Pacific island divided over US military presence

Topic: Defence and National Security

Ron Acfalle is a Chamorro man who is bringing back old ways in Guam, like building canoes and sailing.

A traditional canoe is sailing in Tumon Bay.

Ron Acfalle is the captain of the canoe and has sailing in his blood.

We came from the ocean, he says.

We didn't grow out of the ground.

Ron is a Chamorro from Guam, a 50-kilometre-long island in the Western Pacific.

He is bringing back the lost art of building canoes and sailing, which was banned under colonial rule.

Ron Acfalle was in the US Marines for four years and wants young people on Guam to have other choices.

Guam is in the middle of a new struggle, caught between the powerful US military and the right of its people to decide their own future.

Guam is one of the most militarized islands in the world, with nearly a third of it controlled by the US military.

The people of Guam can't vote for president and don't have a voting member of Congress.

The island is going through another big military buildup, and life is changing.

The people of Guam are torn between the economic benefits of militarization and the social and environmental problems.

Lack of job alternatives

Ron says the military is a tempting career on an island with few other opportunities.

When we finished high school, there was no place for us to go, he says.

Ron was a marine for four years, but he hopes his culture can offer an alternative.

Ron Acfalle is sharing his cultural knowledge with the next generation.

I came home and I took that knowledge and I took the discipline and I'm teaching it to the younger generation, he says.

But many still do, and the people here enlist at a higher rate than any US state.

That loyalty is tied, in part, to history.

The US took back Guam in 1944 after nearly three years of Japanese occupation.

During World War II, Guam was captured and occupied by Japan for nearly three years.

When US forces took back the island in 1944, liberation came, but so did lasting consequences.

Indigenous land was later taken by force, and the military's presence became deeply embedded in island life.

Ron is among a growing number of Chamorros questioning a widely-held view that what is good for the military is good for Guam.

There's a growing concern now that they're disrespecting our land, our burial sites, he says.

I view the military as coming here not for the culture, not for anything other than for themselves.

The US has been building up its military presence in Guam amid the intensifying rivalry with China.

Strategic value in conflict with China

But real change won't come easily.

An unincorporated territory of the United States, the people of Guam have little say over how the military uses the island.

Leland Bettis describes Guam as a strategic treasure for the US.

Pacific Center for Island Security director Leland Bettis said Guam represented a treasure in terms of military value.

The military does not need permission from the government in Guam to project force, he said.

It does in Japan, it does in Korea, it does in the Philippines.

Guam being the closest American territory to flashpoints such as Taiwan makes it vital in any future conflict with China, Leland says.

The ABC was given rare access to a handful of military sites to get a glimpse of how the US is investing.

At one site we spoke with personnel working on the $11.5-billion dollar Guam missile defence system.

Expected to cost nearly $8 billion, the defence system being built on Guam is designed to detect and shoot down incoming ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles, but not everyone is happy.

Captain Alexander Manville said Guam was the first location for this type of system to be deployed.

It's described as a 360-degree missile defence shield which, unlike the already deployed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system, can defend against low and short range projectiles.

I'd say it is a full commitment to the people of Guam and to the defence structure that we have here, that it is being fielded here first, Captain Manville said.

Guam local Captain Alejo Luhan, from the National Guard, told us he welcomed the military's continued investment.

It's provided a lot of opportunities for young adults, young kids and people who aspire to serve a higher calling, he said.

Build-up's environmental impact

But on Guam's northern edge, the impact of the build-up is harder to ignore.

Near Camp Blaz, a stretch of coastline known as Ritidian borders a protected wildlife refuge, home to endangered species and an area that's culturally significant for the Chamorro people.

The US military has cleared about 10 per cent of Guam's remaining limestone forest to make way for a new firing range.

On the road at the refuge's entrance, demolition work echoes from a new live-fire training range.

It can be very loud, all the clearing and grading, said Monaeka Flores, the executive director of Prutehi Guåhan, an environmental and Chamorro rights group.

According to US military estimates, roughly 10 per cent of Guam's remaining limestone forest has been cleared to make way for the range.

The site also sits above an aquifer that supplies around 80 per cent of the island's drinking water, raising concerns about potential contamination.

The US Navy, which oversees the construction of these facilities, told the ABC in a statement that it was committed to protecting Guam's environment and is in full compliance with all legal requirements.

It said stormwater management systems minimise the risk of lead contamination and are operating as intended since their completion in April 2025.

But Monaeka said Guam already has a long history of contamination related to military activity, and the range and other works here risked generational harm.

We have a high incidence of cancer, heart disease, diabetes … essentially the military build-up here guarantees ecological destruction, affecting our food security, the safety of our drinking water, the health of our people, she said.

You come home with demons

Roy Gamboa served two tours in Iraq.

For the many Chamorros who enlist, serving in the US military can raise difficult questions.

