 We're back. We're live the military in Hawaii. I'm Jay Fidel. This is stink tech and we're talking about the the regatta and If you're wondering what regatta, you know, you got regattas all the time actually Talking about regatta. We're talking about that. No, no, no, koa wounded warrior regatta With Ben Lucfar and Paul the quie. Welcome to the show you guys Thanks so much Jake glad When is the record of Ben? When is it and where is it and what what what can we you know know about it? And how can we get our boat into it? Yeah, absolutely the canoeer got it actually just occurred on the 27th of August and it's an annual event that we've had Since about 2008. I'm sure you remember a judge at Kubo from this time here in Hawaii But he kind of kind of kicked it off as an event to support wounded wars and in veterans So we're planning on another event. This will be like year 13 Outside the Holly Co hotel. I don't have Paul. You might have the specific date But it's it's in the later part of august where we've got a website The that is actually live now that will link to the event and we'll talk more about it throughout the show But thank you jay. Yeah And paul you're in you're in florida right now. What are we having a sympathetic regatta in florida I wish it was that that nice over here. No our beaches in hawaii as far as the period for regatta You know race it but now i'm here on business working with the army in the navy and uh We'll be up in uh dc with ben in about a week a couple weeks. So just business related Okay, so um, this is a silly question. I hope you forgive me for this question Ben, what is a regatta? Yeah, I think it's a good question. Um, most people know about regatta if you're here in hawaii But we really believe that the the healing of the waters in hawaii is just such a special event And we tied literally a canoe race we call or label under the regatta. It's part of dukes ocean fest It's really the first event that occurs throughout the year And it's just a great event on the beach with a whole bunch of veterans and support and wounded warriors and community partners and people cheering on members who are actually Racing inside the canoe outside the holly coa hotel Oh great And um, what is nakua? Paul, can you tell us what nakua is as an organization and what is its connection with the military? Yeah The nakua is is the name that the regatta Organization took it's a warrior the regatta is a canoe So it's it's that spirit of warrior is coming together And then you look at lifting up the canoe right and moving it forward in synchronization of working together on the ocean To to move forward and that started through the efforts that you heard from from uh, Colonel luke far Years ago and it symbolizes that that spirit of collaboration on the ocean And then of the course the healing powers and the The Hawaiian oceans are just known for just bringing people back to that peacefulness of being in connection with the with the ocean Colonel is it then ben Do you mind if I still call you ben You can call me luke. You can call me ben. You can call me whatever you'd like this this afternoon or this morning Are you an army colonel? I was a retirement retired army colonel spent 30 years with the army So this regatta has its primary military connection is with the army. Am I right? It is truly a joint event and it's really not necessarily just service specific But everyone who has an issue as relates to you know, wouldn't it worry in some capacity? It's just not about veterans But it's also with our local community. It really ties back to the Hawaiian ancestry of the outrigger canoe paddling and it just continues to be a powerful legacy Of healing in just getting everyone together here in Hawaii to recognize what's occurred over the history of Hawaii But also tie into our wounded wars and our veterans Oh, that's great So it's cultural and it's uh O'pono O'pono in the sense of trying to heal people from Very unpleasant PTSD kind of experience Yeah, absolutely in it. Like I said, it goes back to uh judge Kubo in 2008 Also with the lieutenant colonel retired gerbin Amiya moto they pursued the concept of creating a canoe regatta for wounded wars and veterans And then they reached out to the Honolulu pearl canoe club through major penny clue at the time And also members of the navy pearl harbor mwr program the morale welfare and recreation program And that's where the idea really began. It's really grown from about 60 canoes and the paddle racing and competing to where we were over 100 canoes at at one point We haven't done it for a couple of years. Obviously due to covet and having large gatherings But like I said earlier, it's just such a healing event Uh in the true VIPs are the are the wounded wars and the veterans Not necessarily the colonels and the journals and the admirals that come or the dignitaries that come from the local community So do uh to the wounded warriors. Are they able to participate in in the canoes? Um, are they computers? Yeah Oh, that's great. Absolutely. We've got we've got both a VIP heat and we've had a grand marshal for years and Sometimes there are double amputees or triple amputees. We had we had once we had gray gats and retired colonel um Lost both of his legs during iraqi event in the canoes and the pearl club teams They have the right kinds of mechanisms to put everybody in the water Uh, you know with their families and you know with their kids to be able to Again just the special healing of a wide they really enjoy Being in the regatta and everyone's a winner regardless of what time you may have at the finish, but we had we had one special uh paddler One of our grand marshals who said I don't have much Movement