IT’S been a busy week for those in charge of defending this part of the world.

Just yesterday, the fourth Valiant Shield training exercise finished in the waters and air space around Guam. Lasting about a week, the exercise brought together some 25 units from the United States Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard, including a carrier strike group and an Air Force expeditionary wing.

The focus of the large-scale exercise was on integration of the various forces in an open ocean environment.

“Joint exercises such as Valiant Shield provide opportunities for integrated joint operations in a blue-water environment,” said Rear Adm. J.R. Haley, commander, Task Force (CTF) 70. “Training opportunities as a joint force where we detect, locate, track and engage units across air, sea, land and cyberspace allow us to train as we fight, making us better prepared as a maritime force.”

Separately, some 2,200 Marines and sailors of the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit are aboard ships of the Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group in Guam’s waters for training of their own.

For the leathernecks, Guam is the last stop in their semi-annual readiness exercise, which was conducted this time in the Marianas. Prior to their arrival here, the forces practiced a mechanized assault on Tinian, and other exercises on .

Here on Guam, they will practice smaller-scale attacks using CRRCs (compact rubber raiding craft), hovercraft and helicopters. The Marines will be joined in this practice by a platoon-sized unit (30 soldiers) of Japan’s Ground Self Defense Force, the first time the 31st has ever conducted training operations of this sort with their Japanese counterparts.

Although long-planned, the exercises have come at a particularly sensitive time. Tensions are running very high between China and Japan over the Senkaku (or Diaoyu for the Chinese) islands in the East China Sea which are claimed by both countries, with things having gotten so bad that many Japanese companies in China have had to suspend their operations.

With this in mind, we suspect that the Japanese contingent was very happy to have the chance to conduct a training mission of this sort with the Marines.

Similarly, we doubt that the Philippines and Vietnam, who have their own disputes with China over islands in the South China Sea, are displeased to see such advanced American forces training so nearby.

At the same time, the U.S. government is eager to see these tensions defused as quickly as possible – a point that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta emphasized in his recent visit to Beijing. In fact, he even invited China to send a ship to participate in the next RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) exercise in 2014, the world’s largest naval exercise.

Here on Guam, we are also very glad to see so many sailors, airmen and Marines for a much more prosaic and less geopolitical reason.

After having worked so hard in the exercises, our servicemen have definitely earned a little time off for R&R ... and what better place for it than Guam?

It will be a nice economic shot in the arm for local businesses, and it will also be a good opportunity for us to demonstrate what good hosts we can be for our friends in uniform.

We hope they have a wonderful time!