Guam Is To Become The Next Massive U.S. Military Base

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News Tribune: Quietly, Guam is slated to become massive new U.S. military base

* Here come the Marines – 4,800 of them with tanks and guns.
* The Marines’ plan is being fought by residents of Guam, Chinese casino industry
* The price tag: $8.7 billion. Japan pays one-third of the price

HAGATNA, GUAM: Thousands of Marines will land on this island sometime in the next few years, and their first steps will fall on a sturdy-as-granite pier in a sheltered Pacific harbor newly rebuilt to carry wave after wave of tank-driving troops.

“We’re ready for them,” said Cmdr. David Ellis, the executive officer at a Navy base that’s been swelling with military construction projects to prepare for the new troops.

What’s less certain is what the Marines will do when they get here.

This U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, long a way station for passing jets and submarines, is about to become a hub for a force of 4,800 Marines who’ll be charged with readying for war and disasters in East Asia.

WNU Editor: There is a lot of Second World War history on these islands.