with my hands, but if you velcro them to the paddle, I'm all in so Who actually spent some time getting him in the water? Again, it was just so neat to see him. You know be part of the the regatta itself So paul is is there a fundraising element? To the regatta are you able to raise money? You know Within the auspices of the regatta and if so, what what do you do with the money? Well, yeah, let me just add one thing to what luke said also Is we also recognize our gold star family members? Families and they are supported by having Both canoes in the water and we recognize them because they've given up their ultimate sacrifice of a member of their family who's been lost Through a battle or some type of engagement So we recognize all our gold star family members as well from Hawaii And as far as our fundraising now, Hawaii association, the United States army, which we are merely the The host of the regatta. It's under the auspice of nicoa Organization that started with as luke said we don't do specific fundraising for this event We have our community partners which represent everybody in the community in Honolulu who are part of the association united states army Will become members of the association united states army and our funds And that we collect throughout the year through donations and whatnot go to support this event We don't do a specific fundraiser for this event. We host it We put it on through our general operating fund Rather than making this a fundraiser because we're not there to make money We're there to provide the service of letting the healing powers of the water and this camaraderie of the All branches of the military. We don't just look at army, even though we're the association united states army We have paddlers and contestants from all branches of service and all family members and veterans combat wounded retirees All compete and we go across the the gamut all all of our six services including the garden reserve So we don't use it as a fundraiser. We certainly open to donations You can link that anytime you want on here on your site, but we are we are a nonprofit We don't go out and seek donations specifically for an event We ask if you want to support our military in the state of hawai specifically the army association And in this case the regatta just go ahead and make a donation. We'll make sure it gets taken care of What about the individual people the families for example the wounded Do you have direct contact with them outside the regatta? Or is it is it simply preparing for and organizing and Executing the regatta ben can you answer that? Yeah, I can in fact, there are some great organizations that all the services have supporting Supporting gold star family members and if you're not familiar what that means is as paul talked about it's it's an individual who has lost Either you know mom or a dad or a brother or sister In some family connection in combat or in some time While their service and in this case Up at school field barracks. There there's a special organization that reaches out all year long to a gold star family members They've got luncheons throughout the year and even Spend months ahead of time preparing for the canoe race as a healing event itself That it's just not the day of the event, but it's a full engagement throughout the year You know, you'll see it We've got a couple pictures that we can post as well, but the canoe regatta was posted on the field It has all of the Family members who had departed who got boots laid out with the picture And even all the kids who canoeed in the regatta even old guys like myself as a gold star family member Picture of my dad was on the back of the shirt We were just proud to be able to row in honor of them And then we just had a huge healing event as part of the event Do we have those pictures? We do I send a copy Okay, we're seeing them now. Why don't you describe them for us? I see a poster Yes, august 27th this year Um, it's a very very appealing poster. Can you talk about the poster? Uh, the poster itself was just the event itself I sent another newsletter That is just being released on the army On the army magazine and it shows several pictures of the canoe itself the groups themselves the blessings that was occurred Coming from the water blessing the people who participated Shows a lot of the race directors and then some activities in the water itself that talks about the event You mentioned a moment ago that you are A wounded warrior or have a wounded warrior family. Can you talk about that? Yeah, I'm a I'm a son of a deceased naval officer who was lost at sea in 1962 when I was four years old and I'm a proud navy My my mom with four children at the time married another naval aviator and who I who I call You know proudly dad and they raised us five kids and it's Again, I'm just I'm just one. I'm not really here to talk about that But it's really talking about the regard itself But I'm just proud as well to be a goat star recipient as well Yeah, really important. So Paul is the one in hawaii unique Are there other such regard as elsewhere other such activities such such, you know Events in other states and cities or is this the only one? That's a good one. I'm not aware of any others jade that doesn't mean they're not but as far as through the army association Or any of the not the other military organizations I'm not aware of any that that are hosted in this type of format where it's Getting them together and collaborating getting them on the ocean. I'm not aware of any others Should there be I mean that we have wounded warriors and gold star families all around the country, you know Yeah, jade and I think it The events that they do is based on the uniqueness