Guam’s military buildup has involved changing troop plans, large construction budgets, and pressure on housing, ports, roads, utilities, and labor. The figures below span planning documents and later assessments, so dates matter: early projections are not interchangeable with later plans or current defense-system reporting.
Contents
- Original relocation and population projections
- Revised Marine plans and Camp Blaz
- Military construction funding and timing
- Construction capacity and labor
- Housing, ports, and cargo
- Roads, cement, and power
- Defense infrastructure reported in 2025
Original relocation and population projections
The early Defense Department plan described in GAO-09-500R called for relocating more than 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam. The same plan estimated that about 9,000 dependents would move with them. Together, the planned military population increase was projected at 25,000 active-duty personnel and dependents.
That projected increase was described as 14.6% of Guam’s population. GAO-09-500R put Guam’s population before the buildup at 171,000 and projected a population of 196,000 after the buildup. These are planning-era population figures, not a single measured population series.
| Early planning measure | Figure | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| Marines planned to relocate | More than 8,000 | GAO-09-500R planning estimate |
| Dependents planned to relocate | 9,000 | GAO-09-500R planning estimate |
| Projected added active-duty personnel and dependents | 25,000 | GAO-09-500R projection |
| Guam population before buildup | 171,000 | GAO-09-500R planning baseline |
| Projected population after buildup | 196,000 | GAO-09-500R projection |
| Estimated buildup cost | More than $13 billion | GAO-09-500R estimate |
GAO-09-500R said the Defense Department planned to begin construction in fiscal year 2010 and targeted completion in fiscal year 2014. It also reported that the department estimated Guam’s civilian budget needs at about $6.1 billion for fiscal year 2010. The civilian-budget figure and the more-than-$13-billion buildup estimate describe different funding needs and should not be added together without a defined accounting basis.
Revised Marine plans and Camp Blaz
Later planning reduced the size of the Marine relocation. GAO-11-459R reported that about 8,600 Marines were to move under the Defense Policy Review Initiative, along with about 9,000 dependents. That report also said the Guam-based Defense Department population was expected to grow from about 15,000 in 2007 to about 39,000 by 2020.
The 2012 roadmap adjustments later reduced the original relocation from 8,600 Marines to approximately 5,000 Marines. The Navy’s environmental planning material said the adjustment also changed family-housing and training requirements. In the preferred alternative described in the 2015 supplemental environmental impact statement, family housing was placed at Andersen Air Force Base and the cantonment was placed at NCTS Finegayan.
The live-fire training range complex alternative placed the live-fire training range at Andersen Air Force Base-Northwest Field and included a stand-alone hand-grenade range at Andersen South. These location choices show that the buildup was a distributed infrastructure program rather than a single construction site.
Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz was activated on October 1, 2020, according to Navy News. Navy News described it as the first new Marine Corps base activated since March 1, 1952. The base was planned to house approximately 5,000 Marines, who were expected to begin relocating from Okinawa in the first half of the 2020s.
Military construction funding and timing
Funding figures changed as the plans evolved. GAO-11-459R said military construction funding for the buildup would be about $7.5 billion for fiscal years 2009 through 2016. Separately, DoD News reported that the department had committed about $11 billion in military construction funding on Guam over the next five years as of December 2021.
The schedule also shifted. GAO-11-459R reported that Defense Department and Japanese officials said the Marine relocation would not meet the previously targeted fiscal year 2014 date. The later Camp Blaz timeline and the 2012 roadmap adjustment therefore belong to a different planning stage from the original GAO-09-500R schedule.
The 2019 NAVFAC Guam Construction Capacity Assessment projected that planned Defense Department construction from 2018 to 2030 would peak at $939 million in fiscal year 2012 dollars in 2022. Including private and municipal work, the assessment estimated peak construction on Guam during the DPRI buildup at $1.3 billion. Because one figure is Defense Department construction and the other includes private and municipal work, they measure different scopes.
