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Guam.....???

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Pcola04/30

Pcola04/30

Professional Michigan Hater
pilot
I was just wondering if anyone had any info on getting orders to Guam. Are they hard to come by or are people willing to go. I am interested in going to Guam for a first tour and any input/experiences/"my buddy.." would be appreciated. I would also like to hear from any spouses who have lived there and whether or not you would do it all over again if you had the choice.
I know the diving and watersports are freakin amazing...but is it enough to get me through a couple of years, or will I be going crazy at the end of my tour? :eek:
I know...I know..."why do you want to go to Guam?" :confused: I'm an Army brat so I'm pretty used to living in other countries, and believe it or not kind of miss it after being in the states for so long. Thanks in advance for any replies....
 
Thisguy

Thisguy

Pain-in-the-dick
I don't know about getting orders to Guam, but we stopped there 3 times last cruise including a 2-week period where the flight deck was getting resurfaced. Basically, I thought the island was pretty boring, and that was for two weeks. The water sports are good, but nothing you couldn't do in say, San Diego or Hawaii. Guam is actually a US territory, so at least you don't need to worry about screwy conversion rates. No kidding, we took a rental car around the island in about two hours and confirmed there really isn't anything to do there.

Basically, I spent my time hitting Outback and TGIFriday's. There are strip clubs and porn shops galore, but that's in the area catering to tourists/sailors. I can understand wanting orders overseas, and could see if you wanted to go to Atsugi, Japan, but Guam? I couldn't imagine orders being hard to come by.
 
B

Banjo33

AV-8 Type
pilot
Had some friends of the family (when I was growing up) that were stationed there (Army). Like you said, it's was fun for a couple of weeks. Then the island tends to "close in" on you. His family was absolutely miserable.
 
Flash

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
The only way that you are going to get stationed in Guam as a pilot is if you get orders to HC-5 there, they are the only guys permanantly stationed there. I was there for an exercise in November for 3 weeks and it was not that bad. We decided it was a smaller, cheaper version of Hawaii. . We weren't bored there but that was only 3 weeks. You can drive from the top of the island to the bottom in just 45 minutes. Except for some other islands around there (Saipan is just to the north), there is not much around. If you are in HC-5 you will be deployed a lot so it may not be that bad coming back to Guam. I love islands and tropical weather but it would be a little bit of a stretch for me to get stationed there for 3 years. The Air Force base is being built up considerably though and the chances of you stopping there or doing an excercise will probably be pretty good if you are a Westpac guy.

All in all, the people (very patriotic, one of their biggest holidays is the day the US invaded to take it back from the Japanese) and the place are nice and you could do a lot worse in the Navy.
 
Thisguy

Thisguy

Pain-in-the-dick
The coolest thing I saw while in Guam was the story of this Japanese guy who hid in a cave during WWII, and came out during the 70's and surrendered because he didn't know the war was over. Who knew caves could be so fun.
 
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