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News | May 24, 2018

Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Employee Spotlight: Charles Luhiau.

By DLA Aviation Public Affairs

Name: Charles Luhiau

Job Title: Business Process Analyst

Where do you physically work and what organization do you report to? Tinker Air Force Base, DLA Aviation at Oklahoma City

How long have you worked for DLA? 20 years

What does Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month mean to you? It is a recognition and celebration of the culture and traditions by which I was raised.

Tell us something unique about your heritage or country of origin. At this time the Big Island of Hawaii is currently being enlarged by the eruption of the Kilauea volcano.

What misconception about your heritage or country of origin would you like to correct? Aloha does not just mean “Hello” and “Goodbye.” Aloha is a spirit of giving and charity, a spirit of goodness, unity, and community.

What do you consider the most important cultural value for you and for those close to you? The most important cultural value for us is Ohana Ho’okahi Na Ohana O Luhiau – Unity of the family of Luhiau. Ohana is family, be it the family that one is born into or the family of community that we choose to live our lives with.

Tell us a little known fact that most people don’t know about you. I taught myself Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), the programming language behind Microsoft Office.

How important is it to you that Defense Logistics Agency Aviation recognize this month? It is very important to me that DLA Aviation recognize this month that celebrates the spirit of Aloha and Ohana. The spirits and concepts of unity and family. We are all one team, we spend as much time with each other as we do our families, and we celebrate that sense of unity and kindness to one another.

What do you want the DLA Aviation workforce to take away from celebrating this particular Month? We are all in this together, working toward a common goal of serving the warfighter. We should feel Aloha towards each other as we are all Ohana.