Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz: A New Base Standing Up in the Pacific
In Dededo, the island's most populous village on Guam's north end, Camp Blaz is the first new Marine Corps base built in more than seventy years, stood up to receive the thousands of Marines and their families relocating from Okinawa. It is still a work in progress, with barracks and facilities coming online as the force moves in, which means the Marines here are arriving into a base that is being built around them, far from the mainland on a small island where the command is new and eager to set the tone. A base finding its footing is exactly the kind of place where the institution moves hard and fast to make an example, and where a Marine needs to know the system is not on his side.
Guam is United States soil, so the UCMJ reaches a Marine here the same as anywhere, and a serious case deserves counsel who knows the Pacific. Military defense is all Bilecki Law Group does, the firm has deep experience across the Pacific theater, and Marines fly it in from wherever the Corps sends them. A case at Camp Blaz does not have to be handled by whoever happens to be nearest.
The Chamorro Boy Who Became a Marine General
Camp Blaz is named for one of Guam's own, Brigadier General Vicente "Ben" Blaz, and his life is the reason. Blaz was thirteen when the Japanese occupied Guam during World War II, and like other Chamorros he was put to forced labor, planting rice, digging trenches, and building the enemy's airstrips while his island endured years of brutal occupation before the Marines and Soldiers came back to liberate it. He never forgot who had freed his home. He joined the Marine Corps, rose over a thirty year career to become the first Chamorro to reach the rank of general, and then went on to serve his island in the United States Congress. From forced labor to general officer, he refused to let where he started decide where he would end up. That refusal to accept the hand the world deals you is the standard we bring to a fight at Camp Blaz.
Why Marines at Camp Blaz Bring Us In
We win court martial cases. Military defense is all we do, and Marines fly us in from all over the world because of our trial record and our experience across the Pacific. The military justice system is not built to find the truth; it exists to preserve good order and discipline, and a new command will make an example of a Marine to establish that it means business. A serious case is investigated by NCIS, and for sexual assault and other covered offenses the decision to refer charges to a court martial no longer belongs to the command but goes to an independent Special Trial Counsel. Your detailed defense counsel may be capable but carries a heavy caseload inside the same system, which is why Marines serious about winning bring in their own counsel.
UCMJ Charges We Defend at Camp Blaz
This is not the whole list of what we do at Camp Blaz. We take every kind of court martial, and these are simply the charges that come up most.
Sexual Assault and Sex Offenses (UCMJ Article 120 / Article 134). These allegations route to an independent Special Trial Counsel now, and the command treats a report as established before the investigation is finished, all the more so on a small island and a new command determined to look decisive. These cases demand counsel who will run an independent investigation and contest the case rather than let the allegation stand in for proof, because a conviction means confinement, a federal record, and a place on a sex offender registry.
Domestic Violence and Assault (UCMJ Articles 128b and 128). Domestic violence under Article 128b is charged as aggressively as any offense in the UCMJ since the Office of Special Trial Counsel took these cases over. It covers a spouse, an intimate partner, or a family member, and it treats strangulation or suffocation as its own charge that the government can bring even with no visible injury. A qualifying conviction also triggers the federal Lautenberg firearms bar, which can end a Marine's career because a Marine has to be able to carry a weapon. We also defend assault under Article 128, where self defense is a recognized defense.
Larceny and Government Property (UCMJ Articles 121 and 108). A base under construction and absorbing a major move is awash in property, materials, and equipment changing hands, and that makes accountability cases common. The government treats missing gear, an item that cannot be reconciled, or property that walked off as larceny under Article 121 or wrongful disposition of military property under Article 108, but the churn of a relocation and a building site is not the same as theft, and the government still has to prove the state of mind required by the charged offense: intent for larceny or fraud, or negligence where Article 108 permits it, not just that something is missing.
Drugs and Off Duty Conduct (UCMJ Articles 112a and 134). Drug cases often turn on the chain of custody and the government's burden to prove any use was knowing and wrongful. A Marine is subject to the UCMJ off base, so a night out on the Tumon hotel strip or anywhere on island that goes wrong comes back to the command, and because Guam is a United States territory, the Guam police and the federal court here can pursue the civilian side of the same incident at the same time. A bad night can mean a court martial and a civilian case at once, so get counsel involved before you talk to anyone.
A Career and a Reputation Worth Defending
Not every Marine who calls us from Camp Blaz is innocent, and we do not pretend otherwise. What matters is how serious the case is, not your rank. If a matter is genuinely minor, your detailed defense counsel can handle it, and we will tell you so honestly. But when the case is serious, everything is on the line at once: your career, your retirement, your good name, and your freedom. A court martial conviction is a federal criminal conviction, and the applicable military sentencing parameters set a confinement range the judge has to work within, two and a half to ten years for sexual assault and ten to twenty for rape, with a departure requiring specific facts in writing, plus any required or adjudged punitive discharge and, on a covered sex offense, sex offender registration. That is why you fight. The court’s jurisdiction and the convicted offense determine which sentencing rules apply; some offenses use separate sentencing criteria rather than these ranges.
If you are facing an investigation or court martial at Camp Blaz, reach out for a free defense strategy session. We will tell you exactly what you are facing and how we would defend it. The government is already building its case. The only question is whether anyone is building yours.
FAQ
My case started on Okinawa and I've since moved to Camp Blaz. Where does it get handled?
It depends on where you are now assigned and where the alleged conduct happened, and during a relocation those lines can get tangled. The case may follow you to Guam or stay with the Okinawa command, and that affects who decides and tries it, scattering witnesses and evidence across two places thousands of miles apart. Those jurisdictional seams are easy to get wrong and worth having counsel sort out early.
NCIS wants to interview me at Camp Blaz. Do I have to talk to them?
No. You are not required to sit for an NCIS interview or answer their questions. Under Article 31b of the UCMJ you have the right to remain silent and to a lawyer, and you can invoke both at any point, including before the interview begins. NCIS is collecting evidence, not giving you a chance to explain. Decline, ask for counsel, and call a defense lawyer before you give any statement.
Camp Blaz is brand new and far from the mainland. Can the firm really defend a case here?
Yes, and we already have. Military defense is all we do, and we have flown out to Guam to defend court martial cases here and won them. A new base far from the mainland is just where the case happens to be.