 I'm Marcia Joyner and we are navigating the journey. Today is 9-11. Now for those of us that are old enough to remember, that was a pivotal moment in American history. And what I've learned that there are young people in Afghanistan that don't even know that this happened. So we're going to take a moment to acknowledge, to remember and just to take a look at 9-11. And then we're going to talk to my dear friend, Colonel Ron Khan from the Office of Veteran Services and we'll talk more about what's going on with today's veterans. These are the towers before the airplanes flew into them on 9-11. This is that moment when the planes actually flew in to the towers. It was four o'clock a.m., Hawaii time, and just watching that was unbelievable that this kind of thing could happen. And it just breaks my heart even now to look at it. So many people were killed, so many things happened, so many things that these pictures here are the lights that the New York uses where the towers were. Let me tell you just one of the subtleties of 9-11. They were out to break our democracy. So in New York on that day, Tuesday, it was that they had planned an election. So when they shut the towers, when they ended the election, the towers or those towers were in the heart of the financial district. So that was planned to disrupt the finances of America because New York is the heart of the financial district for the United States. And then they went to Pentagon. And so if you look at the whole picture, the planning, the election, the finances, and the Pentagon, those are the heart of our democracy. And they really went after our democracy on that day. Thankfully, everybody, in spite of all the things, all the people that died, all the people that are still dying because of it, we as a standing tall. Now, let's go to our guest, Colonel Ron Colonel, good morning. Marshal, thanks for allowing me to go here today. And thank you so much for remembering Patriots Day, you know, and never forgetting loss of life and the amount of emotional scars that live with us today that we may never forget the things that we are doing today, especially those who serve today in uniform and stand for freedom. So thank you so much, Marshal, for allowing me to come on your show today. Well, you know, it is a special day for those of us. Since the Civil War, I have had somebody in the military in every generation, including my grandson who was new to the Air Force. And so there was no way to allow this day and not acknowledge it. So thank you for all you do. So tell us about what the Office of Veterans Services is. Now, that's the State Office. So tell us what you do as the State Office. Thank you, Marshal. And the State Office of Veterans Services serves in a lot of different activities, but mainly it's provide benefits and entitlements on-chain for our veterans who are transitioning out of the military, veterans who serve in war campaigns, and provide them support for disability claims and help them navigate to the VA Veterans Affairs process. We also help manage the eight state veterans cemeteries throughout the state and in partnership with the Veterans Affairs Cemetery Association and Administration. And then we also take care of this day-to-day activity dealing with, we may have worked on legislative issues, dealing with veterans, for example, World War II Filipino veterans working with many of the veterans groups that are out there to support them and the requirements for directorable medal award, the Chinese World War II veterans, and other related groups, and just trying to find ways to help veterans. As you know, Marshal, you have not worked very closely on many projects. There's not enough that we can do to support our veterans. But in a nutshell, that's what we do. We've got offices on Kauai, on Maui, Iroh, and Kona. Would you outreach to Lanai and Molokai? We also have several offices here in Oahu over at Diamond Head and right at Trippler Army Medical Center. Wow, that's a big, how many locally, how many veterans do you have in the state of Hawaii? You know, right now, you know, the census is coming up in about a year, right, Marshal's about 2020. Based on the latest census notes that we have reflected from the VA state cemeteries, it's showing between 117,000 and 121,000. Honolulu still will be, that checked us about two or three years ago, came out with approximately one out of every 10. It's about 1.3, 1.4 million residents in Hawaii, but one out of every 10 residents is a veteran. So it's a pretty high ratio out here, and it does not include a lot of the active duty military members. As you will know, there's a huge footprint out here in Hawaii, approximately 50 to 60,000 active duty members, notwithstanding about 1,000 National Guard members and reservists as well. Eventually all those folks are going to turn into veterans as well, or have already earned veteran status because of the campaign, combat campaigns, and other related things that they have done. So roughly that's about, that's about the demographic for veterans in Hawaii. Well, now this is a strange thing. The Coast Guard is not part of the Department of Defense. What about them? Well, we serve Coast Guard members as well. You know, we consider them part of the, all of the