Suicides are top concern of Army

The headline "Brass frets as suicides spike in July," lacks the reflection, concern and gravity of this subject and instead trivializes an epidemic of needless deaths (Star-Advertiser, Sept. 26).

The leadership in Hawaii is committed to prevent and end what is now attributing to more deaths than combat — suicides.

Your headline misses the mark and misstates the intent of the care and concern Army leaders have for their soldiers.

The intent of bringing this to the media was to solicit the community’s concern for our soldiers. We are asking our ohana, local friends and family for help, similar to when our warriors return home from combat.

Our motto is "One Team" and we need our local community to be part of that team if we are to combat suicides in the Army.

Perhaps a better headline could be, "Top concern for Army leadership — suicides. Seeking community watchful eye."

Lt. Gen. Francis J. Wiercinski
Fort Shafter

U.S. wars making us less secure

America, when will we ever learn?

The so-called war in the Middle East — Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Afghanis-tan — why are our armed forces still there? Doesn’t President Barack Obama realize that Americans are not wanted there and that those countries don’t want America’s intervention or help?

If that is their intention or feelings, just bring American troops back home and let the foreigners kill each other themselves.

It started with the war stemming from the terrorist attack on 9/11. It took 10 years to locate and kill Osama bin Laden, and how many countless American troops were deployed to do the task?

Having to activate the National Guard and having most of the military personnel do two or more tours of duty, and still sending replacements to Afghanistan after all these years, what would be America’s chances should it go to war with North Korea, China, Russia or any nation?

Philip T. Ho
Kaimuki

Getting license was big problem

My mother-in-law, who just turned 78, has had her driver’s license for 57 years. The name on her driver’s license has been the same for all those years.

This year when she went to renew her license, but she couldn’t — her birth certificate showed a middle name that was not on her current license or on any of the documentation she had with her that day, including her Social Security card.

She was advised to legally change her name by dropping that middle name. What would have cost her $10 to renew her license ended up costing her $290.

The moral of the story: Be prepared. My mother-in-law’s license renewal went up 2,800 percent, not to mention the time off from work to go to all the different agencies to make the changes.

Cheryl Fontes
Pearl City

Kawamoto being very disruptive

Living in Japan for three years leads me to believe that what Genshiro Kawamoto has done in Kahala would never be accepted in Japan.

I believe that in Japan, and despite his wealth, he would be ostracized by Japanese society for being so divisive. So it is really hard to fathom why he’s exhibiting such disruptive behavior here in our country.

Leo Hura
Waialae Nui

Manti Teo shows he has character

After watching Manti Teo play a football game on national television Sept. 15 and winning with a tremendous effort, he made the people of Hawaii really proud.

It takes a great individual to play a game after learning of both his grandmother’s and girlfriend’s passing. We all know he played the game with a heavy heart. That shows he is a man of great character.

To the family of Manti, you should be proud of him.

Ed Fukuyama
Honolulu