Lance Cpl. Juan De La Cerda moves into his new barracks room at Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz, Guam, May, 16, 2025. (Brayden Daniel/U.S. Marine Corps)
The first group of U.S. Marines and sailors moved into newly constructed barracks on Guam on Friday, marking a key milestone for the Marine Corps’ newest installation, which is still under development.
About 50 junior enlisted personnel relocated from Andersen Air Force Base to bachelor enlisted quarters on Camp Blaz’s main cantonment, base spokeswoman Maj. Diann Rosenfield told Stars and Stripes by email Monday.
Additional service members living on Naval Base Guam are expected to move into the facility later this month, she said.
The barracks were originally slated to open in June, but Secretary of the Navy John Phelan directed that they open by Friday, Marine Corps Headquarters spokeswoman Capt. Brenda Leenders said by email Tuesday.
The 300-room facility can house up to 600 service members and includes a common area with a kitchen, laundry facilities, study spaces and recreational areas, according to a Monday news release from the installation.
“This marks the beginning of life on Camp Blaz’s Main Cantonment,” base commander Col. Ernest Govea said in the release. “Marines and Sailors are going to finally be able to live on the base and have an improved quality of life and readiness.”
Blaz was officially activated in 2020, becoming the first new Marine base in 72 years. Construction is ongoing, with seven more enlisted barracks still in progress. Once complete, the eight barracks will accommodate approximately 4,800 Marines.
“It is really unique to be able to be the first person to move into a barracks room, and that will probably never happen again in my career,” Lance Cpl. Juan Dela Cerda, an administrative clerk, said in the release. “Besides how unique it is, it’s just nice to have a place to call my own.”
Two bachelor officer quarters, each designed for 388 Marines, are also under construction, Rosenfeld said last month.
Another 30 projects — including a third officer quarters, a warehouse and a dining facility — are expected to be completed by the end of this fiscal year, said Rachel Landers, spokeswoman for the office in charge of construction at Blaz.
“Most projects do not have a formal ‘completion’ like a ribbon cutting but are turned over to the Marine Corps through a gradual process called ‘activation,’” she said by email Monday.
The base will eventually host approximately 4,000 Marines relocating from Okinawa as part of a 2012 agreement between the United States and Japan to reduce the American military footprint on the southern Japanese island. Nearly 30,000 of the 55,000 troops in Japan are based on Okinawa.
About 1,300 members of III Marine Expeditionary Force are expected to be permanently stationed on Guam, while another 3,700 will rotate through the island on temporary deployments.