of where they are hosting the event Like, you know, growing up in texas. There is a huge hunting event that the wounded warrior project puts on in sponsors You know the canoe regarded. We had a couple years ago. We had paddlers from Great britain australia new zealand canada That wounded warrior project sponsored and brought to the event And so I just think depending on where you live We just chose the regarded to support wounded warriors since we're here in hawaii You know, we're we're in a different time With respect to veterans, especially veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice and veterans who were Seriously wounded too And we have to we have to look at that as a the change in the way the military works military careers work The relationship of the members and their families with the civilian community and the government And it strikes me that this is part Of that change This is part of an effort to Fill fill the gap fill the void Paul, do you have any thoughts along those lines? Well, yeah, and I think you know, there's often a lot of poor publicity or bad publicity Regarding what the communities are doing whether they're taking advantage of our military and really this is the way to bring The mission of for example of the united states In association united states army is educate informant connect. So we're educating our community our civilian community We're informing them of what is Happening in our military and we're connecting them and that meets all three mission statements of our association I six army in one event. I mean literally does all three of those So that is the value of what association I six army does in hawaii and around the country I don't we've got 200 such chapters around the united states in every state and across Europe and the asia and the mission is to educate informant connect. Yeah, I wanted to just expand on The the associated united states army again a 501c3 organization We're about 270,000 members in 121 chapters across nine regions I happen to be in my volunteer capacity the ninth region president that covers japan, korea, alaska, and why someone of nine Region presidents again as a volunteer individual, but really the the focus of a usa They're really the voice of the army Focused on our soldiers and their families and honor those who have served And so there's a huge effort to educate congress on the needs of the army Through the government affairs organizations that we have A lot of job fair scholarship opportunities some world-renowned publications like the army magazine And then a huge sponsor of the army museum That just stood up in fort belvoir where a we'll say is the prime sponsor to make sure that the army finally had a museum You know finally having museum. We haven't had one. We're like the last service to having museum So we're proud to have a museum at fort belvoir now You mentioned that some of the some of the purpose here is to educate congress Uh without without commenting on whether congress is educable. The question is Stop that ball The question is whether it works Uh, whether you're able to reach congress because we all know that veterans could use some more funding Are they getting more funding and if not what what kind of funding what kind of programs would be helpful? I'm not just for this regatta but for you know helping wounded warriors And uh, you know, we hear stories about homeless wounded warriors. It touches my heart every time I hear such a story and uh, and of course the families of decedent warriors So uh, what else can congress do for your constituency? There's a large effort through what we call the resolutions committee that aos say Engages with congress and I think a big part is numbers matter when when we're over 250,000 members we do get a voice at the table We we expect to grow that number to almost a million people by the end of next year to have a what's going to be Brought out in october to be a member of aos say at the basic level is literally going to be free It will provide some opportunities. It provides some discounts But congress has worked very closely with the army the army can't you know, lobby the congress directly But us as an association can educate congress on the needs of the military what kind of Equipment that they need what the families need, you know, what the community support needs you're talking about what we can do Support veterans retirees. We're trying to improve Military construction projects. So there's about 12 major resolutions that we fight for every year And we've been successful on getting many of those approved through the national defense authorization act Several years ago Even the ability to go to college was not going to be funded by the services But through the agencies like aos say we were able to get that overturned And now individual soldiers have the opportunity to go to college funded by By the army that had previously about ready to go away. Oh, that's great. That's important I mean, we're trying to recruit we're trying to make Men and women in uniform feel that this is a worthy career And we're trying to motivate them Incentivize them do a better job. All this means something You know, when I was in the coast guard, paul, um, we had a A post a coast guard organization that took care of the families While the members were at sea And sometimes those coast guard trips lasted for months And, you know, the families had the stress of not having their husband or wife around And so this organization did raise money. This organization had events this organization gave whatever, you know Support they could To the wives the families of the coast guard people who were at sea Um, does the regatta do that? In