The United States Navy has big things planned for Guam. With the military buildup and the Navy's commitment to the "One Guam" concept, Rear Admiral Bette Bolivar is making sure her interaction with the community is positive.

With five of the US's top 15 trading partners in the Pacific and three of the four largest economies in our part of the world, Rear Admiral Bolivar addressed island Rotarians about the priority to have a successful Department of Defense re-balance in the Pacific. "The DOD isn't the sole entity that makes the re-balance a peaceful transition," she said. "However, other government and non-government entities just like your rotary can make a reality."

Bolivar says that in the years to come Guam will be home to four submarines with the addition of the USS Topeka and 5,000 additional US Marines. Also as part of the Marine Corps' buildup Bolivar says that there is an alternative proposal to make NCTAMS part of the buildup, Bolivar said, "In terms of transparency in terms of working with the government, I have met several times with the speaker of the house as well as the governor. In fact, next a week from now we will be briefing the legislature all the senators on the buildup as well as what the way ahead is."

Bolivar says that productive military and civilian interactions are important to continue the dialogue, and provide the commander of Joint Region Marianas with ideas on how to do things better, make the transition amenable and make the commitment to the "One Guam" approach concept possible. But ensuring there is transparency between the feds and the local government is not the only thing on Bolivar's calendar, as she noted, "Right now, we are making preps to open up the base for Friendship Day, and we are going through all of the wickets in terms of doing security plans and all of that but are plan is to open up Naval Base Guam around the 20th of June to the community."

While the date is tentative, Friendship Day will include sporting activities and various festivities to give the island community a look at what the Navy does on Guam.