How does one get inside the gate? Do you know what it looks like inside? What are the markers that designate the other two points?

Michelle

I took pictures of those beauties. But I want to thank you for featuring Guam on your blog. And that second look at the lovelies didn’t hurt.

Howie

Your story is interesting. It would make a great novel, movie or TV series. I don’t know if I believe in some mysterious gate but I like anything that puts Guam at it head.

While you were in the hospital I mentioned that Guam will be changing its name to Guahan.

This is some information about one of the men who will be heading the Guam build up.
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Fil-Am officer heads $15-B US military buildup in Guam
By Robert Gonzaga
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:32:00 02/21/2010

Filed Under: Labor, Infrastructure, People, Military
Most Read
OLONGAPO CITY—As a young recruit in the US Navy 30 years ago, the man who would rise to the highest reaches of the world’s remaining military superpower could not have dreamt of the impact he would have on the world.

But Capt. Ulysses Zalamea, 53, the Filipino-American US naval officer in charge of the planning and execution of the $15-billion US military buildup in Guam, would show through his rapid rise soon after he joined the US Navy that he had “the right stuff.”

Zalamea said about $1 billion worth of projects are scheduled to be completed or begun this year.

After finishing his training at Recruit Training Command in San Diego, California, he was assigned as enlisted recruiting officer to the US Navy in Los Angeles.

From there, he went on to command the USS Oak Hill and serve in the Pentagon and various posts in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as the US representative.

Today, he is the deputy director of the Joint Guam Program Office.

Zalamea, who hails from Pagsanjan, Laguna, is the highest ranking Filipino-American in the US Navy, Dean Alegado, executive director of the Association of Pacific Islands Local Government (APILG) Conference, told businessmen, contractors, Olongapo City officials and tourism workers on Tuesday.

Bemedalled officer

Zalamea, who was recruited by the Navy here in Subic in 1977, distinguished himself and received the Meritorious Service Medal Award thrice, the Navy Commendation Medal six times, and the Navy Achievement Medal. These were only a few among the many accolades he has received over the years.

Alegado said Zalamea was the “main draw” of the opening last Feb. 18 of the third APILG conference that tackled the Guam military buildup that would need the services of skilled Filipino workers and contractors. The conference ends Sunday.

Zalamea, who earned his undergraduate degree from the Far Eastern University in Manila, will be in charge of the “most important and biggest infrastructure projects in the Pacific region in the last 30 years,” Alegado said.

“The objective of the conference is to take advantage of the massive development in Guam in terms of supplying skilled workers and creating business opportunities for Filipino contractors and service providers,” he said.

The buildup came about after the US government approved the relocation of its naval base from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam starting 2012.

Zalamea said the project will start this year.

“We have over 200 proposals from contractors from all over and we are going to narrow it down to four or five,” Zalamea said.

He said four or five companies will tap subcontractors in Guam, the Pacific region or the US mainland for the project.

“I hope I can open doors for other Filipinos as the US Navy has given me so much opportunity when I was starting out. The buildup in Guam is one such opportunity for Filipino businessmen and workers,” he said.

Alignment of stars

Alegado said: “With Zalamea attending the conference and being the main speaker, all the stars are aligning for us. I hope we can take advantage of that.”

So far, the response of local governments and Filipino businessmen has been “overwhelmingly positive,” he said.

He said over 1,500 contractors had signed up for contractual bidding processes, which were earlier conducted in Washington, Honolulu and Guam. About 50 of them are Filipino-owned, mostly contractors for manpower services.

Major engineering work will proceed for the next four years, while 14,200 military personnel and their 38,070 dependents will move to Guam from Okinawa from 2012 to 2016.

Aurelio Pineda, president of the Metro Olongapo Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MOCCI), said Filipino contractors who plan to operate in or send workers to Guam for the build-up project are getting a shot at being close to the key players during the conference.

“Contractors will process those who will work in Guam. They will have to be accredited by the US Navy for security reasons, but the responsibility will be up to them. This policy protects our workers against illegal recruiters,” he said.

“Attending this conference will clear up all the questions in the minds of contractors and community leaders. The key players in the Guam buildup will be here to do that. This is a networking opportunity for Filipino businessmen.”

To waive US visas

Pineda said Olongapo establishments were preparing a “warm welcome.”

“We are thankful that they have chosen Olongapo to host this conference. We want to expose them to the tourism attractions in Subic and Olongapo,” he said.

Councilor Edwin Piano, who heads the city’s Guam Build-Up task force, said the quota of Filipino workers who can be sent to Guam, pegged at only 7,000, had been waived. Olongapo’s target of sending more than 20,000 skilled workers to Guam is now possible, he said.

Paving the way for the hiring of Filipino workers is a bill filed in the Guam legislature that would also waive the need for US visas, Piano said.

“Getting those visas is hard and expensive so this is another welcome development for us,” he said.

Mayor James Gordon Jr. said that after two years of working to create opportunities for workers and businessmen in Guam, “we are prepared for the buildup. Our intent is to bring skilled workers and Filipino investors to Guam. We want a piece of that action.”

He said the exodus of skilled workers to Guam had started in Olongapo with the shipyard there “recruiting exclusively Filipinos who are well trained.”

Underwater welders

“Most are underwater welders. They are highly paid. We are the preferred source of workers in Guam,” Gordon also said.

He also said the island’s nearness to the Philippines would create an opportunity for medical tourism for Olongapo and the rest of the country.

“Guam is only three and a half hours away from here. Everything is falling into place in medical tourism. In Olongapo, there are high-quality hospitals. We want patients in Guam to come here,” he said.

US military personnel, contractors, and mayors from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Belau, the American Samoa, Hawaii and Guam are taking part in the APILG conference.
____________________________________

Peter

During a CT Scan of my chest they discovered a tumor called a Thymoma, which is a tumor of the Thymus gland located in between the lungs. I must have it removed after recovering from my accident.

I have tried to respond to those who wrote to me and left some comments yesterday and a couple today. I am trying to read the blog for the past week and a half of my absennce in order to catch up on things.

I need to rest now. Every breath I take hurts. I will remain in touch, but I must rest for now. Feel free to ask any question you may have for me and I will try to get to them.

HOWIE

You can not get it all at once. You already know it is a flat isosceles triangle. Its height is as much as 35,000 feet tall. It has two more coordinates on this planet. I will tell you that the entrance is at the short length of the triangle, not the two equal lengths.

Do you realize that this has been a mystery for millennia for Aliens? They want to know how it functions too. They do not know who or what created it or what it is for. Neither do we Earthlings. I will ask what more can be told. I will check with my crystal ball.

What would it be used for? More war? Will it be used as a gate like on the TV series ‘Stargate SG1?’

Be patient and more clues will be revealed. I promise. This is real and not sci-fi. The U.S Military is massing on Guam in order to figure out this puzzle.

What does one do once one enters it? Where will it take you? This is all included in its construction.

HOWIE

Let’s get right to it. Which part of the triangle does the Trench represent. Is it the point that forms the apex between the equal sides or is it a part of the base?

Which direction does the apex point? How big is the triangle. How does one enter it?