On this nostalgic Tuesday, I will write about my experience in the U.S. military.  But first,  the government shutdown will end tomorrow, or Thursday  at the latest.  Then, air travel can get almost back to normal, but only for a while, as this agreement is only good until 30January2026 when the U.S. Congress will again go through these same motions, and maybe set another record, 42 days today, to hopefully end tomorrow, but maybe not until Thursday. Who won?   Well, Democrats won the off-year election, so they can pat themselves on the back for this accomplishment.  However,  polls show that voters blamed Democrats for the shutdown . But Republicans deleted extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act credits, so they can say the Democrats caved, as five senators did. But this agreement promises a vote on this measure next month in the Senate.  Which will, of course, be voted down again, for just before the 60-40 vote to end the shutdown, the S...

I am what I am today in part due to the heroes of Go For Broke, a term Nisei soldiers used during World War II, describing their fighting attitude.  Here was a group dedicated to proving themselves as citizens of their country after their family and friends got tossed into concentration camps.  Well, they were called internment camps.  If not for this "opportunity"-- 33,000 Japanese Americans served and 800 died --life in Hawaii could well still be infused with a plantation mentality.   The 100th/442nd Infantry Regiment became the  most decorated unit  in U.S. military history.  As much as I revered them, I got to admit that my military service was less than exemplary.  After I graduated from college, I became vulnerable to the draft.  So I joined the Army Reserves, and after infantry training for six months, returned to Naalehu on the Big Island of Hawaii and was placed in the same 442 unit that was so famous.  This town was suffic...

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