They are worried they could be taken out with a missile from China or North Korea. They are moved back to the US.
Wonder if they’ll close Andrews AFB or keep it open as a refueling stop. I spent a miserable nine months on Guam.
^^Isn’t it Andersen AFB? Andrews is in Maryland.
Left on 16 April, ending some ridiculous amount of time that an American bomber unit had been deployed to Andersen AFB, Guam. Since 2004, per Russia Today: https://www.rt.com/news/486192-us-bombers-leave-guam/
I thought it had been longer, like back to and through SAC days, but I guess not. Their departure was the day after an ‘elephant walk’ involving the B-52s and some large drones like Global Hawk and the like. Pilot sense of humor; the call signs of the departing B-52s as they left Guam for Minot AFB in North Dakota, were “Seeya 1”(through 5).
Also per that RT cite, I guess stuff is deployed at Wake Island now, at least a few B-2s. Guess every little bit of distance helps when avoiding DF-21s or the like.
I assume some of them were in the Philipines in the past but that base got wiped out by a volcano and they wanted the US to leave anyway. They also closed the naval base there.
OTOH, isn’t CVN-71, USS Theodore Roosevelt still at anchor in Guam, dealing with the coronavirus outbreak? Plus, it looks like Captain Crozier, the former Commanding Officer of TR, might be getting his job back: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/navy/494553-navy-recommends-reinstating-crozier-as-captain-of-uss-theodore-roosevelt
Amazing if true. Wonder if he knows which Powerball numbers to pick while he’s at it?
The Marines are also building up their presence in Guam, as their presence in Okinawa is being cut back.
Well, I got the first three letters right. It’s been 42 years, after all, and I was stationed on the other side of the island. :o
They started leaving on April 16. I have to wonder whether the US has intel on the North Korea situation and was being proactive.
OTOH, people aren’t supposed to bomb us with impunity. This is the entire point of our extremely large military. Leaving to avoid military action from North Korea would seem to violate that core value.
I’d really like to know what’s going on.