different components. They do come out of the Department of Transportation, but as you all know, because of your, your husband's background as a Submariner in the United States Navy, the Coast Guard plays an integral part in the island's order, rescue and relief operations, and humanitarian drug interdiction, and a lot of other related things. So we do have Coast Guard members that we support, provide honors details, they're immersed in almost any of the activity and things that we do out here. They're included in that number that you gave us. That's correct. Now remember now, veterans, normally are those that are coming out of the service and become a veteran status. So notwithstanding, close to 50,000 plus would also include members of the United States Coast Guard. You know, when they had the, your president had the government shut down, they were separate and were not paid like the other people. And that's why I was asking about the difference in the Coast Guard and the regular Department of Defense. Right. I know they come under State Department of Transportation, but again, they serve a very vital role in many different of our missions out here. And frankly speaking, we could not do the things we do out here without the United States Coast Guard, you know, and their rescue missions and the things that they do out there. But yeah, you have a funding, a different funding stream. We support them nonetheless at any of our activities here at the State Office of Veterans Services. So now what is the difference between the State Office of Veterans Services and the federal VA? What's the difference? Or is it a difference? That's a very great question, you know. So in the state, I'm sure we've got state benefits and things. Sometimes we offer up things for 100% VA rated stable bets and relief for some car registration, a little bit of relief on state property taxes. And we also give them some relief also for actual adaptive housing after they've gone through the federal VA exhaustion of all the requirements. And so from the state perspective, we would help advocate for the veterans submitting their disability claims through the VA. In many cases, VA claims are adjudicated. And sometimes they're required to go to appeal when they're not out of proof initially. So our office would advocate for them and provide them support, that's to meet an appeal judge. In many cases, the VA, if they're helping you submit the requirements, you know, they will do their very best to put the requirement in for you. But when it comes to appeals, that's where they're going to have to stop. And that's where you have to go and have to get a veterans advocate. There are many out there, they're called veteran service organizations. Most times they are accredited. The state office of veteran services, all of our costs for are accredited. That means three months of the claim and three months of shadowing before they even take the claim and have to be fully accredited by the VA to be able to do that. So we're a full blown advocate. And again, we see the veteran when they leave the service washer and they go through the disability claim process. We see them as they progress up to the 100% level in some cases, total and permanent. And we also are there for them at the end of life when we help them with their mortuary and next of kin with burial requirements. So that is kind of a big difference in how we work. Now, we like to think when we work with our VA counterparts, we are complimentary. Better face what we do, better fully develop pain that we put together that will help our VA counterparts to make the proper communication support on veterans. And so we're more of a couple of our partners. Again, we see ourselves as more complimentary and making sure that we can help veterans that give them the service and navigate through the process to be successful in their needs and requirements. Now, so your department, you all are state employees, is that it? Or Department of Defense, which? Yeah, so we work under the State Department of Defense, Major General Joe Logan, the Adjutant General is our, if you will, Deputy and Deputy of the General in the Department of Defense. You've got Emergency Management Agency, you've got Army Guard, Air Guard, Homeland Security, Hawaii Youth Challenge Academy and the last one is the State Office of Veteran Services. Wow, that's quite a bit. And most of us don't know, we just know VA, we don't know all of these things, but this is wonderful that the state does these things. And this is, so do we go to you first? Well, you know, you've been a friend for so long, but just a veteran who doesn't know, do they stop, they go to you first and then to the feds or does it matter where they start? Yeah, you don't watch, that's a great question. They are more than welcome to give us a call first and we would help them for, you know, oftentimes, number one issue is to get your eligibility paperwork done, as you well know, the DD Form 214, the status of discharge is the most important and that helps you to get qualified, get entered into the VA system and qualify you for other related things. And our Office here is tying some of the digitized DD Form 214s and some hard-topped archival data. If you're a home of record, home