other words, if I went to look at who's on those boats Uh, would I would I also see the families? Of active duty service people Who were not wounded and who are still alive and in the service? You had an answer on that Ben? I'm gonna let paul answer it in his own way, but yeah, so I love the Uh, yeah, I mean I'm still in a An army civilian after I retired so I've been an army civilian about 13 years I can speak on behalf the arm a little bit more specifically but out of the 60 plus teams 40 were veterans active duty veterans from across the services And their families were allowed to compete as part of the the race itself about 25 Were wounded wars and ghost our family so To answer your question absolutely the guard the reserves the active duty. We're an army of one We even had local high school teams competing as part of their junior rotc program And the college program and so it was literally open to all that wanted to participate and support The need of the canoeer got it and like paul said, it's not the money for that one event It's what the chapter does and that's just one of the events that their chapter does to take care of soldiers and their families But when I hear you say we are An army of one What does that mean? That means The reserves the national guard and the active duty for years. They had been treated separately And it is and we all recognize after vietnam that we cannot Exist by ourselves that it takes a total team effort and part of our logo is being the army of one And that means everybody to include their families Well, I wanted to give you an opportunity to rebut what but ben has said Or if you like to add to it How much of what he said do you agree with? Well, first off, you never you never tell a recovering attorney that he has an opportunity to rebuttal because I don't know how long your show is So we'll be going on for a while What luke said is absolutely accurate But again, it is not just one event that we do throughout the new year We as an association is you know, state army support our families and the soldiers throughout the year Whether it's deployments and redeployments whether it's the soldier returning who was under quarantine in the barracks For 10 15 25 days. We provide food. We provide services. We provide Cell services whether we lose somebody in the local community To an accident Or when you know, even when you look at things like when the navy lost the offspray over in kanai or marine core area Several years back even the army association supported because they are we are one team We may be one army as luke said, but we're also in a unique environment in hawaii Well, we're the only place that i'm aware of we're all five branches There are six branches now at space force are all situated within a 20 mile radius of each other And so we have developed quite a collaboration with the navy the marines They were coast guard to work together to serve all of our community and all of our Our troops family members throughout our year So we take great pride in providing services that they may be lacking in some other area whether it be that deployment redeployment or whether it be just a A need that when we heard of a soldier or their family was somehow Had a catastrophe in their life. We step in and try to fill that void So that's where our donations really go There is no money left in the coffers in the association. I say the army every year We're looking to provide services to our family members Who are left behind as well as the service members while on island and when they're deployed So it is a collaborative effort And we do take care of our guard reserve and we look at the army as one army But we also look across the army now constantly over at joint base, you know Pearl Harbor Hickam I'm over in you know marine corps based dealing with our counterparts there Whether it be the navy league or the air force association or the marine corps So we work well together and I think that really provides our community A better understanding of what the military is so you don't have that issue of Well, we don't want them here in our backyard. They're they're a blight on what we do They're not they're there to support and they provide Thousands of hours of community service That you would be amazed at how much the military step into fill the voids What the community needs as well when they're when they're asked and so we pride we pride ourselves in trying being that Connectivity between that's why that educate form and connect the connect card is really the glue, right? It's connecting them back to the community Have you been in the service ball? Have you a service background? No, sir. Um, I I have no military background I did have my father Who was a marine always a marine once marine always marine But he he had you know, we got out of the marines before I was born But I had no military training or background or any any step into a uniform My my service has really been uh as a community supporter of the military over the last several you know decade and half Wow, so you do this for some patriotic motivation. Is that it? I do it for a love of our country I do it for a love of the sacrifices made by the military and their family and and uh and great pride in seeing what they do for us and and it's a way of giving back a little bit It's it's it's not that not that sacrifice that they make every day And I'm just grateful. You know, you really touched me in in your remarks Uh, I mean, I think you know patriotism and service of the country and service of the military is so important We can never ever forget. They're willing to lay their lives Down for us and we should be appreciative to the nth degree about that So who else is