 State Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. And Aloha, welcome to another edition of Hawaii in Uniform, I'm your host Calvin Griffin. And for most of us it has been a very, to say the least, hectic week, or enlightening and frightening in some of the different ways. I think they can comment on that a little bit later on here, but right now, for those of you who have seen the program, or may not have seen it, may not have seen the program before. Here we talk about a lot of things concerning the veterans in the military community. And today, one of my special guests is Mr. Randolph Alexander. And I want to thank you for coming on the program. Thank you for having me. Good. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I was born and raised here in Hawaii, live on the winter side of the island, went to public school, graduated, and joined the military back in 1974. Actually, I joined the Hawaii Army National Guard while serving my active duty and my advanced individual training. I suffered a service-connected injury, and that's how I became an eligible veteran to receive VA benefits. I'm a family of military background. My dad, I get kind of emotional. I understand. But my dad and my two older siblings served in the military. So if you put everybody's years of service together, who have more than 95 years of military service in my family itself, I was discharged in October of 1985. I was still young at that time, and I didn't know what I really wanted to do. To make a career. I wanted to be a career military personnel, but other things came up, and I wanted to go ahead and experience that career also. So I decided to leave the Army National Guard. Yeah. And total time that you spent in the military service? Total of 11 years. 11 years, yes. And you were medically discharged, or? No, I had an honorable discharge. Excuse me. Honorable discharge after 11 years of service. Yeah. I know that there's a lot of things that I'm told that you're involved with as far as with the veterans community. What is the main thing that you're concerned about right now as trying to? I'm trying to see if the Congress and Washington DC and the military change their policies in regards to offering all veterans. Doesn't matter if they're retired or not, to get some kind of benefits, such as commissary base or post exchange, lodging at the various cabin installations that we have here on the islands. And this to be recognized by the general public that we served in the military. Even though for myself, even though I didn't retire, I feel that I should be entitled or should be eligible to receive this type of benefits from the military. So I need to have help from other veterans that feel the same way that I do. Because it's very, very important for my stand-up point for you. So you're not talking about additional on the military or anything like that, but just access to the commissary, PX and things of that nature? Yes. No compensation is required. We just want to go to the PX, to the commissary. Maybe stay out a weekend at the Bellows Air Force Station and one of those cabins. Or even stay at the Paulette Cove Hotel here in Waikiki. You know, and just be recognized. You know, every year since the bombing of Pearl Harbor, there's only once day out of the whole year that the Pearl Harbor survivors are recognized. And of course, that's the anniversary date, December 7th. After that, you don't hear nothing about these survivors until the following year. They didn't serve only that day. They served every day of the year. So that's when they should be recognized. True, they get recognized from their loved ones, close friends that serve with them in armed forces, but I feel that we should be recognized by the general public. And even if we do go to the military installations, we should be recognized by the personnel that's working on the base that were prior service. You know, we didn't retire, that's true. But still we should be recognized that we're once served in the armed forces to defend the United States of America. Okay, what arguments are playing a devil's advocate here? Okay, we have people that say, well, I did 20, 25 years, one of those did the full time anyhow, and I'm entitled to it. And for someone to say, well, you know, I did my time, but I didn't do as much as you did, but I should get the fully recognized, which has been understandable, and also as far as access to the commissary PX. How much blowback or how much opposition are you getting or what arguments that have you heard, and how do you counter that argument? There was two incidents, and that's why I started this research. And the first incident, it was at the military installation rest cap at Polk High Bay on the west side. I belong to a committee that we formed our first annual reunion for our National Guard unit, and it was held at that facility. And we was told that we could make reservations over the phone or the weekend to have a cabin, which I did. And the only thing that person asked me on the phone was, do I have an ID, a military ID? And the only ID I have is this ID that I showed to get my medical treatments at the VA clinic. And this is it right here. Well, I should go this way, yeah, either way. But anyway, when I showed this ID to the receptionist, she said, oh, we don't honor that stuff. I said, excuse me, but we don't honor that stuff. It's not valid here. You need an active or retired ID card, either from the military