Haley R.K. Okamura, 1LT, MS, Operations Officer
I can’t believe it’s been almost 11 years since I was a brand new MS1 at the University of Hawaii Army ROTC program and as a winner of the Nainoa Hoe Scholarship of Honor and receive a gracious donation from the Brian LaViolette foundation. I commissioned as an Air Defense Artillery Officer in 2015 and spent three years in Fort Sill deploying to Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom Sentinel. In 2019 I branch transferred to Medical Service Corps and was selected to serve as a 67J Army Aeromedical Evacuation Officer where I became qualified to fly the UH-60M at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
I recently transferred to Fort Irwin California to the busiest active duty MEDEVAC in the Army CONUS as part of the C CO 2916th Aviation Battalion, Desert Dustoff! I currently serve as the Operations Officer for the C CO and am beginning my transition from the UH60M to the UH60L. I am truly grateful to have been selected to receive such an amazing gift and extend my deepest thanks and aloha to the Hoe family and the Brian LaViolette foundation.
Nainoa’s dad, Allen Hoe with Haley during the 2010 Scholarship presentation.
Nainoa Hoe graduated from Kamehameha Schools in Kailua, Oahu, in 1995 and was an Army ROTC graduate from the University of Hawaii. He was a person who understood what it meant to serve his country.
In 1999, as a member of the 100th Battalion, Nainoa was selected as the Pacific Area's Army Reserve Soldier of the Year. Nainoa enjoyed karaoke and body surfing. Nainoa and his wife, Emily, were married in June 2004.
He was killed on January 22, 2005.