of residence that you designated before you separate and recharge here in Hawaii, we should probably have a copy of that, you know, have your own records. So that would be the first place to come to at our offices out here and then we would go ahead and try to help you with the next step, which would be to have a disability claim that you'd like to file, the evidence space that you have on that, the military orders and your military medical records, and we'll build a case for you, you know, and work that through and help you throughout that process. If it does not get approved the first time out, we require to go to appeals. We will help you prepare the appeals passage and face the federal judge and move that forward for you. And so we just do a lot of different things out here. We get a lot of queries for folks that this need help with sometimes with discharge through age, sometimes we have individuals that require issues, things dealing with educational issues that we try to help them navigate. We kind of espouse to the no wrong door. If we can't help you, we're going to find that someone who can lead you to the right agency so you can get the help that you require. We don't espouse to, no, we can't help you. Sorry, that's not going to happen within any of our offices out here. We are, we're very, very accustomed to what the veterans' needs are. And many of my officers out here have been in the business for many, many years. And most, and a lot of them, I hope that helps. Well, I have another question that I was talking to a friend and he was in a Vietnam war, but he was in the guard and in his state. But they never saw active, I mean, they did not, they weren't active duty, I guess, but they were never sent to NAM. And he feels that he's not entitled to any compensation or support from the VA. Is he? Because he was in the National Guard in his own state, but he lives here now. He's been with us for 30 years. We left office, Marsha, and signed an executive order basically saying, those who have served with honorable service, being component, whether it be guard and reserve, active duty, and serve again with an honorable status throughout their tenorship, is considered a veteran. Now, what is a veteran to see as far as mental compensation and other related things dependent on the veteran's career experiences and combat activity and so forth? As you all know from your husband, there's no two veterans alike. And so now it becomes what are they really entitled to for benefits as we go through and navigate through the system. So an individual of the guard may have some, might show some service connection that will read them into support to the VA and or it could have a line of duty that happened on a real weekend. Say, for example, they had to come up the tripper to get support and healthcare. And the commander at that time developed a line of duty and they may be eligible now just because it was showing service connection. That has happened before, even though they never deployed, even though they never went through the combat duty, but they might have gotten hurt on a real on a real weekend. So there are many different types of points. Again, we would help you and help an individual that would come in there to try to help navigate that, that situation and try our very best to show them, you know, how, how they can submit things properly. And then we would stand behind the things that we would submit. So many times my senior officers and think that I've been to thousands of different case works and things. And we really have a really good understanding of what it takes to submit documentation. Again, we're currently aligned. We work right out here at Tripper, right here in the benefit side. And we continually do work with the VA again in this partnership. So give us a shot. Everyone's a little bit different. They're really not the ones that I could call. But maybe Obama could say, as far as veteran is concerned, those who have served honorably in any service component need to consider it better. Now, would you tell us how we can connect with you? That is your telephone, the telephone number, the website or how? Absolutely. Here is 808-433-0420. That's 808-433-0420. Our central is OVS at Hawaii.gov. That's OVS at Hawaii.gov. And so you can link up 808, the time with us there. If you're putting DOD.Hawaii.gov, it'll link you into the State Department of Defense website. And there you'll see veteran services. You can just tap to that. It'll lead you to the protocol to connect with us. And again, now we've got Neighbor Island and you call the special line. We'll help you connect with the Neighbor Island folks as well. If you're on the news item on Neighbor Island, again, we're happy to connect with you and link with you. So now you do, we did lots of things together, including the 60th anniversary of the Vietnam War. Was it 60? Yeah, that was a couple years ago, Marcia. You were very instrumental. We had that wonderful ceremony here at the auditorium up in the Department of Medical Center. You had made that special menu of, I believe it was, Sam. Sam Hershey's chocolate and Coca-Cola. Yes, that was a bite. Because of the veterans, these were all Korean war veterans. And that's what office Sam issued