or the Department of Defense. I said, I don't have that. She said, well, you can't get your room down. She said, the only way you can get a room or a cabin is to have one of your buddies send somebody here to sponsor you for the weekend. So I called the general chairman of our committee. If he could come, he sent his son who just turned 18 to sponsor me. And I was kind of puzzled with that because there's this young teenager just graduated from high school, just turned 18, and has more benefits than I do after I serve 11 years in the National Guard in the military. Why is that? I asked myself that question many, many times. Why? You know? Who, any of our elected officials that you contacted and then trying to make them aware of what you're going through and what a lot of other? I wrote a letter to Senator Macy Gerono. Her reply was budget. Budget? A budget. It will cost money to have more veterans, have the benefits of going to the PX and commissary, and what I was asking for. I also notified in-person and also by letter, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who also is a member of the Hawaii Army National Guard. I also wrote a letter and went in to speak to the person that handles military affairs for the late Mark Tatai's office before he had anything started. He decided to leave his position there. When I called, I was given another person that was taken over. And when I explained my situation and my proposal, I guess you can call it, he said, what makes you think you should be entitled to the same benefits after only serving 11 years in a guard versus my 22 years went to war and retired from the US Marines. My answer to that is, I don't care how many years. It shouldn't be how many years of service you serve if you retired or not. As long as you serve your obligation with the military and was given an honorable discharge, you should be entitled to these benefits. As you may call it, a payback for the user service that you gave your life to. You know, guardsmen were called weekend warriors. Ever since December 1, 2001, the anniversary date of the bombing at the World Trade Center. And the United States went ahead and fight against the terrorists who did they deploy first with the Army, with the Marine Corps. Oh, the Army National Guard. This is one thing that we had discussed during the program before. We had a lot of National Guard reserve that served multiple tours. And some of them, you know, they get burned out at a certain point. And then they do get those discharges, like I say, before the 20-year period. You know, so I think everybody can empathize like what you're talking about as far as that's concerned. The other thing is budget, which I can't understand when they're saying, well, budget concerns. If we have additional individuals who are eligible who serve the country to patronize the PX and the commissary, what it does, it helps that system. Because the way they've been cutting down on the different commissary and PXs around the country, they're saying that there's not enough patronage for the organization to come in. Here in Hawaii, I mean, maybe a little bit different. We have, of course, about 120,000 veterans give or take. And even across the board anyhow. The recognition that you're looking for, I understand that back in November or December, there was supposed to be a ID card for veterans to recognize who's a veteran. And for some reason, they came out and said, well, the system's been so overwhelmed that we can no longer process it. To me, that's a little bull. I mean, you have something in place. And it seems that time after time, we have these different programs that have been announced. And then once they're initially instituted, then you've got all these tech problems that come up. And they say, well, you've got to wait a little bit longer. To me, that's unacceptable. And I think that's what you're talking about as far as with getting some sort of formal recognition where, as far as having access to the different facilities, because you did serve and honorably. And not the so-called full-time, but to the time that was satisfactory to the country, even one day of service is the way it is. True, that's very true. You know, the thing is, I was up three o'clock this morning searching the websites on my mobile phone. And I came across this article put out by Military Times. And the Department of Defense, back in 2016, put in a proposal that their civilian workers would be good to have them have benefits going to the PX. Not so, not too much commissary, but the PX privileges and the gasoline facilities that they have on our military installations. And it mentioned, you know, yearly revenue was a little over $130 million. It took for one year. Out of that $130 million, $24 million was profit. Well, it will go out back to the organization and support it and also have these programs to continue. And who it serves? It serves the active personnel that's in the military today, you know? So I don't understand when they say budget. Yeah. I mean, you know, the more money that Katie, they can buy more products, you know? And such other things. So there's nothing, no cost, you know? And for us, for me, I have my ID card from the VA will get my medical treatments done at the tripler. We're gonna take a short break. Okay. You know, I want to, part of the program. Okay, sounds good. But when we come back, we'll be continuing our conversation with Mr. Alexander. And also