UH ROTC chief retires, leaves program at No. 1
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Four years ago, the University of Hawai'i Army ROTC program, ranked 190th out of 270 in the nation, was on the verge of collapse.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
"Disarray" is how one university official puts it.
Lt. Col. Bob Takao leaves UH ROTC in better shape than when he arrived: Today it's No. 1 nationwide for officer production. He takes over the Punahou JROTC program this month.
Today, it's first nationwide for officer production.
Lt. Col. Bob Takao, a driving force behind that turnaround, is leaving UH this month upon his retirement from the Army. He'll leave a lot of well-wishers when he goes.
"I hate to see the guy go because he is the glue that kept the program going," said retired Col. Ed Gayagas, past president of the UH ROTC Alumni Association.
"He is such a dynamic person who not only provides mentoring to the cadets," Gayagas said, "but also was good at getting us from the (military) community — searching us out — and keeping us together."
Takao, 46, is retiring after 25 years in the Army. He became head of UH's Reserve Officer Training Corps after serving three years as ground operations chief for Pacific Command at Camp Smith.
At the end of the month, he'll take over the Punahou Junior ROTC program.
"I'm looking forward to that transition," Takao said. "It will be a different type of job — Junior ROTC's mission is to make better citizens out of high-school students. Here (at UH), we are training and preparing young men and women to become the Army's newest leadership."
In four years at UH, Takao and his staff increased the number of commissioned second lieutenants from eight per year to 34.
The program's mission requirement is to produce 15 second lieutenants a year who enter active-duty, the National Guard or Reserve.
Approximately 154 cadets are in the Army ROTC program, which offers scholarships covering the cost of tuition and books and monthly stipends.
UH has had an Army ROTC program since 1921. Its top-ranked Air Force unit celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
In January, enrollment officer Maj. Trey Johnson was given a commendation from Army ROTC cadet command for outstanding performance in recruiting.
Advertiser library photo • Jan. 21, 2002
Based on UH's success, he was asked to design and develop the Army recruiting operations plan for all 270 schools nationwide.
Enrollment officer Maj. Trey Johnson said Lt. Col. Bob Takao believes in his people.
"I think his (Takao's) strength is his ability to allow individuals to do their jobs and trust in them," Johnson said.
"Cadets obviously are what make the program — good cadets attract quality cadets, and that's what we did," Takao said. "As we got better and better cadets in the program, we asked and urged those guys to seek out their friends, and they brought in the same kind of qualities — good people."
UH vice president for student affairs Doris Ching said one of the things she noticed was that Takao connected the lower and upper campuses — not only as far as students were concerned — but with faculty and administration as well.
Takao knew that Ching was a runner, so she and other administrators were recruited several years ago to lead cadets in calisthenics.
"He had us going out and doing calisthenics and leading the ROTC cadets in running at 6 o'clock in the morning — and we did this for a T-shirt that said UH Army ROTC," Ching said, laughing.
Attention to the program is coming from high places.
Nainoa Hoe, a Kamehameha Schools graduate who will be battalion commander as a senior this year at UH, was the No. 2 cadet in his regiment at the ROTC National Advanced Leadership Camp this summer at Fort Lewis, Wash.
Takao said a civilian adviser to the secretary of the Army in Washington, D.C., noticed Hoe, and relayed to a retired brigadier general here how impressed he was that UH had cadets of that quality representing the school.
Hoe was U.S. Army Pacific Reserve soldier of the year before deciding to continue his education at UH.
"He's the sharpest cadet that I've had in my four years here, and I've had some sharp ones," Takao said.
Takao said after 25 years in the Army, he felt the time was right to retire.
"It's something I've contemplated for the last several years," Takao said. "We've been very happy here in Hawai'i. I've been blessed to have served here for seven years."
Commissioned as a field artillery officer in 1977, Takao, an Oregon native, wasn't always sure his military career would be a lengthy one. At Yakima Training Area in Washington state in 1978, Takao remembers a training exercise on a cold, windy, snowy day.
"I'm a young second lieutenant humping up the hill with my rucksack and all this stuff," Takao said, "and I looked over and this full colonel was right alongside me at that point, and I looked over and thought, 'God, is this what I have to look forward to when I get to be his age?' "
The colonel turned out to be H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who would later become "Stormin' Norman," leader of coalition troops during Operation Desert Storm.
"He was just out there with his troops (at Yakima)," Takao said.
Lt. Col. Jim Johnson, a West Point graduate who was a branch chief at Fort McPherson, Ga., for Roving Sands — a theater air-defense exercise involving all services — already has assumed some duties at UH as Takao's replacement.
"I'm working with an organization that has had tremendous success, and I plan on doing whatever I can to continue that success," said Johnson, 40.
One of Takao's last duties at UH will be officiating the summer commissioning of five cadets Saturday at Fort Shafter.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
