“From where we are today — 9,700 or so active-duty members — that’s going to be a growth of … maybe even 7,000. We’re somewhere between total of 16,000 and 17,000 military members here — well, well shy of the 26,000 at the height of the Vietnam era; still shy of the 20,000 or so in the Cold War era. Yes, we’re building up, but it’s not going past what we’ve had in the past.”
— Rear Adm. Benjamin R. Richardson, commander of Joint Region Marianas, speaking at the Sept. 28 membership luncheon of the Guam Chamber of Commerce at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa.
Nicholson said military construction would bring $1.2 billion to $2 billion of construction annually for the next seven or eight years. “The tail end of that is going to be a whole bunch of jobs to sustain those facilities,” he said.