looking for your feedbacks if you'd like to call in and make any comments about this. But we'll be back in a moment and this is Hawaii in uniform. Planning all week for the day of the big game. Watching at home just doesn't feel the same. Put on the list is who's gonna drive. It's nice to know you're gonna get home alive. Plan for fun and responsibility. Choose the DT. Captain of our team is the DT. For every game day, a sign a designated driver. Good afternoon. My name is Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Code Green, a program on Think 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, and you're back with Hawaii Uniform. Again, my name is Calvin and my special guest today, Mr. Randolph Alexander. May I call you Randolph? Yes, sure. Okay. Like I said, to continue in our conversation about the... I guess not the expansion, but the recognition of what benefits that should be extended. All right. In covered, what you're trying to cover is not only the veteran by your course of families, the immediate family. Yes. Yes. Okay. What response have you gotten from any of the major veteran organizations? Are they aware of what you're trying to do? Yes, I contacted the DAV at Tripler, also the American Legion organization. And, you know, they said I have good ideas, but I need to be the one to go out and get supporters to support my cause, you know, and I don't understand that because they're the organizations they're supposed to back me up or help me through the process because if you only get one person in his heart, you can't move a mountain with one person. But if you have a few organizations with a lot of membership, and that mountain can be moved, you know, and I don't know. And to this point, they're telling you that you need to go out and start the initiative and then they will back you up or you're just still on your own. They just said right to my Congress, representatives, you know. I even called my National Guard Association for retirees. Yeah. And they'll mention it in the general meeting that was two years ago and I didn't get an answer about. To me, again, that's unacceptable, you know. Not knocking in these organizations but I said it in private and I said publicly there's a lot of things that a lot of these organizations can do, you know, to better support, you know, the military. I mean, the veterans community anyhow, you know, instead of just soliciting for a membership, okay, show what you can do. Put your money where your mouth is, you know. If you have the access to the people in Washington for, you know, legitimate reasons, then that's what they should do, you know, as far as telling you good to go out there and do something on your own and then they may or may not follow through and help you out. Again, that's unacceptable as far as from my point of view, you know. So, except with all the different, you know, the number of veterans we have over here, it is a shame that a lot of their issues are not addressed, I think, in a proper way by some of these organizations that claim to be looking out for their interest. All right. You know, getting back to my conversation earlier that I went to the late Mark, Senator Mark Takai's office, my initial visit there and the gentleman said that, you know, he's gonna write a letter to our state legislature and also our representatives in Washington, D.C. to see if they can start something in regards on their behalf, you know. And he said, but if we can't move it nationally for all veterans in the United States, then maybe our legislature just can take care of our veterans here in Hawaii, which we have over 100,000 veterans, you know, and I said, well, that's fine, you know, but we need to get more benefits for our veterans. Yeah, I think over here, we would have the opportunity to set the tone or the tenor for, you know, how, you know, for this initiative anyhow, you know, because it affects, of course, veterans here. I mean, also nation and worldwide when the number of repads we have overseas, you know, it's gotta be done. I mean, again, the budgetary issue, I don't think it's a non, I mean, it doesn't make any sense, you know, but to enlighten the veterans and their families and also the general population about what's happening, that's the good starting point anyhow. How long have you been working, you know, towards this goal? I mean, for the past couple of years, two, three, five years? Five years, five years. And no real response at this point. No, no. Yeah, what's your next step? What would you like to do? What would you like to see happen? I just want to be invited to, to one of our representatives offices here in Hawaii and go one-on-one and tell them exactly what I'm discussing here on this show. You know, to me, it's very important. It's not only for me, but for all the veterans and anybody, any female or male that served in the National Guard should be entitled to some type of benefits. Back in 1973, they stopped the drought. Before that, a lot of young guys, particularly males, joined the National Guard to get away from the drought because they didn't want to go to war in Vietnam or the other conflicts that the United States was involved in. But after the drought was put on site, you still had men and women joining the National Guard on their own, we will. So even though they only served six years, it, regardless, how many years of service, they served, you know, and it should be entitled to some type of benefit for