all of this undoubtedly affects the military agenda on guam. before leaving a year ago, everything still seemed to be up in the air as activists vehemently expressed their opinions against the pending build up. my career was temporarily distracted when i worked on designing/programming/building facilities for a federal contractor for the last year before i returned to california. eventually the cause followed me after i moved - when i was offered a job that would give me the opportunity to be directly involved with managing the buildup. it was clear that it was behind schedule and severely short-staffed. this is the single largest entity keeping the island's economy afloat by continued use of the federal government's resources. it would allow people on island more jobs and, above all, a new hope that quality of life would improve with the planned improvements on infrastructure, utilities, and dormant land. but for for countless others, this meant a new fighting spirit and a reason to speak up against those that threatened their language, ancestral lands, and local demographic. so if the military were to scale down on their missions in fighting terrorism now that this message has hit the masses, our little island may see different kinds of changes although tacked on to the larger agenda of relocating the personnel from okinawa.
and to this day, these battles remain unresolved. but at least, there's now a yougrtland on guam. (that can be saved for an entirely separate entry).
