Guam Guard and NMI relationship ‘solid and promising’ 

Maj. Gen. Esther Aguigui, Adjutant General of the Guam Army National Guard, administers the oath for Vincent Taitano, in navy blue, and Jose Quitano on Sunday at the Commissioner Joaquin S. Tudela Community Park in San Vicente. (LEIGH GASES)

The relationship of the Guam Army National Guard and the CNMI is “solid and promising,” according to Maj. Gen. Esther Aguigui, Adjutant General of the Guam Army National Guard, soon after two of Saipan’s sons officially took their oaths as Guard members last Sunday at the Commissioner Joaquin S. Tudela Community Park in San Vicente.

With no CNMI Guard of its own, Aguigui said it’s promising for the youth of the CNMI, especially for those looking for not only a job but a career, to join the nearby Guam Army National Guard, and that the relationship between Guam and the NMI “has always been very solid, and we are trying to reinvigorate a recruiting platform that we actually started back in 2013.”

Esther Aguigui

There were challenges like the hefty price of traveling back and forth that the Guard encountered along the way that stalled recruiting efforts for a while, “but then we figured, ‘What a perfect time to come back and revisit this whole platform of recruiting in the CNMI,’” she said during Sunday’s “Adopt-A-Place” event in which the Guard committed to maintaining the community park in San Vicente.

She added that they want to provide opportunities for those who don’t have opportunities for jobs in the private or government sector. “We want to open up the possibility of having a military career that will lead to a retirement that will lead to economic prosperity, that will lead to family stability. We want that for the next greatest generation.”

In the military, she said a soldier can come into it knowing that 20 years down the line, they’re going to get something out of it. “In those 20 years, you’re going to come up with a specific skillset—not one, sometimes you get two, sometimes you even get three. So when you have those skillsets, you become very marketable. …You still get to keep your civilian job, but then you’ll be earning points toward a military retirement and then you get benefits.”

“I think the youth and their families are very excited about this opportunity because I know the CNMI, just like Guam, we’re family-oriented and our families care about what happens to us. But what a perfect way to serve in the military by serving at home—and the Guam National Guard allows soldiers that opportunity. You’re going to leave for a little bit because you have to go to training and you have to master your skills, but after that, you come back home and you serve right here at home,” she said.

Aguigui added that some members of their popular Guam Army National Guard band come from the CNMI and that the Guard is already doing outreach in high schools.

She said that it’s a blessing to be working with Saipan Mayor Ramon “RB” Camacho, and that these efforts actually started with then-mayor David M. Apatang, who is now the lieutenant governor.

In a presentation during last Friday’s fiscal year 2023 Annual Planning Training and Integration Meeting, it was said that there are currently 14 Guardsmen and women from the CNMI and that number is steadily increasing.

Jose Quitano, a 23-year-old transit operator with the Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority, said after his oath-taking that he is excited to leave but that he is already used to being away from home due to off island training. He said he joined the military because his great-grandfather, for whom he was named after, was in the military and he wanted to emulate him.

Vincent Taitano, a 29-year-old CNMI Board of Parole staff, said the feeling of officially being enlisted is “overwhelming, but I love the fact that there’s something new for me, learning that I can grow into better things.” He said that his daughter is his reason for joining the Guard.

To learn more about the Guam Army National Guard, visit www.gu.ng.mil/.