Indigenous residents and military personnel hold incompatible relationships to the land

Evidence

At the Saipan public meeting I attended, a Chamorro couple, Miguel and Janice Mueller, told a military representative, the Air Force’s Mark Petersen, that they were worried about the bombing of Farallon de Medinilla and the military’s other impacts on the land, air, and water of the Marianas. Petersen tried to assure Miguel that the military would be looking at all the impacts of the training “in detail.” But the answer didn’t satisfy. “We’re tied to the ocean and the land,” Miguel told him. But you are connected “only by your job.” — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 427

Categorization

• CANDY: The retort ‘you are connected only by your job’ is a compact, quotable encapsulation of the base-versus-community rift.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 427