Opinion: Educate a stationed military man who wants first dibs on gas because he “saved us” from our “third-world” status

A military serviceman reportedly stationed on Guam under Joint Region Marianas (JRM) has been outspoken in posts that he and other stationed military personnel should be able to jump the line at gas pumps because “this island would be a third world country if it wasn’t for us.”

“Also, we saved them from being blown off the face of the earth,” the military man (we’ll call him Mr. Smith for the purpose of this article) wrote. “Letting us gas first is the least they can do.”

If Mr. Smith is a first responder, or in law enforcement, he may have missed the memo about 76/Circle K gas stations along Airport Road being reserved for those professionals.

Nonetheless, the comments are not the first of its kind in recent years under the JRM leadership of Rear Admiral Benjamin Nicholson, whose deafening silence on the segregationist statements of his personnel strikes a chord in the midst of a grueling disaster recovery. Every one of Mr. Nicholson’s predecessors involved in a disaster response on Guam and in the CNMI has been highly visible and participatory in response activities in and outside the fenceline. But, not him, save for one news conference he attended in the bunker of the Civil Defense facility in Agana Heights.

We asked Mr. Nicholson, through his public affairs office, a few questions about the matter; he couldn’t even provide the professional courtesy of a confirmation of receipt.

Mr. Nicholson has been a different shade of JRM commander from his predecessors, who spent decades building good relations with the people of Guam. It was Nicholson, who conspired with Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero in secret in the dumbest military dealing with the local government in decades. It was also Nicholson who casually and callously announced the Navy’s breach of its contract (the Programmatic Agreement) with the government of Guam on one of its four pillars: the so-called net negative agreement for the federal government to own less land at the end of the buildup than it had before the buildup started.

Lucky thing for Nicholson that the once-active activists are now on Leon Guerrero’s government payroll, with one of them being the former attorney general of Guam. Crickets.

I digress.

Mr. Smith is not the first military serviceman stationed on Guam to express his belief that he has ‘saved us’ from ourselves, our heathen ways, and the Japanese Imperial Army. And he likely won’t be the last, especially as a buildup of U.S. Armed Forces happens and the probability of ignorance increases.

The solution to the ignorance, of course, is not to bash the misguided gentleman, but to educate him. And if Mr. Nicholson won’t, perhaps we should.

I believe the “us” in his stated phrase, “if it wasn’t for us,” might be better appropriated to the brave men who stormed the shores of Guam during the liberation of grandparents and great grandparents and great great grandparents in July 1944. Mr. Smith sure hasn’t liberated me from anything but about 30 minutes of writing about typhoon recovery news.

And to be clear, I and (I believe) the vast majority of Guamanians are forever grateful for the sacrifices of those soldiers and Marines who risked and lost their lives in the Battle for Guam. I can testify to my grandparents’s great love and appreciation for our country. Part of that country they were grateful for included brave men in Merizo who, before the American military liberation campaign began, fought and successfully liberated Merizo.

I wonder, if those brave men were still alive, would Mr. Smith pull for them to be in the front of the gas line.

At least 76/Circle K gas station would, unbeknownst to Mr. Smith.

Mr. Nicholson likely wouldn’t have a comment on that either.

But I think it’s the line “Letting us gas first is the least they can do,” is what will raise the most eyebrows, all things considered from a cursory glance at any of the open gas station lines that wrap with hundreds of vehicles.

Maybe it’s the audacity of that expression that will get some. But, for me, it’s the entitlement, which pervades into an almost-cultural sentiment embedded in this younger generation that, I fear, lacks the semblance of community needed especially at a time like this.

Here’s the thing: If I was in the back of the line for gas, and someone in the military, or a veteran, or an elderly person pulled up behind me – and I was aware of their status – I’d let them go ahead of me. They wouldn’t even have to ask. And I think a whole bunch of people would do the same.

There are some without courtesy, sure; but I think Mr. Smith can commiserate and empathize with their attitudes by the tone and expression of his posts.

But let’s bring this discussion back to the here and now, when we are struggling to rebuild our island from the devastation of Mother Nature’s fury. I’m sure Mr. Smith understands there is nothing he could have done to save us from her. The typhoon can win an equality award. Mawar came through here without regard for any one’s race, age, income, family size, civilian- or military status, or even so much as the amount of love in our hearts.

Mother Nature took what she could indiscriminately. Our response should not and cannot be to splinter in our recovery, but to unite against the force of nature with a force of community and forward movement.

I care very much that every person on this island – whether civilian or military – recovers and improves. I want everyone to once again have power and running water service. I want everyone in those gas lines to get gas as quickly as possible. I want everyone whose home was destroyed or damaged to get the federal assistance needed to restore and repair their homes.

I want us to recover, including Mr. Smith and his family. From what I know about Guamanians, most of us feel the same way I do.

As I stated above, Mr. Smith is not the first to make comments like these, but his timing in expressing his views far and away has been the worst. It is high time JRM does something to educate its personnel about their mission here, why Guam and the CNMI are even on the American strategic map, and the community we offer with open arms to people willing to participate in it.

And, “Mr. Smith,” with all sincerity of heart: Grow up. It’s the Twenty-first Century. You’re here, and not home, because this place is important to our country. Open your mind to the fact that this community welcomes you, many of its sons and daughters fight and die for you, and you don’t have to feel entitled to jump the gas line.

You can simply go to 76/Circle K on Airport Road (if you’re a first responder), or ask many a Guamanian in line already.