She was one of the most familiar faces in Guam for much of the mid-1980's through the 90's.  Former KUAM news director and anchor Ginger Cruz is back on Guam for a short trip after almost two decades away.  She paid a visit to us here at the station, and she caught up with me, her former longtime colleague and on-air partner.

It was like old times again when Ginger walked into the studio in Harmon - which she just happened to help design. "It's funny," she said, "'cause even though it's almost been twenty years, in some sense it feels like you never left."

Ginger left Guam in 1999 for Washington, DC, and became a deputy inspector general for Iraq, with oversight of expenditures.  She says over the years she and her team would find billions of dollars in wasted spending.  Ginger left federal service in 2012 to start her own consulting firm.  Returning to the middle east she has re-settled in Beirut...which she says reminds her of Guam.

"It's on the Mediterranean, so you still have the ocean, and I missed that when I was in the states. and the Lebanese people really love family, as well. My husband is Lebanese-American, so he's got a big family there. And you're also right in the center of everything," she added.

Which works out well because she does a lot of work throughout the Middle East and North Africa.  But she does miss home, and hopes to find business opportunities here that will get her back more often, as she said, "Probably some of my best memories of Guam were like the old days when KUAM had the old station, we had the typhoons, and the elections, and the liberation coverage, and I kinda following in Madeliene [Bordallo]'s footsteps, back in the day."

Reminiscing, she added, "This is a special place - I mean, KUAM is a special place in my heart, and to see things the way that they are, and the adrenalin and the cameras turning on and being able to share things with everybody, you can't really describe it, it really is special."

Welcome back, Ginger.