For leap day this year, Sailors assigned to Commander, Submarine Squadron Fifteen partnered with multiple military commands and the Agat Mayor’s Office to beautify the city of Agat, Feb. 29.
Sailors joined with students and local community members as part of the 15th annual Agat Beautification Project in an effort to beautify Guam by cleaning trash off the streets and coastline.
“We call this cleanup ‘na bonita hagat,’ which means to ‘Keep Agat beautiful,’” said Agat Mayor Kevin J.T. Susuico. “We like to engage our military, community members and students to join us in an effort to keep our village clean, safe and for all to enjoy.”
The beautification included more than 40 members from local military commands such as CSS-15, Naval Hospital Guam, submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40) and Navy Munitions Command Pacific East Asia Division, Unit Guam.
“Volunteering within the local community is extremely rewarding to our spiritual well-being and morale,” said Lt. Klint Johnson, a chaplain assigned to Frank Cable, from Highland, Utah. “It gives our Sailors an opportunity to get involved with the local community and learn of the cultures. We’re here to serve our community and maintain that positive impact with our partners in Guam and within the Indo Pacific region.”
For the past four years, students from Marcial A. Sablan Elementary School have walked across the street to the Agat Mayor’s Office to help assist in the annual cleanup.
“We ask our students to attend the project annually in order to teach our kids stewardship and service just like the military partnering with our communities,” said David Dueñas, principal of Marcial A. Sablan Elementary School. “We teach heritage, pride, spirit and tradition at our school. Here we can show our students how to take pride in their community.”
The four-hour clean up succeeded in collecting two trailers of trash from the side of the road and coastline.
After the cleanup, council members from the Agat Mayor’s Office served food made by Susuico and his team. Additional food and refreshments were donated by local businesses.
CSS-15 is located at Polaris Point, Naval Base Guam in Piti, Guam, and consists of four Los Angeles-class fast attack submarines. The squadron staff is responsible for providing training, material and personnel readiness support to these commands. Also based out of Naval Base Guam are submarine tenders USS Frank Cable (AS 40) and USS Emory S. Land (AS 39). The submarines and tenders are maintained as part of the U.S. Navy’s forward-deployed submarine force and are readily capable of meeting global operational requirements.
