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In Guam, the U.S. Military Presence Is in Full View

2023-07-17 00:00:00.0 纽约时报-亚洲新闻原网页

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Times Insider

In Guam, the U.S. Military Presence Is in Full View

A photographer spent three weeks documenting life on the island, which is a strategic location for American military operations.

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A U.S. Naval explosive-ordnance disposal team conducting a training exercise on Guam. Credit...Glenna Gordon for The New York Times

By Glenna Gordon

For an article in The New York Times Magazine, Glenna Gordon spent three weeks photographing U.S. military operations in Guam and how the military buildup on the island affects local life.

Published July 8, 2023Updated July 12, 2023

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In the North Atlantic, a tropical cyclone is called a hurricane. In the Western Pacific, it’s a typhoon.

I learned this as I prepared to travel to the U.S. territory of Guam in May. Typhoon Mawar had just torn through the island, stripping the bark off trees, flooding the main power station and leaving many without electricity for nearly a month.

I was there to photograph life on Guam for a New York Times Magazine article written by Sarah A. Topol. The article explores how the United States military is building up its forces on Guam and in other Pacific territories as tensions with China rise. Guam’s strategic location in the Pacific Ocean — it’s closer to the Philippines than it is to Hawaii — has resulted in centuries of exploitation, colonization and militarization, something I only began to truly understand during my visit.

I wanted to capture the military buildup on Guam and how the operations were affecting the lives of the people there.

I spent the first week driving around. On some days, the island felt like a San Diego suburb, with beige condos and Taco Bells. Other days, it was achingly beautiful, with turquoise lagoons lining the coast and flash rains bringing on giant rainbows.

I also spent time with veterans and activists. I learned how the CHamoru language of Guam’s Indigenous people, and their culture, had been decimated by outside occupiers. I saw what it meant to wage small battles against intrusion — and to keep your sense of self through the struggles.

Ten days after I arrived, I was able to tour the U.S. military bases, accompanied by public affairs officers. On Naval Base Guam, I boarded a nuclear-powered submarine. I went out on the water with the Coast Guard while it simulated an information systems failure. I photographed members of the elite U.S. Naval explosive-ordnance disposal team as they jumped out of helicopters.

I took small planes and visited two of the nearby Northern Mariana Islands, Saipan and Tinian, each of which is smaller than Guam but has a similar political history. These three tiny islands have played pivotal roles in global affairs since the days of Spain’s maritime empire. The American planes that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II took off from Tinian. And these islands are where America is now amassing troops and building huge infrastructure to prepare for potential conflicts.

I stayed in Guam for three weeks — longer than I had planned, because of the typhoon. By the time I left, leaves had already begun sprouting on the battered trees. Here are just a few of the images I took, with background information following them.

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