Memorial Day Weekend 2011

After a drought of long weekend holidays from February (Presidents' Day) until now we have finally arrived at the Memorial Day weekend. While it's traditionally touted as the first weekend of the summer holiday season that ends on Labor Day in September, first and foremost we should always remember the reason why Memorial Day was created: to commemorate those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in battle.

Remembering that we work Tuesday through Saturday we observe the long weekend on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I officially was installed as American Legion Post 44 adjutant on Friday and began in earnest my new duties.

On Tuesday, I wore my Civil Air Patrol uniform to the Memorial Day ceremony. Nobody complained, and those who asked questions were given straight explanations, including the garrison commander, COL Gaines. I wore the soon-to-be obsolete blue corporate uniform (last wear date is December 31, 2011).

Soon as the ceremony ended, I returned to the Vets' Hall and changed from my CAP uniform to my grilling uniform, since I was helping cook. The lunch we put out for the military and veterans was very busy, with throngs of kids chowing down on burgers and dogs. (And the inevitable 'Kwaj moochers' who constantly crash parties for the free food showed up as well.) I finally got to go home about 5:30 pm, once things were cleaned up. I'm a little irked that some pulled a disappearing act to dodge the clean up. But I'm not one to complain, just finish it the best you can and drive on.

Wednesday was the beginning of the 'short week' following the holiday, as the Class of 2011 of Kwajalein Junior-Senior High gets ready to graduate on Friday. That evening, one of our Vets' Hall volunteers, relaxing at the Snake Pit after work got ambushed by a Marshallese who apparently doesn't like haoles telling him what to do because he's the son-in-law of the Queen of Ebeye. (Marshallese have a strict class and social structure: at the top are the landowners, who hold the money, land and power, then the tribal chiefs, and finally the raggedy-assed masses who barely scratch out a living.) So here's the story as it unfolded; I won't place names here for their privacy; those of us here know their identities and are personal friends.

After telling the bartender to turn down the loudly playing Marshallese music several times, the guy finally went up to the bar and turned it down. Shortly afterward the Marshallese guy went off on our guy, sucker punching him and kicking him while he was down on the ground. A couple of other guys tried breaking up the fight but the Marshallese guy kept coming after him. The bartender failed to call 911 to summon KPD - many of the other Marshallese froze in their tracks and did nothing, probably out of a possible fear of retaliation from a member of royalty when the folks got back to Ebeye. Eventually KPD broke up the fight, sent the assailant to jail and the victim to the ER. The assailant had just come off of a lengthy island bar; he was immediately slapped with an immediate 7-year bar from Kwajalein; I would not be surprised if it becomes a bar for life. And I hope - many of us who know the victim feel the same way -  that he gets prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Fighting on Kwaj happens rarely; next to crossing the runway, fighting is second in earning a window or aisle seat off the rock.Most of them are drunken brawls but the rare one I described above does occur.

In other news on the rock, the Marshallese worker community is up in arms over new shopping day restrictions. Previously, C-badge workers were entitled to shop at the BX and shoppette every Saturday, as long as purchases didn't include alcohol or tobacco or exceeded $250 in one day per badged person. Effective July 1, shopping days are reduced to payday Saturdays and the amount is now $125. Beginning January 1, Marshallese shopping days are further reduced to two a year, which was the standard before AAFES came on island in 2008. The main complaint was lodged by some Ebeye merchants who cried foul over black marketeering cutting into their profits. (- cough - BULLSHIT! - cough - They're just as guilty, too.)

I wouldn't be surprised if the Marshallese workers get barred from the Snake Pit. Currently, workers have a 90-minute window after pau hana (end of the work day) to depart Kwajalein back to Ebeye, unless an extension is granted by their supervisor or special arrangements to stay overnight in Kwaj are made. Violators who overstay their window get cited for trespassing. Accumulate too many trespassing citations, and one faces a bar from the island. As it is right now, many of the workers make a beeline for the Pit and slam down as many cheap beers before they have to depart Kwaj. I wouldn't be surprised if the 90-minute window gets cut back or eliminated altogether.