Guam is strategically important to the United States, housing both an Air Force and Navy base. Here, a US F-16 flies along the island's coastline. Photo: Guam Airforce
Guam's Acting Governor Josh Tenorio says military activity is ramping up on the island at an unprecedented rate and he wants assurances from the United States that disruptions will be minimal.
But a former Guam delegate to the US Congress, Robert Underwood, said he has been in rooms where the US territory has been described as a pawn in Washington's "war games".
He expressed concerns about the risks of proposed missile testing, disruptions to people's lives and its housing market.
"Haven't [the US Military] asked too much of [Guam] already and what else do we have to give?," Underwood, who is now the chair of the Pacific Island Security Centre, said.
"Why are we the first strike community for the United States? Who do they think we are as a people?," he added.
The militarisation of the US territory is among a raft of issues Guamanians are facing, including a long-standing fight for radiation compensation over nuclear fallout from US nuclear weapons testing in the nearby Marshall Islands, which was recently blocked in Congress.
Missile defence testing twice a year for the next decade could soon be a reality for the people of Guam.
The territory is not only a military base - but home for 170,000 people and a tourist destination for over a million Japanese and South Korean travellers annually.
Underwood said while most people there had a "positive view of their military...they're now waking up to the fact that their daily lives are being disrupted".
"Guam is simply thought of as a set piece in a grand chess game.
"But of course in this set piece there is a lot of people. They are being asked to not just sacrifice their land and disrupt their life. They are not being informed about it in a timely way to ameliorate or perhaps change the plans."
The US plans to build an integrated 360-degree missile defence system on the island.
Underwood described the systems potential to be similar to Israel's Iron Dome.
The island's expanding airfields and ports serve as springboards for American ships, submarines and bombers.
But Tenorio is not comfortable using the comparison until "more information" about the true nature of the defence system is revealed.
'Blessed and burned'
Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia, sitting north of Papua New Guinea.
It was fully colonised by Spain for 217 years until the Spanish-American War, when the US took over in 1898.
Tenorio said although the island is now self-governing, Washington takes full advantage its geo-strategic location.
"Our island is blessed and burned with our geography. I really do believe our island unfortunately is going to be considered for use to advance either a military or economic agenda of foreign power."
The US Missile Agency gave Guam just 30 days to look through hundreds of pages worth of documents.
Tenorio has called for a 60-day extension on submissions concerned about potential disruptions...but so far there's been no response.
"There is a risk to landowners and their properties. Private property owners access to their homes will be affected", he said.
However, he is hopeful after receiving acknowledgement of the extension that there would be a response soon.
Tenorio admits it is only just the beginning of a much bigger plan.
"It is unprecedented the amount of activity that is happening within a condensed period of time."
Submissions for missile testing close 5 July unless the US Missile Agency agrees to an extension.
The US Missile Agency is yet to respond to RNZ Pacific's interview requests.
Underwood said the US Armed Forces were responsible for driving up the housing market, saying the average house price had increased "dramatically, it is a disruption to the housing market".
The US military holds about 29 percent Guam's land and stations several thousand troops on the island.
The military population is expected to grow by 40 percent over the next decade which would further exacerbate the issue, Underwood said.
"Ten percent of the island are living in multi-generational households because housing is at a premium," he added.
A satellite image of Guam. Andersen Air Force base is in the top-right corner, while the Naval base is on the left. Photo: Wikimedia commons
RECA - Fight for nuclear exposure compensation
Meanwhile, Guam is also fighting another battle: nuclear compensation.
Guam was exposed to nuclear fallout from Pacific nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958 when more than 60 nuclear and hydrogen bombs were detonated.
Guam downwinders and survivors exposed to nuclear fallout are determined to continue advocating for compensation, advocating for an expansion to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA).
But RECA, the 1990 legislation that provided financial compensation for atomic test downwinders in three states and pre-1971 uranium miners, expired on 10 June.
Pacific Association of Radiation Survivors president and atomic veteran Robert Celestial has spent 23 years trying to convince the US Congress to provide compensation.
Celestial said they will continue their fight.
"We are disappointed...but we are not going to quit," he said.
"We proved the nuclear exposure scientifically, but it's just Speaker [Mike] Johnson acknowledging the truth. I don't know what the political moves are in Congress but it's been a difficult fight."
RNZ Pacific has contacted House Speaker Johnson's office for comment.
"When I was in the army, I was stationed in the Marshall Islands to do the nuclear clean-up. The majority of my comrades and myself we all got sick.
"The impact here in Guam was even worse because from 1946-1962 it was kept secret."
The total number of victims impacted by the nuclear fallout is unknown and 90 percent have since died.
But the health impacts to radiation exposure long-term have been devastating.
"The people of Guam is suffering from cancers, birth defects and and other diseases.
"It is very painful knowing something happened to you years ago and now you are reaping the consequences of what the US Congress did to the people of Guam."
US Air Force Captain Chris Gullo conducts an inspection of a C-130J Super Hercules at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam before last year's mission to deliver goods to the Pacific Photo: Richard P. Ebensberger/US Air Force
The impacts to radiation exposure was kept secret until 1964 when the Nuclear Advisory Committee declassified historical records of nuclear proliferation.
The US has instead invested $60 million to mitigate threats and testing weapons in the name of defence around Guam.
Tenorio said threats Guam had heightened over the past decade.
"Our population has been quite alarmed by the threats made by the government of North Korea, China and very much concerned with the recent developments between the Russians and the North Koreans."
Underwood said the US military must own the consequences of their presence on the island.
In December, 100 US Marines will move to Guam from Japan's Okinawa as the first of 4000 members of the armed force set to be relocated under a long-agreed bilateral plan.
