Nathan Fitch Screens His Documentary “Island Soldier”

In time for Veterans Day, the Law School community welcomed director Nathan Fitch for a screening and discussion of his recent documentary Island Soldier. The documentary focuses on Micronesian soldiers’ stories — including their motivations for serving in the U.S. military and the challenges they face upon return — as well as the future of their small island nation. The event was sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, the Native American Law Students Association, the YLS Veterans, the YLS National Service Forum, and the Schell Center for International Human Rights.

In his introduction, Fitch asked the audience to remember “the service and sacrifice of those who are in uniform.” He talked about the importance of discussing the obstacles and challenges veterans face when they try to reintegrate into their communities and said that there are many “American narratives of service.” He also stressed the importance of looking critically at “how we perform in terms of providing meaningful care to our veterans, no matter who they are or where they’re from.”

Island Soldier, his debut documentary, focused on this message. The film takes place in Kosrae, an island in Micronesia. After Japanese rule over Micronesia ended post-World War II, Fitch explained, the U.S. became the trustee in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) in 1947. That was “the first time Micronesians served in a foreign military,” Fitch said. Since then, he added, Micronesians have continued to enter the United States military, serving in the Vietnam War, Gulf War, and most recently in the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The documentary film Island Soldier follows different Kosraeans — whose lives have been tethered to the U.S. Military — from the remote island to the training grounds of Texas and the battlefields in Afghanistan. The story begins in Kosrae with a soldier’s funeral service. This soldier is Sergeant Sapuro “Sapp” Nena who died in combat in Afghanistan. As his body is brought back to his community for a proper burial by the U.S. Armed Forces, the film presents the impact of his death on his home island — where nearly everyone is connected to the U.S. Military directly or through family members.

The film educated the audience about Micronesia’s geopolitical history. A remote archipelago of hundreds of tiny volcanic islands in the western Pacific, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is a nation of about 100,000 citizens that was formerly under Japanese rule. In 1944, the film explained, the U.S. took control of Micronesia and it became part of the United States-administered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands after World War II in 1947. After becoming an independent nation in 1979, FSM entered into a Compact of Free Association in 1986 with the United States that permits non-U.S. citizen Micronesians to be recruited into and serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. To date, FSM has lost five times as many soldiers per capita than any U.S. state. In exchange for military control, the U.S. provides financial aid and supplies to the region. The film highlighted that because Micronesians can serve in the U.S. military despite being foreign citizens, the region became known as “recruiter’s paradise.”

The stories of the Kosraeans featured in the film exemplified the harms being caused by the Compact of Free Association and its shortcomings. Maryann Nena is the mother of the fallen soldier, Sergeant Sapuro, and she is grieving his recent death as well as struggling to make ends meet. Because they have no income, Maryann and her husband — a Navy veteran — visit the Veteran’s Affairs office in Kosrae in hopes that they are “entitled to any resources” like financial aid. The office receptionist explains in the film that the Compact of Free Association allows Kosreans to serve but it mentions “nothing about veteran’s affairs.” He says that the “law needs to be amended to include Micronesians in the benefits.”

Another Kosraean parent featured in the documentary, whose children all joined the U.S. military, questioned his country’s future stability. With 80% of Kosrae’s government budget depending on the U.S., he said, and the Compact of Free Association terminating in 2023, they “may not be able to sustain [their] government beyond 2023.”

Since the average income in the FSM is $2,000, according to the film, many see an incentive to join the U.S. Military, where the starting salary is $19,000. However, when soldiers return home it is “difficult to find jobs” and receive “loans to build their house and buy their car” as well as afford healthcare. The film culminated by stating that “American financial assistance to the FSM will end in 2023” and that “the United States will maintain military control of the islands.”

Following the screening, Fitch said that he set off to film the documentary after seeing the “juxtaposition between the nature of the islands and the chaos of the war zone.” In crafting the film, Fitch “felt a lot of responsibility since Micronesians get very little media representation.” He explained, “[Kosraean] voices aren’t heard, and people don’t make any films about the island...when they are represented, it’s quite negatively.”

Fitch believed that his experience living in Kosrae for two years, learning to speak the language of the people he filmed, and developing relationships with islanders allowed him to produce a film that would “show people the real Micronesians,” which he saw as a “counter narrative to how [he] was seeing [Kosreaeans] represented.” He explained that his film is a “small story” that he hopes “scales out to American Samoa, Puerto Rico,” and other U.S. territories that are “far from the war zone” but are still “affected dramatically” by their involvement in the U.S. military.

For Micronesians, Fitch added, despite the detriment they have suffered through their military involvement, the relationship people feel to the U.S. military is often more nuanced. Although, he said, “people in the military do not widely know about Micronesians,” to Micronesians, “donning the uniform makes you an equal to the colonizing power.” There is “power in the symbol of the military uniform,” Fitch explained.

That symbolic power does not assuage doubts about the future. Fitch said that the islanders “know something bad is coming.” He explained that since he was living there, two thousand people have left as part of the recent wave of emigration. What the future holds for remaining Kosraeans and others living in the FSM, he suggested, is uncertain.

In the filmmaking community, Fitch said, “nobody knew about this place or these stories.” By invoking viewers’ humanity and inspiring compassion and empathy, he expressed hope that Island Soldier has the power “to put pressure on the government to extend benefits to the islands” and to “hopefully enact change.” In this manner, Fitch emphasized, filmmakers can play a significant role in the policy conversation.