Team Infidel
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Honolulu Star-Bulletin
October 11, 2008
By Gregg K. Kakesako
The Army is investigating the death of a Hawaii Army National Guard soldier who died Thursday night after completing a six-mile run at a North Fort Hood training range in Texas.
The soldier, whose name was not released, is assigned to the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He is believed to be a 39-year-old soldier from Saipan and a member of the 100th Battalion -- a Pacific Army Reserve unit assigned to the 29th Brigade. More than 500 soldiers belong to the 100th Battalion. About 150 reservists in the 100th Battalion are from Hawaii, and the remaining soldiers come from American Samoa, Saipan and the mainland.
More than 2,000 soldiers from the Hawaii unit are in the final phases of their training before they leave for Kuwait on Oct. 22 for a year's tour.
Of that number about 1,200 are from Hawaii.
Army officials at Fort Hood said the soldier collapsed at 7 p.m. shortly after the training run. Fellow soldiers could not find a pulse and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An ambulance took the soldier to the Coryell County Memorial Hospital in Gatesville, Texas, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The 29th Brigade is commanded by Col. Bruce E. Oliveira. The brigade's soldiers come from all islands in Hawaii and the Pacific islands of American Samoa, Guam and Saipan. For this second deployment it also has been augmented with soldiers from mainland National Guard and Army Reserve units.
In July 2004, more than 2,100 soldiers from the 29th Brigade were ordered to active duty for the first time since the Vietnam war and were sent to Iraq in February 2005 where they replaced members of the 81st Brigade Combat Team of the Washington State Army National Guard.
The Hawaii soldiers were deployed for a total of 18 months in Kuwait and Iraq.
This time, the Hawaii guardsmen will perform security duties in Kuwait and will provide convoy escorts into Iraq in armored Humvees, traveling as far north as Mosul.
During the first Iraq deployment only one soldier from Hawaii -- Sgt. Deyson Cariaga -- was killed in combat. However, 17 other soldiers assigned to the brigade from other states and American Samoa lost their lives.
October 11, 2008
By Gregg K. Kakesako
The Army is investigating the death of a Hawaii Army National Guard soldier who died Thursday night after completing a six-mile run at a North Fort Hood training range in Texas.
The soldier, whose name was not released, is assigned to the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He is believed to be a 39-year-old soldier from Saipan and a member of the 100th Battalion -- a Pacific Army Reserve unit assigned to the 29th Brigade. More than 500 soldiers belong to the 100th Battalion. About 150 reservists in the 100th Battalion are from Hawaii, and the remaining soldiers come from American Samoa, Saipan and the mainland.
More than 2,000 soldiers from the Hawaii unit are in the final phases of their training before they leave for Kuwait on Oct. 22 for a year's tour.
Of that number about 1,200 are from Hawaii.
Army officials at Fort Hood said the soldier collapsed at 7 p.m. shortly after the training run. Fellow soldiers could not find a pulse and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An ambulance took the soldier to the Coryell County Memorial Hospital in Gatesville, Texas, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The 29th Brigade is commanded by Col. Bruce E. Oliveira. The brigade's soldiers come from all islands in Hawaii and the Pacific islands of American Samoa, Guam and Saipan. For this second deployment it also has been augmented with soldiers from mainland National Guard and Army Reserve units.
In July 2004, more than 2,100 soldiers from the 29th Brigade were ordered to active duty for the first time since the Vietnam war and were sent to Iraq in February 2005 where they replaced members of the 81st Brigade Combat Team of the Washington State Army National Guard.
The Hawaii soldiers were deployed for a total of 18 months in Kuwait and Iraq.
This time, the Hawaii guardsmen will perform security duties in Kuwait and will provide convoy escorts into Iraq in armored Humvees, traveling as far north as Mosul.
During the first Iraq deployment only one soldier from Hawaii -- Sgt. Deyson Cariaga -- was killed in combat. However, 17 other soldiers assigned to the brigade from other states and American Samoa lost their lives.