Anyone been to Guam ?

[YugoRPK]

My son got orders for Andersen Air Base in Guam. Looks like a good time to me but he's pissed. Its supposedly a combat unit but I don't know what that means to the Air Force. Looks like warm blue water to me. Anyone been there?

[f.2]

Loved to pull in to Guam. Exchange rate is still one to one I believe.

Great facilities, lots of stuff to do, it's what he makes of it. Around those parts, every month of the year is typhoon season, and Guam is a storm magnet. It's like building a shack in the middle of the freeway and then wondering why a car slams into it every now and then. Air Force takes care of their people though, and have the money for mwr out the ying yang. Lots of destinations that you can hop to via space a.

[Illuminated_one]

Just be sure it won't capsize

[johndoe3]

Tropical, warm all year round, and almost like being in the States. They do get a lot of Japanese tourists who frequent some Japanese hotels on the opposite end of the island from the AFB. Guam is big enough that you don't get that "constrained feeling" that can happen on a small island. Everyone speaks English. Overall, for overseas duty, it is almost like being in another US State but on a large island.

[Henry Graham]

It is a beautiful tropical island. I spent some time there when I was 16. I enjoyed just driving around the island for hours on Sunday afternoons. Every few years a typhoon comes through and levels lots of jungle and "boonie houses" (shacks built of scrap wood). Iirc, in 1997 there was no power to much of the island for about 8 weeks.
The public schools are/were s--t and can be dangerous for white kids, but I assume your son does not have kids yet so that would not be an issue. The native Chamorros are the majority there so he should realize that when he is off base he is the minority and act accordingly.
I spent a lot of time on Tarague beach. Awesome beach on the Air Force base. The water level is about waist high for over 100yds into the ocean. Just be careful because between the rip tide and the reef dropping off suddenly, several people drown there every year. There is a shooting range on the AF base but I never went to it during my time on the island.