USO Andersen Grand Opening

Andersen Air Force Base is the home of the second USO center on Guam. More than 300 members of the local community and military leaders — including the commander of Joint Region Marianas and all five military branches attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the center.

“This 3,200 square foot center, equipped with outdoor gazebos, grills and comfortable furniture, will accommodate up to 200 people and serve the Air Force population of the 36th Wing and its tenant commands, units from the U.S. and surrounding Pacific region who regularly deploy to Guam, the now permanently stationed Army units on Guam, and the expected influx of more than 5,000 Marines and families within the next five years,” said Edmund Lebita, area programs manager for USO Guam at the Royal Orchid Hotel.

The new center at Andersen will have two paid staff — a center manager and field programs manager. About 100 volunteers will run operations from 4 to 10 p.m until Nov. 1, when the opening time will change to 10 a.m. Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles K. Hyde, the regional vice president of USO Pacific, flew from Japan to help open the center. “We believe that a strong America is a strong military and force of good. It is because of that military that makes sacrifices everyday for our country that we do what we do,” Hyde said. “The transformation that took place here is incredible — from an old, outdated building to the paradise you see now where service members and their families can just come and relax.”

The USO’s other center on Guam opened its doors in 2006 at the Royal Orchid Hotel in Tumon. The hotel’s owners donated about a quarter of the first floor.

Approximately 40,000 people visited the center in 2016. At times the center was so overwhelmed with visitors here for training that it had to close its doors to dependents and only welcome active-duty members, on a first-come, first-served basis.

For over 75 years the USO has been at or near military installations, in airports, and even in combat zones around the world. They provide many specialized programs in support of service members from the first time they wear the uniform to the day they hang it up for good, and sometimes beyond.

USO centers provide things such as free food, internet and computer use, massage chairs, toiletries and phone cards to members of the military and their families.