A famous name in the
Hawaii Army National Guard has become the state’s new adjutant general in charge of about 5,600 citizen soldiers and airmen and 500 other personnel.
The transfer-of-authority ceremony and promotion was held Friday for Maj. Gen. Kenneth S. Hara, who takes over the state Department of Defense.
Hara, 53, was promoted from one-star brigadier general to two-star major general and took over from Maj. Gen. Arthur Joe Logan, who will retire from the Hawaii Army National Guard next month, according to state
officials.
Logan served in the leadership position for five years. His younger brother, Col. Stephen Logan, is deputy adjutant general.
More than 100 people
attended the ceremony at Washington Place, including Gov. David Ige.
Five other immediate family members of Hara have served in the Hawaii Army National Guard. His father, Henry, retired as a lieutenant colonel with 37 years of service. An Army release said Henry Hara deployed to
Vietnam in 1968 with the 29th Infantry Brigade.
Three of Kenneth Hara’s older brothers — Gary,
Dennis and Larry — also served. Maj. Gen. Gary Hara retired in 2016 as a deputy commanding general at U.S. Army Pacific with 45 years of service.
The new adjutant general’s son, Justin, is a cadet in the University of Hawaii ROTC program.
In 1987 Kenneth Hara received his commission as a second lieutenant through the Hawaii Military Academy, Officer Candidate School, Hawaii Army National Guard.
He served most recently as commander of the Hawaii Army National Guard. Hara was commander of the 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry during a deployment to Iraq in 2005.
