Copyright guampdn
A decade or two from now, the younger generation will be asking their elders how did you let this happen: our island subservient to the military, poor communities outside the fence while immaculate neighborhoods for the military, and our heritage forgotten or destroyed? We have been told that in the first quarter of the 21st century, Uncle Sam literally threw billions of dollars at us, which just seems to have vanished and with no accountability or tangible evidence that the money was wisely used to insure a future for the people of Guam. Our health care, environment, and trash problems just got worse. The not-so-pleasant history was that the greed of a few became richer as most of the money also vanished to overseas interests. Our beaches became trashed, our parks ruined, our historic sites ignored, forests destroyed, and the island became pock-marked with coral pits. The military controls more of our land when they said they would not acquire any more land. The government of Guam sanctioned military destruction of ancient CHamoru villages as long as we received the artifacts in boxes. The military commitment to improve and maintain Tanguisson Beach did not happen. Many now live four generations crowded in poor housing while the focus for housing development is toward the high-end obviously for the military and not the local people. Many aunts, uncles, and cousins now live on the mainland because of the Guam housing costs and no civil defense on the island. Rather clearly looking back, it was apparent that glowing statements of just blindly supporting the military only resulted in the island becoming just one big military base with what was left of the civilian community providing services and industrial facilities to the military. Tourism vanished as rather obviously visitors did not want to vacation with the military. In 2025, a tourism golf course became a solar farm, due to the demands for power for the military, instead of needed CHamoru homesteads. Some of the closed hotels were leased to the military for housing needed for the massive increase of military personnel that descended on the island. Apparently, the politicians in our island’s recent history had not learned to be assertive and fight for the people of Guam, but were blinded by the illusion of wealth as obviously too many just valued the dollars and not the good of the community of Guam. There was no vision for the island’s future by our leaders who were immersed in petty political squabbles and failed to look toward our future. Instead, we have been guided by the military who have their own vision for the future of Guam.
