How will they all fit on Guam?

[unhappycamper]

How will they all fit on Guam?
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, September 25, 2007


Nearly 40,000 new military personnel and family members would move to Guam in coming years as part of the Pentagon’s overall plans to build up troop strength and operations on the island, according to the retired Marine general charged with directing the expansion.

That includes the often-reported 8,000 Marines and their families who are expected to move to Guam by 2014. But the big picture also calls for an Army ballistic defense missile station and servicemembers to support periodic visits by aircraft carriers, according to retired Maj. Gen. David Bice, executive director of the Joint Guam Project Office.

The numbers do not include thousands of sailors on the carriers, which are expected to visit the island three times a year for three-week visits, according to Bice’s office and a report released this month from the Government Accountability Office.

And the announced increases — 39,130 estimated servicemembers and their families — also don’t include long-term contractors, teachers and other civilian workers needed to support the troops, according to the GAO, Congress’s auditing and investigative arm.

Those 39,130 people alone would increase the island’s population of 171,000 by nearly 23 percent. Currently, there are about 14,000 servicemembers and family members on Guam.

To make room, the military could need more than its current footprint of 40,000 acres on the island, according to the report. That would mark a shift from previous officials’ statements that they would build on existing military land, which covers 29 percent of the island.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49000

[babylonsister]

1. Boy, having lived on Guam, I don't envy them at all! Thanks for the article. nt