On July 14, the Variety interviewed Sgt. Julian Manglona, 39, along with other Reservists who left Saipan aboard a Northwest Airlines plane for the U.S. mainland for training in preparation for their deployment to Kuwait.
“To be honest, I don’t want to leave my family, but I have to serve my country,” Manglona said in an interview.
Manglona, a police officer from Tinian, was transferred to the Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigation Bureau on Saipan in 2007.
He previously served in Iraq along with dozens of local Reservists with the 100th Battallion.
Before he left in July, he urged his family and the kin of other Reservists to be strong, saying “Wait for us because all of us will be back. We are leaving to serve our country.”
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said the whole community of the Northern Marianas is grieving over Manglona’s untimely death.
“I pray for soldier Julian Manglona and his family. The family has my sympathy and support,” the governor said in a statement.
“This is not just a loss for the family; it is also a loss for our community and the United States armed forces. I join the people of the CNMI in mourning the loss of this young man,” he added.
Dozens of other local police officers are on a break from their extensive training.
They will soon be deployed to different parts of the Middle East to strengthen the U.S. military’s presence in the region.
