Change on the way: Guam to see new military command, increased presence

BY MAUREEN N. MARATITA
Journal Staff

Rear Adm. Gregory C. Huffman said that “2024 is going to be a very exceptional year. There are a lot of changes happening …All of those are going to result in an increase in the progress that we’re going to make for setting the posture the right way.”

June will mark a year that Huffman will have been in Guam. In his first months, he has made multiple visits not only to the NMI, but Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia as the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Representative.

“Under our current portfolio here at Joint Region Marianas, we have responsibility for Palau and for FSM. At this point we don’t have responsibility for the Marshall Islands. There is a plan for the future that that will come under our cognizance, but not directly for Joint Region Marianas. It will be part of Joint Task Force Micronesia, which is the new staff that is being stood up. This is a recognition by the leadership at INDOPACOM (the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command) that we need to make sure that we have a forward presence and an operationally minded staff that is ready at a moment’s notice to take command and control of any operational assets that are here in the region and also eventually have control of the Guam defense system.”

Huffman said plans are for a two-star command to be established in Guam and giving that command the operations responsibility.

“Some of the functions that I currently have as the senior military official for INDOPACOM will transfer over to Joint Task Force Micronesia. This two-star will take on those. That is actually working through right now,” he said. Currently, 15 personnel for Joint Task Force Micronesia are assigned to Guam, the admiral said.

That team is establishing where the staff will establish its headquarters and laying the groundwork for the “command and control relationships,” he said.

“It will certainly change the dynamic we have here on the island — having a new two-star command come in alongside Joint Region Marianas and alongside the 36th Wing up at Andersen Air Force Base.”

The U.S. Coast Guard in Guam changed its name to U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam and Micronesia in August 2022 to indicate its expanded relationship in the islands and its responsibility to the Marshall Islands. “They are already making and establishing those connections,” Huffman said. “I expect as this Joint Task Force Micronesia stands up; the two-star commander will then start establishing those same connections with the leadership in the Marshall Islands.

“The Joint Task Force will have overarching responsibility for all the forces,” the admiral said. “Separately, Joint Region Marianas will still remain a focus on the installation support aspect,” he said. “Things that we already do right now are going to shift over to the Joint Task Force, and the Joint Region Commander will be able to focus on all the construction that’s going on here on Guam and focus on installation support requirements. That will allow us to focus an adequate amount of attention to the outer islands … and have the capacity to effectively manage our installations.”

Oversight will include in Palau radar installations in Babeldaob, the runway in Peliliu, port improvements in Malakal, as well as runway and port improvements in Yap, the admiral said. “Those will continue on. The Joint Region engineer will have cognizance of that and broadly above that will be the Joint Task force commander, who will be interfacing with the leadership in those other islands as well as ensuring that the contracts and the projects are proceeding ..., and basically removing any barriers and ensuring that the prioritization is followed.”      
   
Huffman said changes indicate the importance of the region, as does the designation of Under Secretary of the Navy Erik Raven as the Department of Defense's lead senior defense official for Guam. “Really what it does is bring a very senior level of oversight to the projects here on Guam,” he said.

Guam’s construction timeline for Marine Corps Camp Blaz and numerous military construction awards in Guam and elsewhere have seen notable delays though the years.
MilCon projects will now fall under Raven’s leadership of the Guam Synchronization and Oversight Council, which he will co-chair with the undersecretary of Defense for acquisition and sustainment.

Capt. Troy Brown, commander of Naval Facilities Engineering and Systems Command Marianas; also serves as engineering officer for JRM, reporting not only to the admiral but to the NavFac chain. “It gives a lot of really good linkages across multiple organizations,” Huffman said. Brown is also the liaison with the contracting community, the admiral said. 

The number of military personnel will increase in Guam as the military buildup progresses. The island can expect to see about 700 U.S. Army and 200 support personnel, according to Journal files. 

“The Army personnel that are coming will largely be dedicated to operating and maintaining the Guam defense system — the Enhanced Integrated Anti-Missile Defense System that’s being developed and planned throughout the island,” Huffman said. “Where the Army is looking to position their people is probably not establishing a very large new base, but having their personnel operate either off of Andersen [Air Force Base] or off of Naval Base Guam, and then perhaps having a smaller administrative support function somewhere on the island. I think Barrigada’s been talked about a little bit, because of some existing property that’s there,” he said. “Those are still things in planning.”

