Guam (Cross posted to Purple)

Greg Bockelman

Greg Bockelman

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Display name:
Greg Bockelman
When Continental and United Airlines merged, some interesting possibilities opened up for both pilot groups. One thing the United people got access to was the opportunity to be based in Guam. It sounded like an interesting possibility for Sharon and me since we are basically empty nesters and it sounded like a fun opportunity.

So, a couple of summers ago we decided to take a trip over and visited for 4 days. We found no reason not to give it a shot. The people were friendly, the employee group was fairly close knit. We decided to go for it. I put my transfer request in. And waited. Six months go by. Nothing. A year. Same. A year and a half. I had almost decided it wasn’t going to happen and was going to pull my request.

Well, last Friday I was awarded the transfer request. It wasn’t advertised so I was more than a little shocked to see it. The effective date is the first part of November, but since I am already trained, it could come as early as October. I will find out more this week, I hope.

Anyway, in a couple of months I will be posting from Guam.
 
My brother is the head pro and runs the military golf courses out there. He and his family love it.
 
I went to Guam once (1974) while my brother was stationed there.

Great vacation, and we got to go "nearby" places like Majuro, Truk, etc.

When you get to Guam, let me know if Yakatori II is still in business. I mentioned that to my sister-in-law some 30 years later and she's like "you remember that place"?
 
Sounds like an exciting deal. Best of luck on the new adventure!
 
Awesome...!!!!

I applied for a job there but nothing ever came of it. It is closer to the PI which would make my wife happy.
 
You'll enjoy it....for a bit. An ex coworker of mine got non vold there as a L-CAL hire back in the 00s. They made the best of it but by the 18 month point they were struggling. Finally they were able to hold IAH and they never looked back. Thing I've seen from mainlanders is a tendency to novelize island living, but quickly get island fever. For empty nesters, that effect could be more slowly onset by virtue of no external pressure due to children needs. Another colleague of mine, also L-CAL incidentally, moved his family to eluthera Bahamas in 2014, while he commuted to IAH 78. Everytime he got back from Africa (until they killed it earlier this year) it was coming home to turquoise water heaven, while the wife was silently pulling her hair out with three homeschooled kids in an island so narrow you can see both the Atlantic and Caribbean sides from the house. Lasted a year and hes moving them now to North Carolina to put them in school and so the wife can regain her sanity with the continental living conveniences most mainlanders take for granted.

To be clear , Guam is not a small cay, and neither was my 18 year hometown of Puerto Rico. Guam is much smaller than PR and the Hawaiian metros, so this effect is much closer to the Bahamas effect. It's important to be prepared for that eventuality.

Enjoy. The company is giving ya a huge baseline cola in top of pay rates, so the money aspect as a childless couple is not going to be a detractor. Good luck on this new chapter!!
 
One of my United Friends just did two years in Guam. They had a good time, but of course it was far from family. They did lots of Asia trips while they were over there too, I believe. I will say this, it sounded like a much better experience than my other buddy who did a stint flying a cherokee six back and forth between Tinian and Saipan CNMI.
 
I'm not a professional pilot, but in my profession (astronomy), people often get stationed in remote areas.

They get island fever even in Hawaii. Not so bad as the guys in the Atacama Desert (Chile) or South Pole, but it happens.

As an airline professional, I'd think travel elsewhere would help tremendously. But island fever is a very real thing, and you can get sick of it real fast.

It's more an issue for your spouse than you. You have the interesting job to keep you occupied. Being bored on an island truly sucks.
 
I spent a lot of time on that island, and I know a UAL (ex-Con) guy out there loving it. My suggestion is to learn to SCUBA dive (if you don't already) and take advantage of the great diving in and around the island, and on the many islands surrounding it. Go to MDA (Micronesian Divers). They have awesome boat dives lined up almost every day.

And for God's sake, whatever you do... do not get onstage at the Viking and grab the captain's wheel... Just don't.
 
Congrats! I think I'd love it. I enjoy SCUBA diving as much as possible. When I was looking at Cape Air I was excited when they opened up new Caribbean bases on the outlying islands. One of them happened to be were I've spent my summer since I was 10. Plus the rumor was everyone hated the island as there was cr$$ to do.
 
Guam... I was there for a year (1998) as a new hire B747 FE for CAL; it was okay for a year, but even then I got kinda bored with it. I commuted home to Texas once a month, which added to the suck. It's fairly expensive living, groceries were pricey; I wonder if the Kmart there still has the Wall of Spam? The locals love Spam. I did some snorkeling, hiking, beer drinking, Club Viking, the G Spot... the usual hangouts I guess. Tahiti Ramas was a cool dive beach bar, but I heard it was overrun by a hotel. It was kinda fun at the time, but I don't really miss it.
 
