very, very humble beginnings, and considering what I have now, I'm truly grateful with how I have turned around per se, not really in a bad way, not from a bad way to a great way, but it's one way of really helping me and my family, and then it's my way of me giving back to the community, to the organization who really embraced me and took care of me under their wings. I have actually dedicated the rest of my life helping veterans, and I have also been involved with trying to help veterans who have physical, mental, or any other types of challenges, and that's why I also offer with being a member of the Veteran Veterans of America. I now chair their PTSD committee, because there are, you know, a lot of people don't want to admit they have PTSD because of the stigma of the illness, and sometimes people in the military, especially the active duty folks, are kind of reluctant to admit that they have PTSD or turn themselves in for treatment, because that would then be a negative part of their record that would probably hinder them from getting the assignments they want or the promotion they need and so on. So that's why PTSD is a little bit kind of sensitive. So I work with them one-on-one. As a matter of fact, tomorrow I'll lead a panel of professionals, doctors, psychologists, even an artist, to try to find some ways of really not just helping PTSD people, but any veterans who have challenges with their health, their mental, physical challenges, or just about anything in life, because, you know, stress gets us. Well, this conference is going to be open to the public, or? Mostly for veterans. If there are some veterans out there who would like to attend, as a matter of fact, who have sent the invitation to the VA and to Oahu Veterans Center also, so if they have some interested parties who would like to come, they're more than welcome to come and listen to the panel. The location and time again? 19... Oh, no, I'm sorry, 1298 Kukila Street, Honolulu, 96818. It's close to the stadium. It's the Oahu Veterans Center. Oh, Oahu Veterans Center, okay, yeah. I mentioned about the PTSD, you know, and the stigma sometimes, even within the military community, where, you know, I know that they're still trying to make that transition from looking at this as a weakness as something like, say, that, you know, it's not a character flaw, but if you go through some of the horrendous experiences, you know, that a lot of our men and women go through, you know, you can't put words into play on how it affects individuals, you know. I know they do have one program, the PRRP program that's held at Tripler for individuals who go through, you know, voluntarily going to the program to address their PTSD syndrome, you know, and that takes a lot of courage right there, you know, all those individuals that go through this, you know, it's one thing getting orders to be sent into combat and following certain things, but when you voluntarily, when you realize that there are certain things that you need to do the correct to not only for yourself, but your family and your community, it takes a lot of bravery, you know, to do that. Absolutely. Yeah. And it's not just a service member or the veteran who isn't involved, because when you have that illness, your family, children, spouses, even the people around you, they are affected, because sometimes when you have the triggers, they don't know what to do. They don't know how to react. They think that you have gone, whatever, crazy sometimes, and it's sometimes it's out of control. Yeah. I think it's still at a point where we, excuse me, we talk about the rates of suicide, you know, especially among veterans, you know, that's not really talked about, you know, and I think some people, when they get to the point where, you know, they go through the different programs, but sometimes there may be something that's not quite, you know, falls into place for them. And then that sense of hopelessness comes in, and then they feel that their only option is to go ahead and, you know, do the ultimate, you know. So, you know, it's, I think with some of the programs you're talking about, it's good for family members sometimes to recognize, like, say that they may be at that breaking point, you know, and maybe we need to do a little bit more comforting, you know, to help them get through that hump or over that, you know, situation, you know, where they can regroup, get refocused, and, you know, continue to march anyhow, you know. Tell me about it, because I've been there, too. I've been on deployments where I'm completely separated from my family, and you couldn't help but just think of them, but there's nobody to turn to. And at times you could really be depressed, and you go down to your lowest point where, you know, you could think of the unthinkable, and sometimes people do that. As a matter of fact, December, I was invited to the Suicide Prevention Task Force in Schofield, and they had some mostly active duty people and some people who work at the the fitness center, people who provide support for these people. And I offered them what I have, and meditation is really what I do. And I've learned meditation about five years ago or so, and transcendent meditation, but when I moved to Hawaii, I met a teacher who introduced me to down meditation, which is completely way out of scale compared to transcendent meditation. And I have used transcendent, not transcendent meditation, but down meditation to really help ease the mind of people who have challenges trying to quiet their mind or having some challenges with pain and so on. So when I introduced