Guam serves as Pacific "springboard" for U.S. forces: commander

A 16-year-old plan to transfer a significant number of U.S. Marines from the Japanese island prefecture of Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam continues to make sense strategically and politically, a U.S. military commander said.Joint Region Marianas Commander Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, in a recent interview with Kyodo News and other media, said Guam plays an important role as "springboard" for U.S. forces to rapidly respond, by air or sea, to any military crisis in the region amid looming threats from China and North Korea."It's essentially equidistant between Tokyo, Manila and Port M…READ FULL ARTICLE