The island's top military official said he believes the relocation of thousands of Marines from Okinawa will ultimately be good for Guam.

In a speech today before the Chamber of Commerce, Rear Admiral John Menoni says he knows many are concerned about the Marine influx, but through his experience, he can vouch for them as good people.

"I'll tell you they're some of the finest individuals you'll ever meet, and they're the best guys to have at your back when you're in the middle of a scrape," he said. "So I believe that the marines coming here, I truly believe that it will be a benefit to the island. I'm sure there's an economic benefit to them coming here. But there's the bigger benefit of having another diverse group of people who we know stand up for what's right coming to our island and being our partners, friends and neighbors."

The Admiral said from what he's been briefed on, the military construction projects are on schedule and on cost, and won't be delayed by budget diversions for the U.S. southern border wall. But as the responsible steward, Menoni says it's their job to make sure they don't do harm to any sites they build on.

"A lot of talk has been made about pausing construction on some of these sites," he said. "And what the senators saw, I think it was two weeks ago when we went up to the sites, is that we're always pausing construction on these sites. We pause anytime we find something."

He says if its culturally significant, they work with the state historic preservation officer and follow the agreed-to preservation process. The Admiral estimates that the military has spent more than $100 million on environmental and cultural stewardship in the last five years alone.

"So when people say that we're just going out there bulldozing trees or kicking over latte stones, that's not the case," he said. "That may have been in the past, and I'm talkin 50, 60, 70 years ago in the past. That's not the way we do business today."