Air Force Working on Major Renovations to Run-Down Dorms on Guam

Andersen Air Force Base on Guam will make major renovations to some of its dilapidated dorms for the first time since 1999 after a government watchdog group and Navy officials criticized them for having “clearly unacceptable living conditions.”

The Air Force has awarded a pair of contracts, together worth $71 million, to fund the overhaul of the Palau and Rota dorms, base officials said in an Aug. 26 Facebook post. California-based Sea-Pac Engineering will take on both projects.

“This morning, [36th Wing Commander Col. Dan] Cooley rang the bell to celebrate the contracts awarded to dorm renovations,” the base wrote. “Today’s ceremony marks the start of real, tangible improvements to our unaccompanied living spaces. We look forward to breaking ground and creating better homes.”

The investments come after a May report from the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight detailing the troubled state of Andersen’s barracks.

Navy Secretary John Phelan told POGO that he was so taken aback by the state of the dorms—particularly Palau Hall—during a visit that he ordered Sailors and Marines living there to move out within 10 days. More than 400 Airmen and Soldiers continued to live in unaccompanied base housing at Andersen, a strategic U.S. hub in the North Pacific that just recently hosted major elements of the Air Force’s Department-Level Exercise series.

Images published by POGO show the dorms at Andersen are rife with exposed wires, painted-over mold, cracked walls, and badly corroded plumbing after decades of weathering the harsh tropical climate, typhoons, and wear and tear of daily residential life. Hundreds of troops—typically younger, single service members—call those barracks home.

Phelan found the building ranked the “very worst” in the Air Force’s building condition index, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin told lawmakers at a hearing in June.

“But even our very worst should not be that bad,” he said. “Guam is such an important place. We need to make sure our Airmen are focused on mission rather than just their housing.”

Allvin noted the service isn’t considering privatizing unaccompanied housing, so that noncommissioned officers can continue to oversee the young Airmen who live there on their own.

Other living quarters on Guam are slated for a glow-up as well. The Air Force also solicited bids to redesign and repair Saipan Hall, another of Andersen’s dorms, this summer. Last month, the Navy pledged nearly $300 million to build new three- and four-bedroom housing units at Andersen over the next three years.

“This is another significant step forward in enhancing the infrastructure and resiliency of the base, following Super Typhoon Mawar,” Cooley said in a release. “The new houses will provide better living conditions for our Airmen and their families, immediately increasing quality of life and allowing our service members to focus on carrying out the mission.”