Almost Paradise Part 12 Gagan

(13 Sept. 86) Constable Morelick and I arrived on Gagan. The phone was out of order so we had no contact with Kwaj. The day was filled with chamber of commerce weather. An officer said he spotted Brand X off the east reef recently so maybe I can get a photo if it cruises close enough to the reef. But now the sun is shining and a  breeze will put me to sleep quickly if I get too comfortable in the lounge chair.

1230 – Morelick has been fishing the coral rocks beneath the fuel pier. Six rock fish, each about a foot long and speckled with brown spots, lie on the creosote covered wooden walkway. I spotted three fish swimming by the pilings. They are white with vertical black stripes and a golden fin that runs from the middle of their backs to their tails.

1530 – A chopper dropped off a radio with instructions to contact the police station on Roi-Namur every hour.

2330 -  I began my shift in the lounge chair on the lagoon side. The waters were calm and a slight easterly tradewind was blowing. The moon was about three-quarters full and the planets and stars were particularly sharp. Once in a while a puffy white cloud passed in front of the moon. The cloud would then begin to glow, like a large street lamp in the sky. The air was so clean that Venus was reflected in the lagoon waters like the moon. I felt as though I were on another world, looking out on another solar system.

Duty on Kwaj Island is OK but, really, being alone on a beautiful island  is what people pay big money for when they go on vacation. And police duty on the main island can sometimes involve  people who get a little out of control, especially with easy access to cheap alcohol and a place to party along the beach oceanside. And the Hawaiians and Philippinos  know how to have a cookout.  After the sun goes down we occasionally get a call about a loud party or a disturbance and they call me as a backup. The sergeant does the talking and I stand next to him. So far it works.

As I mentioned before, the Soviets use one or more converted trawlers for intelligence gathering, including Humint (human intelligence). They cruise around the  coral reef or anchor at strategic locations, sometimes within the three mile limit. Any Soviet ship is known as Brand X, a reference to old TV and radio commercials that compared the product being advertised with an obviously inferior product called Brand X. And, of course, Brand X always lost in the comparison tests. The Marshallese in the capital of Majuro, however,  have a couple of sports teams named Brand X.

The Soviet Spetsnaz units (special forces) on board Brand X  routinely send teams ashore on the atoll’s outer islands to observe and plant electronic intelligence gathering devices. Until 1986, when the Kwajalein Police began coverage of the eight operational islands twenty-four hours a day, these teams are thought to have made overnight stays  there a fairly common practice. One long-time resident of Kwajalein related the story of a U.S. Army helicopter checking out the spy ship one day and spotted a sign on the deck that had been taken from Illeginni, a target island for incoming warheads.

I picked up a short course on Marshallese at the library and bought a dictionary compiled by Tony DeBrum and others. It’s more difficult than the other languages I’ve learned since there is no extensive course published. Plus some of the sounds are difficult to make if you are a native speaker of English. And there are several dialects. But I’m making progress. I’ve already found at least 60 words and combinations that describe fishing, depending on the kind of sea critter you’re trying to catch and the method you use.

Here are two examples:

dentak – striking needlefish with a long piece of wood or a paddle as they float on the surface of the water on moonlit nights.

apep – using woven brown coconut fronds to catch sardines and minnows as they are chased ashore by bigger fish.

The first one is easy but I need someone to weave me some brown coconut fronds.

The cat began hanging around again so I fed him a piece of ham and he seemed satisfied for the moment. There is at least one cat on each outer island, including Omelek. I’ve only seen the Omelek cat once before it ran into the bushes. It appeared to be a bit on the lean side, unlike the Gagan cat which I’ve decided to call Garfield.

The moon has set and it’s dark enough to develop film away from the lone bulb outside our office. The constables say that late at night one can hear the voices of Japanese soldiers who died defending the atoll against the Americans. When an islander sleeps in the bed on post he will pull the sheets completely over his body, including his head, so the spirits can’t find him.