Recovery takes shape at Air Force’s typhoon-battered base in Guam

Three months after Typhoon Mawar became the strongest storm to hit Guam since 2002, Andersen Air Force Base is getting back on its feet .

All base services, like stores and the daycare, are operational with regular hours, 36th Wing spokesperson 1st Lt. Ariana Wilkinson said Thursday.

Airmen are again allowed to begin new jobs in Guam, following a 60-day order to stop troops from moving to the U.S. territory . Andersen’s displaced population, which totaled around 400 airmen and their dependents as of early June, has shrunk to zero.

And this weekend, staff at the on-base airport will begin checking in passengers for overseas flights from a cluster of portable trailers — their second temporary office space since the storm wrecked Andersen’s passenger terminal.

It’s the first steps of a process that could take one to two years, if not longer, to return the Air Force’s westernmost outpost in the Pacific to its pre-storm state. The service declined to answer how much the effort may cost, citing a complex web of decisions across multiple branches of the military that have installations on Guam.

Restoring the base that bills itself as America’s “forward edge of the Indo-Pacific” is as critical to global security as it is for the well-being of troops living there, military officials argue.

The Pentagon views China as America’s top competitor in military strength, technology development and global influence. Defense leaders are also wary of Beijing’s growing aggression toward Taiwan, the democratically self-governed island that maintains military and trade ties with the United States but is claimed by China.

That makes Andersen, which sits about 1,900 miles from the Chinese mainland and within reach of U.S. allies in the Pacific, a strategic boon in future emergencies.

“Guam is of enormous importance,” Gen. Mike Minihan, the Air Force’s top mobility officer, told Air Force Times during a trip to Andersen in July. “If there were anything from crisis to conflict out here, it’s a place that we would fight from, and it’s a place that we would fight for.”

This May 23 satellite image from NASA shows Typhoon Mawar approaching Guam. (NASA via AP)

Weathering the storm

Mawar made landfall at Andersen around 9 p.m. local time on May 24, pelting Guam with 140 mph winds and 28 inches of rain.

The base of more than 8,000 people is home to a unit of RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drones, but largely supports other military operations across the Pacific. It routinely welcomes bomber squadrons on routine deterrence missions, and is a major hub for training exercises around the region.

Aircraft that could be evacuated were sent away before the storm, and those that weren’t were parked in hangars. Families hunkered down to ride out the howling winds and pounding rain in the dark, without cell phone or radio service.

“It’s very traumatizing,” said April Gerstner, a Key Spouse at Andersen whose husband works for the 734th Air Mobility Squadron. “You’re hearing these full-force winds outside. … You keep hearing these loud thuds outside [of palm trees] hitting the ground.”

Key Spouses are volunteers appointed by the unit commander to serve as conduits of information providing resources to Air Force families.

“It’s a lot of unknown and you have to mentally be OK with it,” she said.

Outbound airmen and their families are transported to Hangar 1 on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, May 30. Typhoon Mawar caused significant damage to the 734th Air Mobility Squadron's passenger terminal. With the terminal out of commission, the 734th AMS teamed up with the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron and are now using their hangar as a temporary terminal until repairs to the main facility are complete. (Staff Sgt. Pedro Tenorio/Air Force)

In the weeks that followed, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center dispatched a team to assess the damage, estimate the cost of repairs and craft a way forward. About 500 facilities were damaged, the service said.

“Overall, the structures fared really well. We didn’t lose any buildings. We’re able to continue with our mission,” Col. Dustin Born, Andersen’s on-site cleanup director, told Air Force Times in a recent interview. “But we obviously have a lot of facilities that have, now, water infiltration and water damage.”

For multiple reasons, Andersen fared better against Typhoon Mawar than Tyndall AFB did against Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm that devastated the Florida base in 2018, said Col. Robert Bartlow, who oversees the Air Force’s natural disaster recovery efforts as part of AFCEC.

Andersen saw slower winds and no storm surge because it sits at a higher elevation than Tyndall, Bartlow said. And the buildings on Guam were built to withstand Category 5 storms, which whip an area with winds in excess of 157 mph.

Unlike at Tyndall, none of Andersen’s facilities suffered structural damage that would require them to be demolished and rebuilt, Born said.

“There’s a couple of facilities that we’re considering possibly doing some new construction on, just because … it would be cost-prohibitive to repair the building,” he said. “We might be better off just … getting new amenities and building it in a better fashion.”

Gerstner’s outlook was less rosy.

“We’re slowly getting there, but it’s gonna take a really long time, because there are buildings that are just completely destroyed,” she said.

