{"id":364863,"date":"2022-03-24T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T20:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=364863"},"modified":"2022-03-24T06:00:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T20:00:19","slug":"vao-iakopo-meets-with-ranking-9th-mission-support-command-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/vao-iakopo-meets-with-ranking-9th-mission-support-command-officials\/","title":{"rendered":"VAO Iakopo meets with ranking 9th Mission Support Command officials"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_364865\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-364865\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/CNMI-Veterans-pixw.jpg\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-364865\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CNMI Office of Veterans Affairs executive officer Stanley T. Iakopo, center, meets with Col. Mark W. Siekman, 9MSC Commander, left, and\u00a0Col. Dominique Cummings, DCS G3\/5\/7.\u00a0(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>CNMI Office of Veterans Affairs executive officer Stanley T. Iakopo earlier this year met with Col. Mark W. Siekman, commander of the 9th Mission Support Command, at the U.S. Army Reserve Headquarters Fort Shafter Honolulu, Hawaii.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> \u201cI had the privilege to meet with Col. Siekman to discuss the 9th MSC\u2019s capacity and commitment in supporting our veterans and their families. For the last four years, the Office of Veterans Affairs has been fostering and maintaining a healthy relationship with the 9th MSC Commanders through open communication and collaboration in providing assistance during military funeral honors,\u201d said Iakopo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen a veteran or a dependent of a veteran passes away, a family member provides a proof of death certificate to our office, and we then send the request to the Casualty Assistance Center located within Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. From there, a request for a funeral tasker is sent to the 9th MSC, if it is for an Army<br \/>\nveteran.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen processing honor burials for other branches of service such as Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard, our office sends the request directly to the respective branch that the veteran served in. Preparing for a military funeral demands detailed information and specific steps to be taken.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn every military funeral honors, I can see, feel, and hear the family\u2019s emotional pain, skepticism, and even anger during this whole process. It is not until the sight and sounds of Taps at the ceremony that they seem to have some closure and reassurance that their loved one is safe,\u201d added Iakopo.<br \/>\nGov. Ralph DLG Torres extends his continued appreciation to the CNMI Office of Veterans Affairs for their continued support for the veterans of the CNMI and their families, \u201cI would like to thank [Iakopo] and the CNMI Office of Veterans Affairs for continuing to find ways to help our veterans and their families, especially through important partnerships such as that with the 9th Mission Support Command.\u201d (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CNMI Office of Veterans Affairs executive officer Stanley T. Iakopo earlier this year met with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":364864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[22169],"class_list":["post-364863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-mission-support-command"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}