Ok...new AF mom here. My daughter just found out that she will be going to Guam. I was just hoping for some input on Andersen AFB base and what there is to do there.
I was there '97-'99. I'm assuming your daughter is single? Since the drinking age is 18 there, she will undoubtedly enjoy the new freedoms of dorm life. Hopefully she doesn't get caught up in the mental negativities that can seemingly be passed around like a communicable disease among dorm-dwellers. Tell her to actually get out and enjoy the island or at least find a hobby that keeps her out of her room/house.
She will be working for the AMSS, a tenant unit. That doesn't mean much to you, but she will understand it better when she gets there. She will be working for Air Mobility Command while the rest of the base is PACAF. I don't know how the relationship has changed since I've been there, but we were kinda the "bastard stepchildren" at the time. Not a big deal unless you were up for some Wing-level award or something. Anyway...
She will be working shift-work. She may end up on dayshift, but there's a 2:1 chance she'll be working either swing shift or grave shift, and most likely will not have your "traditional" weekends of Sat/Sun off. Instead it could be Mon/Tues, Thu/Fri... you get the idea. That has it's perks, but it can inevitably lead to "island sickness" and a really bad attitude about the place if all one does is sit around and drink and complain with other people who only sit around and drink and complain. Even the most optimistic people fall into this from time to time, so just be ready for it if it happens...
Though not always having the traditional weekends off with my wife (mil also, but she had a typical 7-4 mon/fri desk job) did get old sometimes, it was nice having days off with my friends. We could go places and do things during the weekdays and not have to fight the crowds. That is the best time to do the "tourist" stuff. Tell her to definitely get into snorkeling, at least, if not full-on diving. That is the biggest regret I have about Guam. I just thought it "wasn't my thing". However, about two months before I left I started snorkeling, and I can't believe how great it is. I wish I would have known that earlier, I would have gotten dive certified. Seriously.
There is night-life a'plenty there. Great live music all throughout the week if you know where to look. There is a beach right on base! There was a little restaurant/bar on the beach when I was there. Oscar's, I think it was. They have the BEST Mongolian BBQ I've ever had.
She should definitely have fun there as long as she doesn't doesn't become a shut-in.
That's prime advice for ANY new troop going somewhere isolated...do NOT become a 'barracks rat' as we called them in the Army. It is a surefire way to become depressed and to hate your life. I knew people in Korea that would spend all their off duty hours in the barracks and whine about not being close to momma and girlfriend, and I knew kids in the same unit that got the heck out of Dodge every chance thy could, and got to see a whole other country up close and personal.
I would give my eyeteeth to have a vocational excuse to live on Guam for a year or two. Ask her if she wants to trade...she can have the precocious 10 year old boy...and the ex-wife, and I'll take the assignment to Guam. I'll trade straight across.
Thank you so much for the information !! She is excited to be going to Guam. She is already talking about snorkeling and diving. Her brother is on Okinawa with the marines and I hear it is about the same weather. Do they have a program for single Airmen...where they get together and plan activities? Are there softball leagues she might be able to get in on?
LSTGNFGHTR.....HaHaHaHa!!!! I will ask....but I am forseeing a "NOT ON YOUR LIFE" answer....she is not too keen on kids....so I am thinking that might be the deal breaker !!!!
Don't forget...I gotta get me some Guam out of this transaction. Even if it's a timeshare deal.
The one thing I like about Guam is that as a National Guard member, I have Space-A flight privileges that only go as far as the Continental US, but they made exceptions for the territories, and Guam is one of those exceptions. I can catch a hop out there from the West Coast about once a week for free. I'm surprised more Reserve Component members don't take advantage of that. Guam is Waaaaaaaay out there, and a pretty neat place, in my opinion.
Sure wish us parents copuld get Space A flights...would be nice to go to Guam for a visit then on to Okinawa to visit my son too. I was checking into flights to both places...eeeek!!! Not a cheap little flight.
You CAN get them, Judy...all you have to do is sign this little piece of paper here, and we'll give you a new blue suit and some boots, and a haircut, and a trip to San Antonio for a few months, and....
Okay...nevermind...maybe you'll be better off with commercial air.
That is why, even though it is limited to CONUS or territorial locations, that Space A is so nice for reservists like me (self employed...make my own schedule). I can't fly to visit my native friends in Korea (I was there in the Army), and I can't go to Okinawa, but I CAN go to Guam. And Guam is MUCH closer to both of those places than the San Francisco Bay Area (my home area). Airfare OUT of Guam isn't so bad if you have the time and can wait for a good deal. If only they would make a similar exception for someplace nearer to Europe...even a single European 'gateway' spot where Reserve members could fly to and then connect out on commercial air. Or an easy connection to Australia/New Zealand...I'd be all over that. As I understand it, Guam is the closest "jumping off" point at present for Reservists. The whole world opens up after I retire and turn 60, but I doubt I'll want to go paragliding in New Zealand when I'm 60+...I'll just want to sit on the beach in Guam and drink out of glasses with little umbrellas in them.
I'd take an expanded Reserve flight bennie over the proposed Age 55 retirement ANY day.
You can always go visit her when she takes some leave...go meet in Hawaii (although she will probably be ready to get FAR away from the ocean by that point).
