Guam Moms

Hi all,

I will be a Guam Mom soon. Have SO many questions with our son heading there. I will check out past posts to see if I can find answers there. Also wanted to connect with other Navy Guam Moms! 

Chasemom1 - I know exactly how you feel.  My son has been there since Oct/Nov of last year.  I have the Time Buddy app on my phone to let me know what time it is over there.  My son is currently out of contact and the not knowing kills me.  The highlight of my life is when the unexpected call comes in.  I can't wait until he is back in Guam so we can skype again.  I had to get Facebook messenger so he could call me using that when he was in a foreign country for a quick stop.  Hang in there!!!

Hello everyone! I am the father of a rescue swimmer in Guam. I am on here because Navy for Dads is lame and it's a difficult place to get answers.  My son has been stationed in Guam with his squadron for the past almost two years.  He has one year to go till he hopefully heads back to the states. It's been difficult for my wife and me to have him gone for so long.  He was able to get home this past summer for two weeks.  It was so wonderful to have him home even if for such a short time.  If there is anything I can do to help answer questions or anything else please let me know.  We are very grateful for Skype because we are able to see and hear his voice almost every week (except when he is deployed) and the quality of the picture and sound is better than it was when he was in San Diego. From what I can see they have a great group of people out there.  All the best to you and your sailors.  Sure am proud of mine and all of yours for serving our great country so honorably.

I know I'm a little late to respond, but I wanted to say thank you, MK5Diver, for offering your help with questions we may have.  My son arrived in Guam in June.  He's enjoying it there so far.  

AustinNavyMom my son is not on the Chicago, but he has a good friend who is. : )  My son has been able to let me know approximate days of departure, but he doesn't seem to always know for sure himself...or at least he acts like he's not sure. ; )   They also run into delays at times.  I'm in some closed groups on Facebook with other family members of guys on my son's sub.  I'm sure there are some for the Chicago as well.  Maybe they can be more helpful than me.  I'm still fairly new to all of this, but I wanted to help if I could in some way.  My son definitely enjoyed his days even more after he was officially checked into his boat. : )     

AustinNavyMom - My son is on the Key West.  I sometimes think the sailors are fed false information.  I don't think they are supposed to tell their families departure times.  Be prepared for long intervals of no contact with 1 or 2 surprise phone calls from Japan.  Sleep with your cell phone if you don't want to miss it!  My son's last deployment was 4.5 months.  It was awful. 

Get your sailor's sub email address.  You can send information to him that way.  No bad news should be relayed that way.  Just positive information. 

And sometimes the sub's pop up in the ocean for a swim and full oxygen/sunshine to keep morale up.  You might get a phone call then.

Good luck.

Hi! My son will be arriving in Guam in December. He was in Hawaii for 4+ years and I am going to miss going there. But Guam is a new adventure. LOTS of history, great snorkeling, golf, seashores...looking forward to hearing from some of you!!!

Tysmom - I think Guam might be a let down after Hawaii.  I'm hoping to take a trip there early 2017.  I'm going there, not for the Guam experience, but to see my son.  I can't wait for that day!  Welcome to Guam!  I've heard the highest speed limit is 35 MPH.  I have google alerts for anything about Guam so my in-box is regularly filled with the odd story about the island.

Does anyone know if you need a US passport to fly from the US to Guam?  Thanks!

MotherOf2Dragons - Thank you Khaleesi!  :)

Hello all.  My son will be arriving in Guam in December.  I am so happy to have found this group.. Hopefully some of you can help me with some questions.  

Hi all,

My son will also be arriving in Guam in December. He spent the last 4 years in Hawaii. We were there for departures and homecomings. It was great. This time he has shore duty and I plan to visit along with other family members at various times. I will share what I know about sub life if you want to know something. Never have been to Guam, did not know much about it. I went to the Navy site about the base in Guam, was interesting. LOTS of history!!! 

Yes it is a looong ways away from the mainland!!! That is hard and how to communicate!!! I heard SKYPE was good, costs to text(?), and /or talk(?).....Any advice????

Mindy, if you do not leave the airport in Japan, why do you need a passport?

tysmom and middlemom:  If I repeat anything, please forgive me.  There are 3 things I remember that helped my son contact me for minimum cost.  The first was a Guam cell phone purchased while suspending the US cell phone indefinitely.  The 2nd thing was Skype.  They do have internet in Guam.  Thank goodness!  And the 3rd was the facebook messenger ap for my IPhone.  That's how I receive calls from my son when he is in exotic places that still have wifi (like Japan).  I do not have an international cell phone plan.  My son has been in Guam about a year now and I haven't had a single international call expense except for maybe the first month he was there before he got a Guam cell phone plan.  Good luck!

tysmom and middlemom:  To use the Facebook Messenger ap both you and your son to have a Facebook account to log into.  I used my Facebook account to log into Skype also.