Just to be clear, we have been to visit. We know what we are getting into. I think. LOL. The objective is to visit the places in SE Asia that we wouldn't normally get to see. And to not spend a whole lot of time actually on the island.

All of the comments are appreciated.
 
That sounds like a lot of fun, Greg. Very glad that you get to make the change and enjoy travel to that part of the world.

So I suppose that means we won't be neighbors anymore. Need someone to keep an eye on the 170 for you? ;)
 
Yeah - you need to make sure you go there AFTER Gaston's...
 
Prob a lot more fun if you don't have to pay for the tickets to get off the rock.
I looked at a job there many years ago. Offer came with one annual ticket to the mainland for me and the wife. It gets pricey in a hurry once you have kids.

Enjoy. Just make sure the island doesn"t tip over.

 
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Had buddies that were stationed there while in the Air Force and loved it. Most of them did scuba and loved that especially.
 
Cool, Greg! I will live vicariously through you. I wonder if you can fly to the Marshall Islands from there? I would like to see all of our protectorates someday!
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Just to be clear, we have been to visit. We know what we are getting into. I think. LOL. The objective is to visit the places in SE Asia that we wouldn't normally get to see. And to not spend a whole lot of time actually on the island.

All of the comments are appreciated.
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I know all about the cool places in SE Asia.
 
EdFred said:
So is this place going to have an extra room for out of island PoA'ers?
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Just for grins, I checked the price of tickets to Guam from KC. Close to $1700 per person, and it doesn't seem like it's possible to get there in under 40 hours.

Maybe we could all charter a Gulfstream?
 
Art VanDelay said:
Greg,
You know what Guam stands for - right ?
GUAM - Give up and masturbate !!!
Best Regards,
Art
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mscard88 said:
Had buddies that were stationed there while in the Air Force and loved it. Most of them did scuba and loved that especially.
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I know nothing about Guam but I do remember someone in the AF telling me "Guam is good - by order of the base commander". Probably due the reason above.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Just for grins, I checked the price of tickets to Guam from KC. Close to $1700 per person, and it doesn't seem like it's possible to get there in under 40 hours.

Maybe we could all charter a Gulfstream?
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Fly the 414 to Denver and we could go tomorrow at noon for $1278. It would take 21 hours from here.

The advantage of living in a hub...
 
I'm on Guam now as a matter of fact! Been here about a year. Much like you want, I've been traveling Asia, a lot! It has some polarizing extreme positives and negatives. Guam is beatiful. The people are nice. The beaches are good. It is a very, very small island in the middle of nowhere and the island fever thing is real. I haven't felt it too much but I'm gone half the time. The food is pretty awful (there is very little agricultural on the island in the vast majority of the food comes from the mainland and is not in good condition by the time it arrives) and very expensive. Getting errands done can be a chore, things are on island time and what you might expect to be like on a tiny isolated island. The locals all joke that if you are a white person you must be either in the military, a pilot, or a doctor. LOL, that's pretty accurate.

There is some GA here but there's no where to really go. You can loop around the island in about 30 minutes. There are several small neighboring islands but I haven't particularly liked the idea of crossing large swaths of the Pacific ocean especially in planes subjected to the corrosion levels here.

It should be a good experience for you for a while. As a jumping off point to Asia, it's great (especially if you don't have to pay for it, as noted above, tickets are quite expensive). Feel free to message me and I can give you some specific information if you want.
 
Good luck you crazy kids! First, you no show Oshkosh and now this. I just don't know about you two but we love y'all.
 
What will Happen to 34V ?
 
Mason said:
What routes are flown from there and where are the layovers?
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The out and backs, no layover stations are

Chitose, Japan Manila Osaka, Japan Nagoya, Japan Sendai, Japan Fukuoka, Japan Narita, Japan
Rota Shanghai Yap Chuuk

There is a 6 day trip that has layovers in Hong Kong, and Singapore.

And the Island Hopper that goes from Guam to Chuuk, Phonpei, Kosrae, Kwajalein, Majuro, and on to Honolulu, lays over and then retraces it back to Guam.

The only one night layover that I found was in Incheon, Korea
 
Greg Bockelman said:
And the Island Hopper that goes from Guam to Chuuk, Phonpei, Kosrae, Kwajalein, Majuro, and on to Honolulu, lays over and then retraces it back to Guam.
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This the trip I did! We stayed on Guam, Chuuk (Truk), Ponepei, Kawajalein, and Majuro. Also stopped for on Marshal Island to leave supplies but were not allowed to deplane.
 
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