Like so many other patriotic Americans, Roy Gamboa enlisted in the aftermath of 9/11 and served two tours in Iraq as a marine.

It's nothing like the movies, it changes you … you come home with demons, he said.

Roy Gamboa has founded a support group for Guam's military veterans.

Roy's experiences led him to found the veteran's support group Got Your 671, a combination of the military term got your six and Guam's calling code of 671.

As much as 14 per cent of Guam's population are veterans, yet studies show they have, on average, access to less than half the services available to veterans in the US mainland.

Roy said many veterans travel to Hawaii just to receive basic care.

Being a patriot does not stop Roy questioning the military's role on Guam.

Roy Gamboa overlooking land forcibly acquired from his grandfather.

He took us to a lookout above the US naval base and pointed down toward where he said his grandfather's land was forcibly acquired after the second world war.

I feel more hurt knowing that … his belief was some day we will get this land back, but he died, Roy said.

Despite their service, Roy said many veterans feel caught between competing loyalties.

Where does a veteran belong on the island of Guam, where do you side? In many cases veterans can feel conflicted … I'm torn, I'm stuck between the two worlds, he said.

The facilities at the US military's naval base on Guam including a swimming pool.

Pricing civilians out of housing

That tension is also visible in everyday life.

While military personnel often live in well-serviced housing, many locals are struggling.

The cost of living on Guam is among the highest in the United States.

Jessica Lizama is struggling to afford a home for herself and her children.

Jessica Lizama said even with two full-time incomes, her family cannot afford to rent a home.

She, her husband and their four children have been living with her parents for the past six years.

An apartment, or a condo, that's about almost $US3,000 a month and that does not include utilities like power water, Jessica said.

Guam's military personnel can receive rental allowances of $3,000 per month and about half live in civilian housing.

Jessica said the situation just feels helpless … it's very frustrating, heartbreaking.

Rear Admiral Joshua Lasky says the military is working to address people's concerns.

Military addressing issues

On Nimitz Hill, named for the famed World War II Admiral Chester W Nimitz, Commander of Joint Forces Micronesia Joshua Lasky said the military was working hard to secure more off-base housing.

He also said the military was complying with environmental regulations as well as conducting remediation works such as replanting forests to compensate for areas where land has been cleared.

Is everybody always happy? Of course not, Rear Admiral Lasky said.

But I don't think that's necessarily a signal of a flaw in the system — that's a healthy system.

On questions about Guam's future, its political status, and whether the island should have more autonomy, Rear Admiral Lasky had no clear answer.

I think that is really a matter for the government of Guam and the United States government. What I can tell you is we are committed to being part of the community here, he said.

Much of Guam's economy relies on money brought in by the US military.

An economic lifeline

For many on Guam the military presence is not just strategic, it's essential.

By some estimates, military activity now underpins as many as one in five jobs.

Few understand that dependence better than Lee Webber.

A Vietnam War veteran who was evacuated to Guam for medical attention, he married a local and never left.

After decades working in publishing, he now runs a dive shop.

If there was no military this island economy would be down now. It would be shut off, Lee said.

After COVID everything fell apart, but our military business held … we're probably 95 per cent military.

In spite of what any politician will tell you … the islands really, really, are actually in dire straits … without the military … we wouldn't be floating.

A mall has been developed as part of Guam's naval base.

That reliance shapes how many people view Guam's future.

And if we were independent, we'd be so vulnerable it would be unbelievable.

A revival underway

But for many Chamorros autonomy is about more than politics.

The Hurao Academy in Hagåtña is Guam's first Chamorro immersion school, and this year is the first it has been fully publicly funded.

The school's founder and long time Chamorro language proponent Anna Marie Blas-Arceo has spent decades working to bring it to life.

It has been a dream of mine for many, many years, 20 years in the making, she said.

For the parents and kids, Hurao is more than just a school.

For decades the US suppressed the Chamorro language and banned it in schools, a policy only fully lifted in the 1970s.

The damage from that and many other repressive policies is still being felt today.

Anna Marie said many Chamorros of her generation, born in the postwar period and discouraged from speaking their native language, have this hole in them.

Parent of two Sågue Salas agreed, saying having his kids learn Chamorro meant they would not struggle with their identity like I have.

The exercise will see more than 400 aircraft and 12,000 personnel from the US, Australia and other countries such as Canada, France and Japan conduct exercises over 50 locations across the Pacific region.

Guam and the Chamorro people have endured a great deal and much remains unresolved.

But across the island a revival is underway, not led by politicians or military power, but by ordinary people.

Anna Marie believes that even the US military does not have the power to stop the revival that is now underway.

No matter what our political status is, no matter whether there's military influence or not, she said.

No matter what happens around us, if we protect our families and the teaching of our language and culture within our families, then nobody can take that away from us.