:)

We used FB messenger when he stopped in Japan. That should work and SKYPE. He is going to get a phone, he needs a new one anyway. Has a house spoken for, complete with a maid. And most important a "mom" bedroom!!!

We can repeat our stories as many times as we want. I had friends at work and we all had three stories to tell that shift/weekend when we worked and we could tell those stories as many times as we wanted to that night! Besides I may forget and ask the same questions over!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

hello ladies..my son made it to Guam and is loving it.  I am so jealous.  He sent me some pictures of the ocean and its gorgeous.  He can't wait to go to the beach and hang out, plus he send me a picture of a mountain that he wants to hike.  

Im ready to plan a vacation to Guam.

middlemom - beware of sticker shock on the plane tickets to fly there.  It is a long flight!  I haven't gone yet but plan to before my son leaves the island.

Oh yeah sticker shock, 1350-1500 from Michigan. 80 degrees there, 13 here with windchill below zero!!!  Last week my son was still here and him and his dad went golfing...it was 40 degrees then.... and he does have an extra bedroom!!!!I need a day a week job...don't know when I would have time for a job...I am newly retired and my time filled in....well I was only working part time.....

I am going to have to depend on you for info. I know quite a bit about Hawaii, not Guam. My son has been there a couple weeks.His car arrived and his belongings arrived just before he flew there. I hear the diving is great.

Yup it is hot, Our sons brother is planning on going this summer. They are planning on scuba diving. That is not for me. I will snorkel in not so deep water. I also want to look at all the historical places.

There should be a Navy Lodge for "not as expensive as tourist" lodging.  Please share your experience as we hope to go there this year. 

All checked to go visit my son and his beautiful wife, we leave in the morning!

I will wait till you get home to have a get-together. End of April? Mid-May?

Regina, do you have a layover in Hawaii?

tysmom, No stop in Hawaii, we go though Tokyo.

Thanks for waiting for the get together, I can't wait to meet everyone.

 Is your son on shore duty or connected with a sub?

He is on shore duty, his job is land based.

How about your son?

3 years of shore duty, an instructor for subs. He was assigned there last Dec.

tysmom, does your son like Guam? My son loves everything about it except the rain.

He is working on or is a dive master now. Does a lot of golfing!!! I think he likes it. Bought a truck because the roads are so bad.

Really missing my son today.  He's been in Guam since December 2016.  I want to go visit him so bad.  

The move to Guam (is he on shore duty?) is a PCS. The Navy movers EVERYTHING, cars, motorcycles, golf clubs etc. The golf courses are next to the ocean....it is HOT and humid.

The move to Guam (is he on shore duty?) is a PCS. The Navy movers EVERYTHING, cars, motorcycles, golf clubs etc. The golf courses are next to the ocean....it is HOT and humid.

His home port is Guam.

PSC is permanent change of station. My son was in Hawaii and now is in Guam for shore duty.

What is you sons rate(job). Is this his first assignment?

Are you planning on attending the graduation. It is worth your time. We live in MI and traveled to Groton a couple times. Nice area. You may want to eat at Pauls Pasta. You can tour a sub there. I see you had the same trouble as I did. Could not get it to accept my comment and then it showed up several times. You can delete some of those by clicking on the x on your page.

Any other questions?

I don't think so. Not at the moment anyway. I'm sure I will come up with stuff once it gets closer to when he leaves.

Thanks!

My daughter is a MA. She just finished A school, came home for a 2 week leave and arrived in Guam yesterday. She is so homesick and scared. She didn't realize she would feel this way so she is really thrown by these feelings. She has been calling home crying so often it is breaking my heart. She actually enjoyed boot camp and loved A school so my husband and I are feeling so bad for her. She feels so alone and of course is having trouble with the time change. Any suggestions?

rjh:  I would offer my son as tour guide for Guam but I believe he's gone out for a few months.  It didn't take my son long to make friends so that helped.  He deactivated his USA cell phone and got a Guam phone to help keep costs down.  Get Skype and Facebook Messenger if you can.  They are both great ways to communicate.  My son learned how to scuba dive and sky dive all within a few months of moving there.  Believe me, I wasn't thrilled with the sky diving part nor the snorkeling at night.  They are growing up.  She will acclimate to the time change eventually.  I wish you and her the best!