HAGATNA, Guam – This tiny Pacific island has several nicknames. There is “the tip of the spear” because it is the closest U.S. territory to potential hot spots in Asia, such as North Korea and the South China Sea.

There is “America’s unsinkable aircraft carrier,” because the island is home to a huge Air Force base. And then there is “Fortress Pacific,” because of the huge military buildup that is planned to take place over the next decade.

But Guam’s population calls it by another name: Ours. And a sizable portion wants a real say in how it is run.

“This American territory is not enjoying democracy, where citizens can determine who their leader will be and what laws will be put upon them,” said Republican Gov. Eddie Baza Calvo, who has called a vote for November on Guam’s political status. “It’s up to our people to decide which way to go: whether to be fully in union with the United States or to chart a separate course.”

A “decolonization commission” is set to report to Calvo next month on whether to proceed with the plebiscite, which would give Guamanians three alternatives to their current status as a U.S. territory. That status – shared by Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands – confers U.S. citizenship on people born here but does not give them the right to vote in presidential elections or a voting representative in Congress.

The three alternatives under consideration are:

– Statehood, which would give Guam all the rights (and burdens) of being a state, albeit a very small one, with a population less than one-third that of Wyoming.

– Free association with administrative power, like Palau and the Marshall Islands.

– Independence, which would make Guam a (minuscule) sovereign state.

The vote would not be binding – only Congress can change Guam’s political status – but would be symbolic of the territory’s sentiment.

The issue has been simmering for years but returned to the political front burner with the Pentagon’s preparations to relocate thousands of troops stationed on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to here.

The issue of Guam’s political status is complicated. Some on the 30-mile-long tropical island of only 160,000 people resent the U.S. military presence but do not want to give up their American passports. Some want greater independence but want their taxes to stay here on the island, as they do now, rather than going into the federal coffers. Some fear the lack of opportunity if they could no longer travel freely to the mainland.

It is also controversial. People who have lived here for half a century take issue with the way the vote is being structured, saying it unfairly favors the Chamorro people. Only people who can trace their roots on the island back to 1950, when the island became an unincorporated territory, will be allowed to vote.

Local business representatives think that moving to lessen or get rid of the military presence on Guam would be economic suicide.

“As a business person, I wonder if they have thought through the economic aspects of the decisions they want to make,” said Joe Arnett, an accountant who has lived on Guam for 32 years and runs the armed forces committee for the local chamber of commerce.

“The U.S. federal government puts $600 million a year into Guam through Social Security and taxes paid by military personnel stationed here. That’s not including food stamps and school lunches and things like that,” he said.

Almost $9 billion has been earmarked for the base expansion and support facilities, one-third of which will be moved from Japan. In the north of Guam, preparations are underway. The Pentagon has unlocked $309 million for the first phase of construction of the new Marine base, which will be built on existing military land lined with palm trees. Next door at the Andersen Air Force Base, where B-52 bombers were lined up on the runway this week, construction workers were building a new hangar that will be part of the expanded footprint.

But the buildup will be long and slow. The first wave of 2,500 Marines is expected here by 2022, with the remainder due by 2027.

Guam, home to a large U.S. air base, could see a vote on its political status in November. Statehood, independence and free association are under consideration. MUST CREDIT: Photo courtesy of Petty Officer 1st Class Ace Rheaume, U.S. Navy Combat Camera

U.S. Navy