Huffman said he expects plans will be clearer by the summer. Army personnel will come in what he said will be “a phased approach as the Guam defense system infrastructure matures. It will be a group of several hundred initially and then that will increase over time … ,” he said.

Guam will also see development of Polaris Point as a submarine maintenance repair facility, with an estimated 400 military personnel, as well as a work force of about 185, according to Journal files.

Booz Allen Hamilton was awarded Jan. 11 a two-year $10 million contact for a 5G network and asset tracking in Guam, according to a release from the company.
—which outnumber the U.S. military’s inventory.

“They are advancing rapidly, but the Guam defense system is taking into account all the current capabilities that we know the Chinese have, as well as their projections on their future capabilities. It’s bringing in new technology and fusing it together to address all of those potential adversary threats,” Huffman said.

The advent of the system in Guam will be significant, he said. “I do view it as a large deterrent. It’s a piece of our defense in depth that we have across all of the Pacific whether it’s other systems that are continuing monitoring or its our ships at sea. There always in a position to defend; this will be a part of that defense in depth for the island of Guam and the people of Guam.”

Military exercises in the region will continue. Hoffman said. “One of the big advantages that the United States has is bringing in allies and partners. We do that all across the spectrum of our associates and allies and fold them into all of our exercises …,” he said.

Guam and the region have a distinct advantage in the Marianas Range Complex, he said.

“That’s about 500,000 square miles of air and sea space that we are able to conduct exercise in and conduct really high-end training. That’s managed here by the folks at Joint Region Marianas.”

In 2024, the region can expect more multi-national exercises, following Sea Dragon in January and Cope North in February. Valiant Shield, which usually takes place in August is confirmed for this year. “That will be a substantial undertaking; I think in the order of about 3,000 personnel will be coming,” the admiral said. The U.S. Army’s Innovative Readiness Training exercise will also take place. That focuses on reserve training, but also provides health care to communities as it did in the NMI in 2023.

The Pacific Deterrence Initiative has multiple aims that include enhancing infrastructure, presence and readiness and funding includes basing, prepositioning and military exercises.

“I think what it was able to do was focus on the need to resource this region appropriately when it comes to the posture, the resilience, the exercises — the Pacific defense mission really did drive Congress to allocating resources towards this region, recognizing the importance of maintaining that free and secure Indo-Pacific.

Huffman is no stranger to Guam, having visited the island while deployed at sea. “The port visits I have done here in Guam have always been fantastic. … Guam was always looked upon as one of the best places to visit. Everybody is always so welcoming,” he said.

Port visits now include the Northern Mariana Islands. “I’ve been working very closely with the Seventh Fleet commanders and their schedulers to try and increase the number of port visits up to Saipan in particular,” Huffman said.

He and his wife, Judy — who is a member of a Guam paddling team — enjoy the opportunities to engage with the community in Guam and the admiral likened it to being welcomed into a family.

“My approach to all of this is to try and be that partner with people in the community.”

His aim for those connections is to “build an understanding of what the Department of Defense is planning and how we can be really good partners and identify issues and come to resolutions and solve any potential problems before they grow out of control.”

Such vehicles for building understanding are the Civilian Military Coordination Council in Guam and the CNMI Stakeholder meetings. “Those are both wonderful venues for us to formally connect with the leadership here on Guam and up in the CNMI.”

The Guam council first met in October 2010, spurred by the Marine Corps relocation and the coming Marine Corps Camp Blaz. “It was largely informational. It was an update to the governor and [the] cabinet on the status of the projects and how construction was proceeding along,” Huffman said. It was also intended to identify issues and work on solving them, he said.

“Over time the CMCC has grown to really encompass all the projects going on here on Guam and we’ve developed a large number of working groups as part of it.” The council typically meets every other month, the admiral said.

A couple of the working groups have been really successful, he said. Huffman recognized that housing in Guam could be potentially contentious. “I know that is an area of great concern as we bring more people here on an island where we have limited housing infrastructure — how can we work to accommodate that and bring everyone to get a good happy medium?”

While it may be practical to have certain groups live on bases, or certain personnel would prefer to do so, Huffman said there is no intent to mandate that personnel must do so.

