Journalism Clips

FEB. 3, 2018 / JORDAN VINSON If you have recently ridden your bike around the Small Boat Marina during the night, you’ve likely seen long tails of fiery sparks arcing into the air at the back lot of the Marine Department. There, a team of 12 expat contractors and local em­ployees work around the clock,…

JAN. 20, 2018 / JORDAN VINSON Below the sandy topsoil of Kwajalein and Roi-Namur lie countless entombed artifacts, each a reflection of pre-historic settlement, the blood shed during WWII or the follow-on military efforts to transform the islands into a Navy Base, a missile defense test site, an Army garrison and a subscale model of…

July 29, 2017 / JORDAN VINSON There is a place on Kwajalein where long parkas and thick, black beanies are standard issue. A place where small chandeliers of ice grow above thermometer displays showing numbers like -13 F. It’s a place where all your bananas, yogurt, milk, eggs and TV dinners come from. And without…

JULY 22, 2017 / JORDAN VINSON It is summer time in the Marshalls, and that means great views of the Milky Way’s galactic core. To check it out, look south-southeast after sundown and fix on Scorpius, a large, popular constellation that looks like a scorpion— or, if you will, a giant fishhook. Look leftward a…

JUNE 6, 2017 / JORDAN VINSON Claude Nelji is Chugach’s newest service order supervisor. In an office hugging the lagoon near the Small Boat Marina, he tracks an array of departmental activities, from materials purchases and deliveries to HAZMAT and safety record keeping for the Public Works Department’s Construction Shop. He’s the point man for…

April 29, 2017 / JORDAN VINSON Meet Joe Rubon. He is one of half a dozen Marshallese citizens whom Kwajalein Range Services hired in recent years to keep the Kiernan Re-entry Measurement System site on target in its mission to monitor space around the Earth for satellites, debris and foreign missile launches. Rubon works at…

APRIL 22, 2017 / JORDAN VINSON Like many Pacific islanders, folklore and spoken tales were extremely important tools around which traditional Marshal­lese communities organized themselves, set ethical norms and taught younger generations about how to live as Marshallese. Many Marshallese mythological tales sprouted purely out of the creative minds of those who told them, such…

APRIL 15, 2017 / JORDAN VINSON Meet Hesbon Jokas and Jerry Samuel. They are two members of a small group of Marshallese citizens employed by Kwajalein Range Services to keep the Kiernan Re-entry Measurement System site on target in its mis­sion to monitor space around the Earth for satellites, debris and foreign missile launches. Both…

MARCH 11, 2017 / JORDAN VINSON Cocooned in a small, cozy cockpit washed in late morning sunlight, Maj. John Osterson and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Billy Kilgore flick a few switches at a control panel. The Army Lakota UH-72A the two men are piloting comes alive. Motors switch on, turbines turn and a dozen gauge…