(03 Jan. 87) Brand X was not at its listening post off Kwaj this morning. Clouds, wind, and rain squalls greeted Joe Tulensa and me when we stepped off the Huey on Legan. The New Year has started off a little sluggish. Everybody is still recovering. Joe, like constable Tulenkun, was born on the island of Kosrae, a part of the Federated States of Micronesia. Kosrae is a mountainous island like Ponape, located between Kwajalein and Ponape. A runway is being dredged in the water next to the island and now Kosrae will be serviced by both AMI (Airline of the Marshall Islands) and the 737 jets of Continental Air Micronesia.
Joe has a stocky build and his blood pressure at one time was 220 over 140. His doctor told him to change his eating habits and to exercise more. Joe and his family live on Ebeye. But then most of the islanders do. He’s very intelligent and also fluent in English.
He said that in the distant past the Kosraen king waged a war against Ponape and was victorious. As proof, there are stone ruins in Kosrae of the same type found at Nan Madol, Ponape. In the Kosraen legends, it is said that the people of that time were much larger than the present day inhabitants of both islands.
This is a stay indoors kind of day so I’ll catch up on my reading. I found out how One Eye got his name last week. One of the officers told me that when he was just a pup on Ebeye, some of the kids decided to have a little fun and began to torture him. Among the cruelties inflicted were the shaving of his rear quarters, including his legs, and the removal of his left eye.
A woman saw this taking place and intervened. The pup was brought to Carlos and befriended by American police officers, who gave him the name One Eye. To this day One Eye and his partner Goofy automatically claim as friends anyone wearing a blue jump suit, including Marshallese constables. Other Marshallese don’t fare as well and this hostility is reciprocated. Both dogs are excellent sentries and let no one approach the security post without setting up a din.
I bought a hand-carved canoe bailer last week. I don’t intend to use it but it’s a nice conversation piece and you can fill it up with lots of good wholesome foods while watching football. The fact is that Marshallese sailing canoes leaked a lot because they didn’t have effective caulking in the construction. In the old days, when the king and his men went on voyages to find other islands to claim, the king made sure he had the best bailer in his canoe. After a successful trip, the king awarded the royal bailer the first choice of a lot in the new subdivision.
As part of Army policy, Marshallese workers are being trained to take the place of American workers whenever possible. Toward this end the EC corporation has started a program to train Marshallese to become sworn police officers and receive the same pay as Americans.
Five constables are in this initial program which is scheduled to last a year. I had one constable ride along with me on patrol yesterday. We had the west end of Kwaj for the afternoon and I showed him the procedures for patrolling and the proper way to handle situations that may require the use of force in making an arrest. The most important lesson I emphasized was on any call, don’t make the situation worse. Be confident but congenial if the situation is not threatening. And if you need to use force, follow the guidelines for using the proper level of force to cause the subject to cease his actions. Dealing with American civilians, especially when alcohol is involved, will be the most difficult task for a Marshallese police officer because of his size.
Filed under: Almost Paradise Volume 2
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