Construction capacity and labor
The 2019 NAVFAC assessment identified labor availability as a major constraint. It said Guam lacked an adequate organic labor pool and needed off-island non-immigrant labor. H-2B visa workers were identified as necessary to meet construction demand. The five main unfilled trades were carpentry, cement masonry, reinforcing metal work, heavy equipment operation, and electrical work.
The assessment reported that 938 H-2B workers were accepted in Guam in 2019. It estimated that the local construction workforce requirement could reach about 2,000 workers. For workers from non-listed countries such as the Philippines, H-2B visa application costs were reported at about $40,000 per 20 foreign workers.
Worker housing capacity was also quantified. CoreTech had housing capacity for 1,286 workers, while Black Construction had capacity for 1,282 workers. Their combined stated capacity was 2,568 workers, but the assessment said the two firms had 1,308 usable beds after its filtering assumptions. It projected that 1,400 company-provided beds would be needed for the buildout in 2020.
These figures are not interchangeable: nominal housing capacity, filtered usable beds, and projected beds needed describe different conditions. The assessment also recorded 18,868 dormitory-type units in the existing private housing supply.
Housing, ports, and cargo
The port and cargo estimates illustrate the scale of the planned construction period. The 2019 NAVFAC assessment said Port of Guam breakbulk storage grew from 7.7 acres to 9 acres in 2016. After the expansion, breakbulk utilization fell from 96% to 82%. The report nevertheless modeled container-yard utilization at nearly 80% during the peak construction period.
The Port of Guam had three 50-gage gantry cranes, and a fourth crane was being procured to meet peak demand. A $50 million Maritime Administration grant helped address port-capacity issues. The report said the port crane replacement and cargo projects were intended to meet peak demand in 2022.
The peak-year traffic model assumed 81,972 truck trips to the main cantonment area, 14,894 trips to the family-housing area, and 11,954 trips to the training area. The assessment also stated that moving more than 82,000 containers in the peak year equaled 1,577 containers per week and 316 containers per day.
For its storage model, each shipping container was treated as 10 by 20 feet, or 200 square feet. The storage-area multiplier was 2.5 times the container footprint. The assessment said the 2022 peak storage need for breakbulk cargo was based on 96% utilization of the pre-expansion 7.7 acres, rather than the later 9-acre area.
Roads, cement, and power
The 2019 NAVFAC assessment said the haul-road network had undergone significant roadway, intersection, and bridge improvements since 2010. Route 3 widening at Route 28 Chalan Kareta was scheduled for January 2020. Route 1/8 intersection improvements and replacement of the Agana bridges were reported as 95% complete.
The same assessment scheduled resurfacing for Route 1, Route 8, and the Route 8/Canada-Toto Loop Road for March 2019. Island-wide bridge inspections were scheduled for December 2019. These dates are schedule statements from the assessment, not completion confirmations.
Cement capacity was quantified separately from general construction capacity. Hanson Cement imported about 3,600 tons per month and could handle up to 250,000 tons per year. Cementon imported about 2,000 tons per month and could handle about 72,000 tons per year. Combined imports averaged 5,600 tons per month, or 67,200 tons per year, while combined capacity was roughly 322,000 tons per year. The assessment described that combined capacity as about 4.8 times current use.
The report said Guam cement storage and distribution capacity was sufficient for the 2022 peak construction period. It also said power-generation capacity was adequate, while the Cabras 1 & 2 replacement plant was a 180-megawatt plant nearing the end of its life.
Defense infrastructure reported in 2025
The later GAO-25-108187 report described Guam as home to more than 170,000 Americans. Its defense-system description included six missile launchers and one radar. GAO also said the Defense Department had not fully identified the personnel required for the Guam Defense System as of March 2025.
The same report stated that the Defense Department planned to complete some sustainment planning by December 2026. That is a future planning date, not a reported completion date. It should also be kept distinct from the earlier fiscal year 2014 completion target, which GAO-11-459R reported would not be met for the Marine relocation.
Taken together, the available figures show a buildup measured in several ways: planned Marine and dependent relocations, changing population forecasts, billions of dollars in military construction, a projected 2022 construction peak, labor and bed requirements, and defense assets reported in 2025. The different sources and dates are essential to interpreting the numbers accurately.