Broke Down In Guam

The kids and i have flown thru Guam many times catching military hops to Travis AFB, California. We have never broken down in Guam going Stateside, but manage to breakdown almost every time coming home! So far, from only my experience, this is the worst place for your aircraft to break! We have always broken while flying the C-5's there. Unfortunately, there are no C-5 mechanical crews on Guam, so when you break, these guys have to be flown in from Kadena AFB, Okinawa. So, yes, you are going to be there a few days. Guam is also in the heart of typhoon country, so if there is something churning between Guam and Okinawa, well it will just be that much longer before the crew gets there to fix your plane. And yes, we have been stuck there when typoons have approached. The longest we have been stuck there was 5 days! NO FUN!!! It is hotter than anywhere i have ever lived, muggier than anywhere i have ever been, and the bugs make our Oki jungle crawlers look miniature size. But there are rental cars and we have toured the itty bitty island. You just go out the gate, turn left on Highway 1 and head out and around. There are several resorts with the nicest of beaches where we have hung out and killed time. It is almost like a little Hawaii, even with the ABC Stores. There used to be lockers where you could lock up your suitcases, but due to the increase in terror levels, those have been removed and so you just make new friends very quickly, share a rental car and take turns watching each others luggage. Billetting is almost always not available, but the terminal is open 24 hours and the PX and Commissarry is accross the street as well as the Movie Theatre, Gym, and swimming pool. The best time was when we were stuck there with 5 other families from our neighborhood! We had been traveling together since Hawaii. We got billetting and had almost the whole wing. It was hilarious! As always for Guam, you have to go into your room first and kill everything alive, and those bugs are no joke! Of course it is always moms travleing w the kids, so we are on our own to kill the besats! Jorden won't even go after them for me. Than you have to keep everything zipped up while in there or you will have scary things crawl outta your suitcase when you get home! It's happened to me, but only once! I learned that lesson fast! Nixon saved us one time when our plane had been broke for 5 days! Ed was talking on the phone with Nixon and asked him where he was, he said he was in Guam. Ed said my wife and kids are stuck there. He showed up the next morning at the termnal with 4 Marine C-130's for us and all the rest of the Kadena bound stragglers! It's a bummer because only the Air Force flights are listed at the terminals, they won't put up the marine flights. UUUHHGG!! But the Marines saved us that day! And it wasn't the last time they have brought me home from some distant country!