Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 11, 1 November 2012 — Bettering the conditions of our Hawaiian veterans [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Bettering the conditions of our Hawaiian veterans

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By Ernest Kimoto

As Amenea honors its veterans wiih a national holiday Nov. 1 7, this article is dedicated to the memory of William Kilauano, who passed away a year ago. Bill was a Hawaiian warrior, he was a patriot, he was called "Doc" by the Marines whose lives he saved in combat in Vietnam. Later he was a healer ofveterans damaged by war, and to everyone he was a caring and valued friend. This eolumn describes the experience ofafriend of mine who suffered from post-trau-matic stress disorder, mueh like those who were helped by Bill. On a Memorial Day, 15 years after the Vietnam War ended, I ran into a friend at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punehhowl. He asked me if I would pray with him. On the steps of the memoiial, this was his prayer as best as I ean recall: "Dear God, I don't know what to do. My wife is leaving me after all these years. My children need my help but don't want to be around me because they are afraid of me. Since I eame back from Vietnam nothing good has happened to me. I have a hard time keeping a job because I drink too mueh and now, I don't have a driver's license. I'm losing touch with myself and when I look in the mirror, I don't know the person looking back at me. The smell of diesel and helieopter exhaust makes me think about being in Vietnam and going on another mission. I have the feeling again that someone is watching me and will shoot me or frag me with a

grenade. I amreally tired, but I have a hard time staying asleep. I want to stop the dreams I have about the VC we killed. Help me, God, so that my 'ohana will love me again. I need to have something to live for and I

don't want to die alone." Thiswasabout 25 years ago when I had just retired from the Marine Corps. This friend had two combat

tours in Vietnam as an infantryman and was thinking of ending it all. It was commonly believed by Vietnam vets in the 1970s and 1980s that the VA would not do mueh to help with their physical and mental injuries from the Vietnam War. As a matter fact, it was not until 1980, seven years after the end of the Vietnam confhct, that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ofMental Disorders, Third Edition published by the American Psychiatric Association, hrst listed criteria for the diagnosis of the disorder called combat post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. Also in the 1970s, some physical ailments and conditions would not have been linked to the 20 million gallons of herbicides, including Agent Orange, sprayed by Ameriean forces in Vietnam to control vegetation. Today, there are now 11 physical conditions, including Type 2 diabetes, recognized by the Veterans Health Administration as linked to Agent Orange. While many Vietnam vets, including myself, got to use their VA education benehts, our experiences in seeking help from the VA for physical, medical and mental problems were very negative and many of my friends gave up, even to this day, seeking treatment from the VA. On a positive note, there are efforts in Hawai'i to create a Veterans Treatment Court in the jurisdiction of the First Circuit Court, whieh covers O'ahu. For cer-

tain types of crimes committed by veterans, the idea is to "divert" vets with PTSD, brain injuries and certain service-related conditions from the criminal justice system into a state or VA treatment system.

In Hawai'i, these efforts are enhanced with the Veterans Justice Outreach Initiative of the Veterans Heahh Administration. Its goal is "to avoid the unnecessary criminalization of mental illness and extended incarceration among Veterans by ensuring that eligible justice-involved Veterans have timely access to VHA mental heahh and substance use services when clinically indicated, and other VA services and benehts as appropriate." The VA is also recognizing the transgenerational effects of combat on the families and friends of veterans. Unfortunately, even whh the overwhelmingly positive experiences in more than 20 other states in the country, the Hawai'i Legislature has yet to pass necessary legislation to move forward in the Veterans Treatment Court project in Hawai'i. OHA had commissioned a study and published a report titled The Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice

System. The full report of the study ean be viewed at the OHA website: oha.org/page/native-hawaiians-criminal-justice-system. Linked to the study was a summit of the Native Hawaiian Justice Task

Force created by legislation hosted by OHA on June 7 and 8, 2012, in Honolulu. I am hoping that our Legislature, our judiciary and our citizens support the recommendations that eome out of the task force to better the conditions for Hawaiian vets. Over the years since the 1970s and 1980s, the VA has changed for the better and has improved access to its services. I am encouraging veterans to take advantage of the

VA benehts that you may be entitled to - if not for yourself, then for your 'ohana. For our incarcerated veterans, I recommend that you obtain a copy of A Guidebook for Incarcerated Veterans -Hawai 'i, prepared by the VA here in Hawai'i, whieh ean be downloaded at: va.gov/homeless/ docs/reentry/09_hi.pdf. If you are not able to download a copy, eontact me, Ernest Kimoto, Ofhce of Hawaiian Affairs, 12th Floor, 711 Kapi'olani Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96813. U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka said at a 2012 held hearing of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee in Honolulu: "Caring for those who have sacrihced so mueh to defend our country is a continuing cost of war, and our nation's sacred eommitment. A commitment that we must see fulhlled." Let's help our Hawaiian vets get back in touch with the aloha and 'āina of Hawai'i. ■

Emie Kimoto is corporate counsel of OHA. He retiredfrom the Manne Corps after combat tours in Vietnam and ThaUand. He heeame an attorney whi.le in the Marines and served as a judge advocate at many bases in the U.S. and Japan. After retirement, he participated in the Nahonal Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study with the Veterans Health Administration in Honolulu and wasfor brieftime a consultant at the Honolulu office of the Naūonal Centerfor PTSD ofthe U.S. Department ofVeterans Affairs.

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Kilauano

Veterans Day, Nov. 1 1 is the anniversary of the signing of the armistice, whieh ended World War I in 1 91 8. The federal holiday honors veterans. - Photo: Elaine Fergerstrom