on your you know your board or your committee? It's not just the two of you is it? Paul No, no, we have a board uh like a lot of the nonprofit boards. We have uh a board of uh noblas You know president secretary whatnot and we have of course our community members several vice presidents So things want a non commissioned officer and soldier program. We have a young professionals, you know Uh organization within it. We have family support Uh, so we have a board of about 23 people that attend regularly to help us push the mission forward And then of course anyone who's a member of a usa hawaii is invited to any one of our quarterly board meetings And and can step in and fill any one of the the gaps we have for volunteerism Whether it be simply showing up at a deployment or redeployment or or doing a fun run or whatever we There's plenty of opportunity in all nonprofits and and leadership is is only one portion of it The volunteerism is really what makes up our strength and for example at this regard you had that we had 140 volunteers on the beach on the day that i got and it lasted just from eight o'clock to 12 o'clock noon And they were there from overnight the night before making sure the canoes were stored and and protected that tents were protected Slept overnight on the beach on the ground To protect that these were volunteers and then they stayed throughout the whole day And made sure that everybody was marshalled to the water safely got in the canoe safely And that everybody was following the the safety protocols and the rules of the the hawaii co hotel Which was the gracious host that we've had now for the last 10 years or more That's wonderful. That's commitment. That's fabulous So Dan we talk about how things change And certainly, you know geopolitically things are changing in the world today Um right now we're not actively engaged in iraq. We're not actively engaged in afghanistan Um, but that could change any moment Who knows what will happen in the next, uh, you know a few years or the next decade or two And the military right now There's not a lot of Wounded inaction people going back or people being killed You know in in engagements anywhere in the world right now But that could change and and if you look at the geopolitics of the pacific Um with a build-up if you will maybe that's too strong a term, but the build-up here in hawaii Um, we are going to have more troops here We are going to have more You know more facilities here and they may very well be involved in action Uh, who knows anywhere from here to indio peycom pacific india or whatnot um And so that seems to make it more I hate to even think of this prospect, but it seems to make it more important that you guys continue this work Um, and I wonder what your thoughts are about the future of the regatta the organization The event the the healing that you do In light of the real possibility that there'll be more wounded And more casualties in the years to come It's uh jay actually a great point in in the pacific region at large We are the largest theater across dod and the army. It's the largest theater army That exists uh here in hawaii where as paul mentioned all the services are located here and we have troops deployed Uh, literally from the west coast of california All the way, you know south, you know to korea and the philippines and you know other locations throughout the pacific It's not just about combat That we're when we talk about wounded because there is a lot of Training and events and activities that occur to prepare us for the ultimate Event which we hope we never have to do But we've got to train in peacetime as if we were going to be prepared to fight in wartime And so we do lose service members During our training events as paul mentioned the osprey event We lost six black hawks years ago. I don't know the north shore doing some night Some night training but Also, we have this now challenge with Suicide ideations and those things are going on Where they are affected both their individual family members as well as the service members themselves and even their children And so they're also part of our focus It's not just about combat But it's just about taking care of the individual so then when we do need them They're prepared and their mind is free and set to do what they're being trained to do and that's to fight in winter nations wars Yeah, right. So it's the incentivization. It's that notion of one army. It's that notion of coming together It's it's the notion of having an abiding Patriotism just because you're in the service doesn't mean you're patriotic We have to we have to make that happen Yeah, so they Military affairs council in the chamber of commerce. What is your connection with them? Did they were they involved at the founding in 2014 or what? Yeah, we they had they are not part of Specifically the regard itself even though we have had members of the military affairs council A community partners sponsor and support We are a member of the mac is is the white chapter of a osa And as part of the chamber itself and the in our organization as part of the chamber So it's like we support each other and so they are a great Source to community to communicate to the community the needs of the services We're going through a huge effort As relates to training land acquisition all of the services lands leases that we have All expire in 2029 And we need everyone's help and support to ensure that we retain the lands that we need To ensure that we can conduct the training that's required and the biggest Obviously is out of plough of training era on the on the big island or on the island of white We need to retain that land to be able to fire the types of weapons