An initial damage report is conducted May 26 after Typhoon Mawar, a Category 4 storm, hit the island of Guam and damaged Andersen Air Force Base. (Airman 1st Class Allison Martin/Air Force)

Gerstner added that while sandbags provided by the base helped keep her home from flooding, many at Andersen weren’t as lucky.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t have carpet in their house because their whole house flooded,” she said. “People have mold, especially around their vents.”

Andersen’s on-base airport terminal, where airmen and their families catch rides to the U.S. mainland on contracted jets known as “space-available” flights, was among the worst-hit facilities.

The facility’s water damage and broken roof forced the 734th Air Mobility Squadron, which runs the passenger terminal, to move the jumble of luggage scales and waiting rooms into another squadron’s building.

For several weeks, troops and their families arrived and departed through a massive hangar that typically housed Global Hawk drones, but sat empty while the unit temporarily operated from Japan.

Now, travelers will await their flights at a camp of trailers near the old passenger terminal until its extensive restoration is finished.

“It’ll need to be completely remodeled inside … taking out all the sheetrock, basically, gut it down to the studs, and if those are still good, then it’ll be rebuilt from there,” Born said.

Cleanup is a multi-step process. First, the military works to restore basic utilities like water and power, and moves downed trees that are blocking major roadways and threatening homes. Contractors come in to seal the buildings to ensure that more rain can’t get in during Guam’s frequent tropical showers and any other major storms that follow.

Then buildings get internal makeovers, with new flooring, paint and furniture. Born’s team will look at ways to secure the facilities against stronger storms, like adding roofs that can withstand 200 mph winds and shatter-resistant windows.

The Air Force may add tile to the bottom foot or two of walls to prevent future water damage and mold, Born said.

It’s an “opportunity to make sure that we’re fixing things correctly,” he said. “We’re going to try to find the newest technology that has the best capabilities to withstand another typhoon.”

Large construction projects are made more complicated and expensive by Guam’s distance from the continental U.S. Materials can take up to two months to arrive by ship, Born said.

What’s more, the limited equipment and labor pool must be shared by the island’s public and private sectors, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Pentagon. The 15-hour time difference between Guam and Bartlow’s office in Florida has created other hurdles for program management.

Juan Mercado, GS-11 duty officer with the 734th Air Mobility Squadron, loads a water tanker, to be distributed to local Guam communities, on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, June 6. Joint military service members from across U.S. Indo-Pacific Command supported FEMA and worked with Guam and Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands’ officials to recover from the devastating impacts of Typhoon Mawar. (Airman 1st Class Allison Martin/Air Force)

“I think we’ve overcome that,” Bartlow said. “There’s been a great deal of coordination … but it is a challenge.”

Building back better

How much the recovery effort may cost and how long it may take depend on how extensively the Pentagon uses the storm as a chance to build a better base.

Andersen was already in the midst of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of upgrades when Mawar struck. The typhoon has presented more opportunities to improve upon facilities built in the late 1940s.

The Air Force’s fiscal 2024 budget asks Congress to fund a new area on the flight line to fit 14 B-52 Stratofortress bombers and additional tanker aircraft, plus the communications and electrical infrastructure to support those operations.

“Without this apron and the supporting utilities, Andersen AFB will be unable to adequately support the bomber aircraft operations during contingencies, significantly impacting readiness and degrading operational capability,” the service wrote.

Debris litters base housing on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, May 26. (Screen grab from video by Staff Sgt. Divine Cox/Air Force)

It cautioned that failing to build new parking “may increase the potential for a serious mishap.”

The Air Force in 2021 began work on a new weapons storage complex at Andersen that will house dozens of the long-range missiles seen as crucial in a potential war with China.

“We can rapidly reload bomber aircraft. When they land here, they can get rapidly re-armed and take back off again,” Maj. Timothy Wu, commander of the 36th Munitions Squadron, said last year . “It increases the lethality for a second strike.”

A slew of other air defense projects are poised to turn Guam into the “most densely protected place anywhere on the planet,” defense publication The Drive wrote Aug. 11.

During Minihan’s tour of mobility squadrons at the base, airmen pointed out that certain hangars were built to Navy standards rather than the Air Force’s, making them too small to comfortably move equipment.

Damage to the appliance storage building on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, was extensive. (Screen grab from video by Staff Sgt. Pedro Tenorio/Air Force)

That issue and more could be wrapped into the Air Force’s post-storm plan for Andersen.

To pay for it, a first tranche of money could come as part of a stopgap bill to fund the federal government in the early months of fiscal 2024, while Congress hashes out an appropriations package to last the rest of the year.

