Tasked with guarding the island's most troubled kids, the team of service workers, counselors and security at the island's Youth Correctional Facility face a tough gig day in and day out. But with the chance to make a difference outweighing the ever mounting challenges of the job, there's no question these men and women deserve to be recognized.


Call them what you want - misunderstood, misguided, or perhaps even mistreated. But the reality is that despite their background, the behavior of troubled youth has consequences. And as a result of their offenses, which can vary from truancy and aggravated assault to drug abuse and criminal sexual conduct, they end up at the Guam Youth Correctional Facility at the Department of Youth Affairs. It's no walk in the park to have to keep these types of kids in line, which makes those responsible for manning the facility stand out even more.


Behind the barbed wire, chain link fences and cell blocks lay youth service workers, counselors and "the men in green" - the unsung heroes committed to helping these kids turn their lives around. "In terms of the belligerent behaviors, the aggressive behaviors, these are the guys and my hat goes out to them because these are the guys that really have to deal with every type of personality that comes in. That's not an easy task," said Ed Taitano.


As social service supervisor at the facility and a DYA employee for more than a decade, Taitano has seen and dealt with it all. But the type of compassion he has for these often misguided youth is something shared by the rest of the staff who, because of the high stress and demands of the job, have stuck around simply because they have a love for the kids. "Many of the kids that come in here get involved with so many stuff that's out there in the community, and people don't understand, communities don't understand, parents don't understand," he explained. "The nice thing about working in this environment and in the unit that I work at is that we have the time to listen and to find out what the issues are."


With each inmate possessing varying thresholds for correction, there's no telling how much time will have to go into making a connection and further drawing out what it is that troubles these youth. Taitano maintains you can never go too far to help them out, saying, "For me I've seen so many lives that have made changes, lots of improvements in their lives that it just makes it all worth working here at DYA."


And while the khaki uniforms, handcuffs, and shackles are a wake up call to the harsh reality that could ultimately face these kids down the road, it's because of the employees of DYA that dozens of youth are spared serving real, hard time by successfully turning them around. Undoubtedly, this team has earned their recognition. "For the kids that have committed some type of offense and they are here, helping them to get through the time here, making it more bearable to them is an incentive for us to keep pressing on," said Taitano.