meditation to the Suicide Prevention Task Force, five minutes of meditation, everybody says, wow, that was amazing. And I've introduced down meditation also at the Veterans Law Veterans Center when we had the Vietnam Veterans of America last month, and we brought calligraphies, which is now what I'm working on, to help people focus, get that monkey mind into stillness. Because when you're still, you can now get into your creativity and the mind settles. Speaking of quiet time, we're going to have to take a short break. And then what we're going to do is, of course, continue this anyhow. All right, but you're, stay tuned, Hawaii Uniform, we'll be back. Good afternoon, my name is Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Code Green, a program on sync tech Hawaii. We show at three o'clock in the afternoon every other Monday. My guests are specialists both from here and the mainland on energy efficiency, which means you do more for less electricity and you're generally safer and more comfortable while you're keeping dollars in your pocket. Okay, you're back with Hawaii Uniform. I'm your host Calvin and Governor Nay here. You were talking about the meditation. There's one thing I know within the VA system sometime there's systemic problems that develop or things that are missed with the treatments and everything else. And I think that when I see there are the veterans or even military personnel who are taking it on their own to see about alternative types of treatments that are more cost effective and not only cost effective, but more effective as far as the overall medical protocol for helping out. Do you see that? Oh yes, absolutely. As a matter of fact, the president of the chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America here in Oahu mentioned that. And I've used it too. The last time I went to the VA, my doctor said, you know, I have a remedy for your back problem. Have you tried acupuncture before? I said, yes. I said, do you have any acupuncturists that you have in mind? You know, as long as they are a vendor in the VA program, VA system, you can go there using your choice program, veterans choice program where because mostly VA does not have an acupuncturist or a chiropractor. So they now give you that opportunity to choose the provider you want that is not available in the VA system. Go there and receive treatment from that provider and reimbursed by the VA. And I went to my chiropractor one time and who happens to be a vendor of VA. And when I was done with the session, she asked me, so when are you coming back for your next session? I said, so I don't know. I have to check with the VA first. And she told me, you know, when VA approves it, it's usually for eight sessions. I said, oh, that's nice to know. I said, okay, then let's schedule it then. Then two days later, I get a letter from VA saying I'm approved for 17 sessions of acupuncture. So like meditation, downmeditation is also an approved vendor at the VA because I work with the Massachusetts Dallas Center here in Honolulu, who is an authorized vendor with a VA. That's where I learned meditation, the downmeditation. And a few people, some veterans are coming here now using the VA Choice Program so they can receive healing, if you may call it, because it's good for their well-being, which is not available in the VA system. As long as it's approved at the VA, then they can go there at the Dallas Center, receive the healing or treatment or whatever you call it. And then VA then reimburses the center for the cost of their treatment. I'll sound like something like this. It's going to hit certain things off the pass, because if you are going through a treatment program that is not effective, a lot of times, I mean, my personal experience, they'll give you all kinds of drugs, I mean, the opioids and everything else. And next thing you know, your mind is off the problem you originally had, but now you have another issue that you're dealing with. Exactly. And then trying to extricate yourself from that situation, it gets more and more convoluted all the time. So with this, it's good that the system, the decisions that have been made, they go ahead and start utilizing these alternative types of treatments, because overall, like they just cut down on money, the bottom line is as long as it's effective for the veteran or the individual's concern, that's the important thing. Exactly. And I think it's a good thing. So hopefully, the way it sounds, if there is a turnaround in the part of the VA system can address these things, then that's a good thing. But unfortunately, sometimes when things start to work, then they want to go ahead and change it later. So, I don't know, that sounds like a good thing anyway. Yeah. And I've read a few books about PTSD also, most of them by psychologists, not psychiatrists. The difference between psychologists and psychiatrists. Psychiatrists, you go to their session and they prescribe medication for you. Usually those antidepressants, you know, those brain altering medications. Psychologists work with you one on one without medication. And most psychologists label all these medicines that are prescribed by psychiatrists. They call it the medication with a black box, because it has a label in black that says, if you take this medication, you could suffer from hallucinations, things that change your way of thinking. They label it the black box. Because as a matter of fact, when I was interviewed or when I was working with the Veterans Treatment Court, when they had the workshop, they had the narcotics officer of Honolulu PD who said that if you