NYTM: Guam and the American Military 

Guam has played a role in nearly every major global conflict due to its strategic location in the Pacific Ocean – directly above the deepest spot on earth, the Mariana Trench, closer to the Philippines than Hawaii -- an American colony lawmakers and politicians often overlook. 

Throughout centuries of imperialism and colonialism, the CHamoru people indigenous to the island have been decimated by outside occupiers. Many activists still wage small battles of intrusion, and maintain a sense of self through these struggles.

And yet, Guam has the highest rates of service in the American military per capita, with 7500 veterans on an island of 154,000 people, and the lowest rates of available veteran services. Aside from the enlisted, Guam is deeply segregated, with military and locals interacting primarily through service roles, echoing a colonial history.

And, now, this small island is where America will train for and possibly stage its next global war.  “Who is Serving?” questions both the role of the military on Guam, and the role the CHamoru play in the military. These images explore an often forgotten island where the past and the present collide in the shadow of the largely unseen military industrial complex.

In a time of growing global tensions, will our world’s superpowers go to war? And will the war begin in Guam? 

Read Sarah A. Topol's cover story for NYTM, and a Times Insider piece about these images.