the time. All right. Were you aware of the IDs that they were planning to put in place for the veterans? Have you heard about that before? Yes. I went on to vetverify.com to see if I was certified. And they got my records, but this is since I already have a veterans affairs ID card because it is almost identical. I don't need one. But I called the director of the state of veterans affairs office at E wing at the tripler and told him that he said, well, if that's what they said, then you don't have to. He's one of the gentlemen that really, really helped me on this past five years since I met him. Ron Han? Ron Han. Okay. He's a nice guy. And he's very concerned of my issues that I want to move forward, you know, because again, he was a member of the Air Force and also with the National Guard in Hawaii. But he knows exactly what I'm talking about where I'm coming from. So he's helping me. But again, you know, he has a lot of things on his mind right now and more other things to take care of with legislature just started and session and stuff like that. But even that would be a plus for me if I can be invited to the legislature if they want to cover a session with military. I wouldn't mind going and speak to them, I mean. Right. Well, the way it sounds, if you're waiting for an invitation that may be long and coming in any house, so they may have to take the initiative, you know, take some other supporters. I can only speak for myself or the venue that we're trying to reach now. But if there's something we can do as far as putting the word out there or contacting some people, you know, the elected officials who get an official response from them about what you're trying to do, I personally will commit to that, you know. Oh, I appreciate that. No, I can like say you're doing all of this and say, you know, service anyhow, you know. But they have this thing with the ID card, you know, they're telling us now that if you get this thing, it will cover everything. But then, you know, where you say that you got one form of ID, so that should be, you know, suffice, it could be a better clarification, you know, so we don't have people who are confused and concerned. And after that, you know, you want to get angry and feeling disrespected, you know. So, yes, that definitely has to be addressed. You know, they also mentioned about that part, about the ID card for all veterans, yeah. And they said about the cost and stuff, how much it will take to make an ID card. You know, if they need to charge a veteran, I'm pretty sure the veteran will pay whatever. I mean, if it's not an outrageous amount, you know, 20, 25 dollars, I think the veterans can come up with data and make a lifetime ID card for them, you know, to get benefits, of course, you know. And to me, that's the only thing that's going to cost is the ID card, I believe so. But other than that, there's nothing concerning budget. There shouldn't be no budget work, you know. That's true. Okay, they're getting down to the wire, you know, but is there anything else that Major, you want to touch on before we begin to close out? Well, again, I just want to ask for you folks, response to this program, to me it's very important to all the veterans, yeah. Is there a phone number they can contact you, or? Yeah, cell number is 808-772-9522. That's my cell phone, you can reach me 24-7. Okay. I'd be more than happy to talk to you on the phone. Okay, no suggestion you might want to go before the Oahu Veterans Council. They meet at the last Saturday of every month and see what they may try to provide for you, you know. But again, we'll help you get the word out and we'll do a follow-up program. Invite you back and let us know how things are going, anyhow. Sounds good, sounds good. All right, anything, any other final words? No, no. Okay, anyhow, I want to thank you for coming on the program, but we're getting down to wire. I think we got maybe about a minute and a half, something like that, all right. I'm going to be very brief with this. And like this past Saturday, of course, we had a major event that scared the heck out of a lot of people. And I know everybody's been making comments about this, that and everything else and trying to point fingers and all that. The one thing I see and I still get angry about is the fact that I've seen the terror and I heard it in the voice of the people that I loved. And we talk about, you know, now putting more better things in place as far as bomb shelters, things of that nature. I think we need to get back to the basics. This is my take on it. Getting back to the root of the problem. If you think about it, there are a lot of people overseas that's experienced the terror that we went through. It's about prevention. Not about building up and all that. We have a lot of bad guys out there in this world to be sure. But as far as some of the problems and things that we're dealing with, how we're dealing with other countries and how they're dealing with us, the American people need to get more involved so we can prevent things like this so we don't have to go into that defensive mode. The protection part, think about it. The countdown when you're ahead, when you heard that you only had 15 minutes to live and you're seeing the terror, people screaming. Think about that. The countdown from 10, nine, eight, seven, and so forth. Think about, get involved, hold them accountable, hold ourselves accountable. Thank you, God bless and until that time.