Page 15 - MidWeek - April 26, 2023

APRIL 26, 2023 MIDWEEK 15
Okamura Answers Call To Serve At Joint Task Force-Red Hill
FROM PAGE 14
JTF-Red Hill — “We have brilliant engineers who have already figured out how we are going to safely transfer the fuel,” he says, beaming with pride — he also under- stands the difficulty of regain- ing the trust of locals when considering a historical re- cord that demonstrates “years of unfulfilled obligations by the military in mutual envi- ronmental stewardship.”
mitted to assigned tasks. He’s also extremely service-ori- ented, productive and suc- cessful at what he does. In essence, he shines as a man in uniform and relishes his role in the military.
they were taking my fa- ther away. As a result of my father not being there, I saw all the hardships my mother (Viola) had to endure caring for my sister.”
tion Group and director for the Office of FBI-Military Affairs Counter-Terrorism at U.S. Pacific Command. Aside from his tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, the former military police officer has also been deployed in support of oper- ations such as Enduring Free- dom, Operation Noble Eagle and the Hurricane Floyd Di- saster Relief Mission.
“Growing up, I have mem- ories of Kaho‘olawe, where the island was used for tar- geting practice and was bombarded repeatedly, which ruined the environment. To this day, Kaho‘olawe is still uninhabitable,” he says.
Still, he hasn’t always felt love for the armed forces. In fact, as the son of a career U.S. Air Force airman, he actually had contempt for the service early on.
Those feelings were only exacerbated while enrolled at Kamehameha Schools in the ’80s, when Okamura dis- covered there was mandato- ry participation in its Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. Grudgingly, he went along with it, but by the time of graduation, he wanted no part of continued military involvement.
After two decades of com- plete dedication to the U.S. Army, Okamura was finally prepared to retire in 2015. Even when he was offered the rank of general, he ini- tially declined the promotion because he felt it was time to support his wife, Tracy, and her career as an FBI agent.
“In Hawai‘i, people have long memories. They don’t want Red Hill to be another Kaho‘olawe, where this just extends for years ... where we don’t care for the envi- ronment, don’t take care of the water.”
The genesis of his disdain began soon after Okamura’s older sister contracted mea- sles encephalitis and suffered brain damage. To assist, the U.S. Air Force promised his father, Neil, that it would no longer move his fami- ly from place to place but permanently settle them in Hawai‘i, where all the neces- sary support services would be available for his disabled daughter. Yet as part of this arrangement, the elder
Instead, he chose to pur- sue business management at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Eventually, he interrupted his studies to serve a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sin- gapore, Malaysia and Indo- nesia — a period in which
Okamura, at left, then-commander of Joint Task Force-Guantanamo, presents Lt. Justin Feeney with a plaque signifying his promotion to the rank of captain. At right is Maj. Michael Monaghan, the commanding officer of Marine Security Forces — the unit responsible for protecting Naval Station Guantanamo Bay from external threats. PHOTO COURTESY LANCE OKAMURA
But after talking things over with her (“She basi- cally told me, ‘You’re an idiot. Take the general offi- cer promotion,” he recalls with a laugh), Okamura reconsidered and accepted the advancement offer. His first task: to lead Joint Task Force-Guantanamo as its commander.
“Growing up, I would often ask ‘Why is my dad gone?’ There was this level of animosity
I had toward the military because they were taking my father away.”
That’s why it’s important for Okamura to remain in constant dialogue with the public, reassuring all who will listen that headway is being made regarding the fa- cility’s eventual closure and the end result will be pono, the Hawaiian word for “righ- teous, moral and correct,” for the people.
with. Those two years of serving overseas were like humanitarian service, and I was like, ‘Wow! Now this is something I truly enjoy.’ It brought meaning to my life.”
laid plans often go awry.
“I figured (the military) was just a means to an end,” confesses Okamura, who received his commission in 1995. “Now some 28 years
“Even though the process is slow and it may not be happening as fast as many would desire, we’re still making progress to ensure that Red Hill will in fact be closed, shut down and, more importantly, that the environ-
Okamura would be obligated to serve yearlong hardship tours elsewhere in the world, and this order would have to be fulfilled every three years.
he began to mature, find his purpose and focus on things that really mattered.
He chose the U.S. Army — a decision based on his favor- able impression of “a poster of a paratrooper jumping out of an airplane ... looking re- ally tough and strong” and believing “that’s for me ... that’s what I need to do.”
Since then, he’s continued to display selflessness and excel wherever he has been asked to serve. His past stra- tegic-level staff assignments include appointments as National Intelligence Sup- port Team commander and joint operations officer for the chairman’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Director of Intelli- gence, chief of counter-ter- rorism programs for Special Operations Command Pa- cific, deputy director for the Joint Interagency Coordina-
Cment will be clean and safe for future generations,” he promises.
Needless to say, the deal left a bitter taste in his young son’s mouth.
“That’s when you really learn the values of sacrifice and service. You’re on your own, for all intents and pur- poses, and there’s no person telling you what to do, what to say,” he explains. “At the same time, you have a goal of providing service to the people that you’re living
Yet despite entering ba- sic training and airborne school, and later returning to BYU-Provo to, in part, join its ROTC program, his inten- tion was to keep his total time in the military brief. Okamura gave it “four to six years in the U.S. Army” — tops.
He’s also honest about how he was pegged for this partic- ular assignment:
learly, Okamura is the right man for the job. He is intelligent,
“Growing up, I would often ask, ‘Why is my dad gone?’” recalls Okamura. “There was this level of animosity I had toward the military because
“One of the reasons why I was selected to be the com- manding general down in Joint Task Force-Guantana-
15highly disciplined and com-
But as he found out, best-
SEE PAGE 16
Following his return from a church mission and a sub- sequent heart-to-heart with his father about his future, Okamura made up his mind: Serving in the military would suit him just fine.
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and serve his country were the terrorist attacks on 9/11. As he explains, “It made me realize that there’s something more important than just me.”
later, I’m still here.”
hat convinced Okamura to re- main in uniform
He describes his time at Gitmo, the well-known de- tention camp located in Cuba, as “challenging, but one that I enjoyed immensely.” Re- sponsible for the safety and general welfare of detainees awaiting trial or being pre- pared for transfer to another country, Okamura is proud of his track record of provid- ing “humane and legal care to those who were under our care and custody.”
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