“That’s not what we drive for. The traditional split on military installations is about 40% on-base and about 60% off-base. Here on Guam — due to what we have for capacity on-base and what we have out in the civilian community — we actually flip that a little bit. We strive for about 60% on base and about 40% off-base. That’s a robust number of people that will be living out in the community,” Huffman said. There is not enough capacity to support 100% of personnel living on-base, he said. Inbound numbers to Guam would also include civilian personnel, he said.

In addition, Andersen Air Force Base in Guam is set to receive half of Singapore’s F-15 fleet — about 12 planes, with accompanying infrastructure to be built, and the detachment formally established by 2029. “The intent right now and my understanding of that project is they will all live out in the community,” the admiral said.

Andersen has typically had a shortage of on-base housing, according to Journal files. Phase 1 of housing at the base was completed in January 2023, adding 38 units built by Black Construction Corp. In total, the project includes 186 family housing duplex units, with 154 three-bedroom units and 32 four-bedroom units. “There is a long term phased plan to address new construction of housing … and to revamp and rehabilitate some of the existing housing,” Huffman said.

Utilities and particularly power are also on the military’s radar, he said. “That is absolutely a concern, both for us from the military infrastructure side, but also — looking to be good partners with the community and understanding what the Guam Power Authority has for capacity and how we can help augment or be a good partner and take some loads off.”

That issue is part of planning for future construction and growth, he said “as we look to build in resiliency — especially in the power generation and power distribution systems. That’s where we think in terms of undergrounding electrical lines versus having the traditional above ground ones.” Those plans are in partnership with GPA, he said. “And we’re working with [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] on those types of projects to ensure that it’s a coordinated and synchronized approach,” he said.

John M. Benavente, general manager of GPA; met with FEMA’s Region 9 administrator in February to discuss the agency’s request for $6.4 billion in funding for the island’s Infrastructure Resiliency Plan. A regional engineering team meets with GPA weekly on ongoing projects, the admiral said, so that plans are coordinated and do not duplicate each other.

Huffman said Guam’s construction force ranks highly in national studies.

“The labor force here on Guam is one of the most skilled construction labor forces in the United States. In fact, our studies say that Guam is only behind two other states in terms of the actual percentage of construction workers — and those states include coal miners, which I think is a bit of a stretch.” The pool is limited based on the size of the population, he said.

“Given the amount of construction that is planned … that’s where those foreign workers come to be a big benefit for the contractors and for the work that needs to be done,” he said.

The Guam-CNMI H-2B visa program was extended to 2029 in December, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.

“That in our mind was a big milestone and a victory in ensuring we have the ability for the contractors to have confidence in the labor force going forward. It gives them more assurance that they can bid on these larger contracts for the work that’s going on.” Huffman said the handling of the foreign work force by the Guam Department of Labor and the Guam Department of Health is very effective,” the admiral said.

Stakeholder meetings are held quarterly with the NMI government, he said, with the opportunity for expansion if necessary. The next meeting is due in May. Huffman talks weekly with Gov. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero and Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, he said.

What is unique in the NMI is the work being done in Tinian, Huffman said. While Black Construction Corp. has the lion’s share of the divert airfield project, additional work is being carried out by military construction personnel. The 820th Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers, or RED HORSE, are restoring two runways and have been on the island since December. The presence of the Air Force personnel has been a plus for the economy, which the admiral called “a mutual benefit.”

The Navy’s Seabees also have personnel in the NMI. 

Huffman said while a new hospital in Guam is Leon Guerrero’s number one priority is establishing a medical complex, the opportunity to lease land in Mangilao has passed. “Some of that land is going to wind up being part of the Guam defense system now,” he said. Nevertheless, the status of hospitals and the number of beds on-island is discussed, Huffman said. “I think it’s recognized that we do need to increase our medical and healthcare capacity on the island and so that is certainly something that we discuss with the governor and we highlight that back to Washington, D.C. as well.”

On a contingency basis, Naval Hospital Guam has the ability to expand, the admiral said. “But that would be in the event of a catastrophe or a big emergency …,” he said.

As senior military official, Huffman also attended Compact Joint Committee Meetings with Palau and the FSM. Meetings will be in March in Hawaii with Palau and in May with the FSM in Guam. The lack of funding (not for the first time) for the Compacts of Free Association has been brought up, Huffman said. “In some respects, it’s a little embarrassing,” he said. mbj