are taking any medication and if that medication has side effects, don't just think that you could have that side effect. You will have those side effects. So, if it says these are possible side effects, then you may want to think twice before you take that medication because you will experience those. That's from a narcotics officer. Yeah. To make sure that we don't run out of time, I want to make sure that anybody veteran down there, like I said, it may be considering, you know, the types of alternative treatments. If they can contact you or if there's a veteran out there that's having a problem with the, unfortunately with law enforcement or whatever, you know, to get into the drug treatment program. I think Judge Cuba will be coming on the program. Sometimes in the future, we'll try to get a couple more mentors to come on. We need more. We really flesh out what's going on. But in the meantime, how can you be contacted for information about anything we discussed? Sure. I'm free to offer my phone number. It's area code 808-800-7232. Sorry, 808-800-7232. Or they can send me an email to Accord184. That's Accord is spelled A-C-C-O-R-D as in Delta. 184 at gmail.com. I'd be glad to help. Okay. There's one thing I want to get out. But anyhow, before we do that, is there anything else you want to share with the viewers about anything that's of concern or that you see, you know, that you would like to address? I really, like I told you earlier, I really dedicate my life just supporting veterans. The other reason why I'm doing this is because I have my oldest daughter who came up with psoriasis one day. Entire body covered with psoriasis except her face and her arms. And the doctors gave her all kinds of topical solutions, changed her diet, exercised, you name it. But the only remedy for them was to go through a steroid shot. It's only good for six months. And because of the meditation that I do, that I've learned, I have helped my daughter clear her psoriasis just doing this meditation completely one-of-a-way. That's why, you know, if I could share that with others without going through the heavy-duty type medication that could potentially risk their health, I mean, yeah, please feel free to call me. Okay. We're going to have you come back on the program sometime in the future. Like I said, it's been very interesting anyhow. But one thing I wanted to do before we close that anyhow, last about a month and a half ago, there was a ceremony that was held at Punchbowl for a gentleman by the name of Private Tillerman who was doing the World War II. He was part of a major campaign in the Tarawa, excuse me, Gilbert Islands. And he was from Nevada. And unfortunately, the first day he was arrived on the islands, there was a heavy engagement, and he was killed in action along with a thousand other Marines and also sailors. He was unidentified for a number of years. And just recently, he was identified by the Seal High or the Central Identification Lab here in Hawaii, and they held his re-enterment ceremony for him. It was very moving. Even though, like I said, it was almost 70 years since he was killed in action, it gave closure to his family. And in the past program, and I'll be very brief about this, but I will be following up on this, we had a gentleman by the name Renee Unst that came on the program. We discussed the POW issue and the abandonment of what was going on. Since that program, I have found more information that really collaborates a lot with people who have believed about some of what may happen during the Vietnam War. The thing is, we need to follow up on this thing because we need to, we have Veterans Appreciation Day, which is 29 March, but we have to give closure to these families. And no matter who is responsible, whatever it is within the system, there was a breakdown where they're not being accountable for. We owe it to these families. As Americans, as Veterans, that's what we need to do. You know, and again, this is, you know, not to, people say, why bring this up at this point, because it doesn't make any sense. It does, because if it happened before, it can happen again. And we have an obligation as citizens and as Veterans, myself, I'm very sure Renee shares this with me. We need to honor those, like, say, that's being done this weekend, but we have to think of those who are still suffering because of the unknown. They don't know what happened to their loved ones. And if we, as a people, do not stand up and be responsible, hold our government, be responsible for not addressing these issues, then we are less people. And I think we are much greater than that. So in the future, I will be discussing this issue. And again, it's not to open up a can of worms or try to do anything controversial, but I think we all have a moral obligation to make sure that this is addressed so we can give those individuals, those families, who loved ones, have paid the ultimate price, shared their lives with their fellow Americans. You know, we have to do that. If we don't do that, again, we are lost. And I think we are much better than that. So we will be talking about it. And from very knowledgeable individuals who are more knowledgeable than I am now, but we will be talking about that. And I want to thank you, again, all the ceremonies, if you can get out there and punch bowl some of the other ones, please do talk to our veterans, thank them, thank their families, because there's so much has been done in for you, you know, in the name of our country. Renee, thanks a lot. And again, I want to thank all our viewers. Thank you. God bless. And until that time.