was Sam or Hershey's. And, of course, you've got to be my age to know this, but Hershey created a special kind of bar that could fit in their pockets and didn't melt. And so that was the reason. So for that event, Coca-Cola gave us the original little, pretty little bottle. And the young man that gave us all the Hershey chocolate had no idea of any of this, because he was much too young to have ever, he didn't know what war was. And then we had this fan, of course. And the Korean War were very touched. We brought back a lot of fondant memories for them. And I know we did that to get their anniversary services for commemoration honoring our three war vets on Kauai, Maui, also on Hawaii Island as well. And, you know, we just continue to do things now. They're coming up on the stem here next year. So definitely you want to kind of look forward on that and see what the next things that the state, you know, nationally, we may do for these distinguished veterans. Like we did for the fiftieth commemoration of the Vietnam War about two years ago. Yeah. It was a state on a week long event. We had a concert with Tony Orlando. We had a Waikiki parade and a religious joint ceremony up at Huntsville with the county and the state, when there were a few times they've combined resources. But that might have been the first thank you for those Vietnam veterans that said, for it, you know, pretty much and stuff. I want you to know that I was in the parade and, of course, and I've had two of these or had one and I have currently both of which served in Vietnam. So I carry two flags in the parade. Of course, they're to honor both of their services. But of course, no one, of course I did. They didn't come as a surprise to anybody. You know, I looked at the World One Continuum, which is concluded out here with a big, certainly almost about a year ago at the Natatorium. And that goes back to the legacy of the native sons and daughters from Hawaii that served in the Great War. With the hundred years that said Continuum that we honored and many of their legacy members or big grandchildren and so forth. They carried that forward that people from Hawaii actually participated and had a major role in a lot of the war campaign. So thank you personally for what you're doing and you need to do to emphasize to help veterans across the state, especially the loved ones. You can never forget the sacrifices made by the families, spouses, children, you know, community members that are rallying behind those who serve in uniform. And I'm very thankful for you because of your heralded and your pivotal things that, you know, you are a tremendous mechanism for getting things done, and especially supporting our veteran community. And I want to thank you personally for that. Well, thank you. And let me tell you this one last thing before we go. The morgue here on Oahu ran an ad that there was a veteran who was unclaimed and I couldn't stand it. So I said, I will claim it. And my husband said, you'll do what I will claim him. He cannot go. I could not have a veteran go unclaimed. So that was a weekend. I called Ron on repeatedly all night until he finally called me back. And I said, and you know this, Ron, I said, we have to go get him. I cannot handle anybody going unclaimed. So you and your staff did a wonderful job, absolutely marvelous job of giving him the proper burial. It was wonderful. And he wasn't alone. The amount of people that showed up that knew him that cared was tremendous. So thank you for letting him do the genesis for that. We worked very closely with the VA and with our cemetery team members, unspoken and involved. There's just a lot of folks involved with that. You know, those are the kind of things that really warm our hearts most, you know. And as you pointed out, Marcia, that veteran had many family members and brothers and sisters. And you brought them all together. And I appreciate you because you were the fire starter that made that happen. And we were very proud and it served incapacity to support that veteran and his service to our nation. There was no way, no way that I could imagine a veteran being unclaimed. That just, I just wrote my heart. So of course I claimed it. Of course I did. It was just that important. Thank you too for all you do and for always being there for me and for all the veterans, even though the pendants aren't careful by the VA, but that's okay. Thank you for all you do. We've got a great team, the OVS. Again, you know, Montreux, we can't do enough for all we're striving, the busy we are, the more things we get done. And thank you enough again for what you do to support us and for your constant recognition of veterans and their family members. Thank you so much. Well, now are you going to march with the city today this evening? Yeah, they've already started at 12.15 today. Oh, it is already started. Yeah, with the first responders and police and EMS, I believe, also fire. And I want to say the military is also out there today. So 12.15 today they've already started their march. Well, again, thank you for your service. Thank you the VA for all you do for all the veterans. And again, for taking the time to spend with us today. Thank you so much as well, Marsha. Aloha, and we will see you next time.