systems That we have in the in our entire arsenal. So the max involved the local native wine communities are involved We have many town hall sessions with the local community to give them to be part of the efforts to ensure they understand How we support them, but more importantly how they support us as well Did you know paul that Nakoa is the 100th most popular name in hawaii And that it applies to both women and men And for that matter it is often used on the mainland. So if you picked a very popular name I'm gonna I want to ask your guys to provide takeaways for our viewers If there's one thought that you would like to leave with them about this program the regatta and the organization and its relevance and mission Could you could you tell them what you feel that might be so that hopefully they will remember? You know the remember what we have discussed today paul you first Yeah, thank you, sir I think the mission that we have as a usa even with the regatta is simply Those three things that I could come back to help us to educate informant connect People you may know in the community and the way you can do that is get involved with a usa hawaii You go to a usa.org find the hawaii chapter go to a usa.org backslash hawaii Go to google, you know, nakoa regatta and you can make a donation of course But more importantly than your dollars I think it's your time and your talents right if you can bring your time your volunteers of your talent Whatever that talent might be Because we're not You know able to cover all aspects of what is needed throughout our military and our families Bring your time and your talent and your treasures whatever that treasure could be it could be an in-kind donation It could be an actual cash donation But if you bring those three things to the table, we will swell beyond belief Of this organization and and you'll be blessed beyond you could even imagine by bringing that to the table Bring your time bring the things that you're good at And and ben your thoughts that you want to leave with people What would you like to remember about this event the regatta? You know the the effort of the military to put it together The people who are involved and can I can I bring my boat down? Can I can I enter my boat in the regatta? I think the short answer is we can work around anything but we can definitely get you in the community next year So we'll make sure that you're invited be part of the event And I think just to add what paul said We are all volunteers and we can't do it without support of the volunteers But more importantly our community partners and businesses and industry who helps provide the funds So we are allowed to do something to take care of our soldiers and our family members And a lot of the it's hard to say no, can you support winded warriors? For someone to tell me no, I would have a hard time with that. However It again, it is a team sport, but they're like paul said, you know, just the event we had at red hill We provided donations to the mwr organization funds of about $10,000 that we gave as a chapter To make sure that the families who were displaced From december to april had food vouchers had their transportation needs that they needed until they were, you know, ready to go back in april You know back to red hill, but I would say Everyone has a passion If there's something that is unique to them that they would like to do to support the chapter We can create any vice president title that we want to Oh, you we've got one individual who just who does nothing but Support rotc. He's at the high school and college level. That's all he wants to do And so we just let him do it You know, we years ago Matt McCarville helped us with the wanted war can never got it. He said, hey, I'm here I just moved from new jersey. What can I do to help? I've got a passion for wanted wars I said great. You're now our vice president for wanted warrior programs So he kind of kick-started the the renew regatta of the canoe regatta for the white chapter And it is where it is today because the initial efforts of paul and penny and matt and others to make that a great event So I think your imagination is your only limitation And we we just enjoy everyone's support and we just get excited when we do events Come out to the cornhole tournament. It was a great event that we had Oh, you know over on the soldiers field over here at scope little barracks soldiers love to play cornhole So do we so again someone came up with that idea. It was a great event It was a membership opportunity To grow new members and to get the community involved with the you know with the leaders of our army And just meet and greet great family members in individual soldiers So put a soldier in front of a camera You'll hear a great story as opposed to from an old fart like me who you know retired in 2010 But I still have a passion for soldiers My kids are all serving in in military in some capacity But uh, we're excited to be just get involved as a local chapter Or be part of a local community and if you're a business owner and you want a place to help reach and support soldiers and their families We're all about helping each other to support ourselves Thank you, ben Ben luke far Paul, um, I I don't think it needs a rebuttal if you don't mind But I want to thank you both paul the quie and ben luke far for this discussion And for helping us understand the event and why and where and and what it is. Thank you so much Thank you so much for watching think tech hawaii If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on youtube and the follow button on vimeo You can also follow us on facebook instagram twitter and linked in and donate to us at think.kawaii.com Mahalo