“We were able to take money from our FY ‘23 … appropriations to start some of the immediate emergency repairs,” Born said. “As we dwindle down to the end of FY ‘23 … we are looking for special appropriations to make ‘24 flow through smoothly so we can continue our repairs.”

Further funding would factor into the Pentagon’s annual budget request in fiscal 2025 and beyond.

“It’s complicated by the fact that we’ve got multiple services and installations, and a U.S. territory involved here,” Bartlow said. “I think there’s differing approaches on how … you fund this, recognizing the fact that it’s got to be coordinated.”

Guam’s status as a U.S. territory gives it a smaller congressional delegation than states — one nonvoting member in the House of Representatives — which can hamper its ability to advocate for more funds and attention.

But Guam’s strategic importance in the Pacific has made it a prime destination for federal investment and garnered more interest from U.S. politicians. It has welcomed a growing number of federal lawmakers and military leaders on official visits, and recently hosted its first congressional field hearing since 2007.

“I think they’re able to see pretty clearly the level of impact, and the need for making sure that our strategic interests are repaired and aligned with what the nation needs,” Born said.

Airmen assigned to the 734th Air Mobility Squadron assist with cargo of Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, 26 May. (Staff Sgt. Divine Cox/Air Force)

While the Pentagon mounts its recovery effort, airmen are contending with the realities of daily life after a natural disaster.

Finding fresh, good-quality food has been difficult, Gerstner said, as have periodic power outages as the island repairs its electrical grid.

Typhoon Mawar exacerbated the longstanding difficulties that military spouses have with finding jobs on Guam, and stretched mental health services even thinner. And the order barring new airmen from arriving at Andersen also strained squadrons that are perennially short-staffed, Gerstner said.

Some airmen have taken to social media to complain about food prices, moldy dormitories and other housing problems.

An anonymous complaint posted Aug. 15 on the unofficial “Air Force amn/nco/snco” Facebook page appears to show nearly bare shelves at a military-run grocery store.

“Just a normal day at the commissary here in Guam,” the post read. “Off to the grocery store out in town where I’ll pay $15+ dollars for a gallon of milk alone.”

Ahead of the storm, the Pentagon shrank its cost-of-living allowance for troops stationed overseas, arguing that the price of goods and services was on par with those in the continental U.S.

That left Andersen airmen with less in their wallets amid post-typhoon spikes in food and gas prices. Gerstner said it has forced her family to think twice about their purchases and buy lower-quality food than they might otherwise eat.

On Aug. 1, Joint Region Marianas announced the Pentagon had canceled another planned cut to the allowance of those stationed in Guam. The second decrease was scheduled for November.

Gerstner praised the responsiveness of base leaders and the Andersen community throughout the crisis, and wants to see more typhoon-preparation classes for airmen and their families to keep people safer in the future.

But healing emotional wounds from the storm will take time.

“Some days I have good days, where it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re getting back to normal. Things are looking great,’” Gerstner said. “Then I see something — it could be a post, or it could be a part of the island that still looks really bad — and it feels like it’s the week after the typhoon again.”

An initial damage report is conducted and cleanup gets underway May 26 after a typhoon hit the island of Guam and damaged Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. (Screen grab from video by Airman 1st Class Spencer Perkins)

Rachel Cohen is the editor of Air Force Times. She joined the publication as its senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Frederick News-Post (Md.), Air and Space Forces Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy and elsewhere.

台风“玛瓦尔”成为自 2002 年以来袭击关岛的最强风暴三个月后，安德森空军基地正在恢复正常运转。

第 36 联队发言人阿丽亚娜·威尔金森中尉周四表示，所有基地服务，如商店和托儿所，均按正常时间运营。

在为期60天的禁止部队向美国领土关岛调动的命令解除后，空军人员再次获准在关岛开始新的工作。截至6月初，安德森空军基地约有400名空军人员及其家属流离失所，如今这一数字已降至零。

本周末，基地机场的工作人员将开始在一组移动拖车内为国际航班的乘客办理登机手续——这是自风暴摧毁安德森机场客运航站楼以来，他们的第二个临时办公场所。

这只是恢复美国空军在太平洋最西端基地——关岛——风暴前状态的第一步，整个过程可能需要一到两年，甚至更长时间。空军方面拒绝透露这项工作可能耗资多少，理由是涉及多个在关岛设有基地的军种，决策错综复杂。

军方官员认为，恢复这个自诩为美国“印太前沿阵地”的基地，对于全球安全以及驻扎在那里的士兵的福祉都至关重要。

五角大楼将中国视为美国在军事实力、技术发展和全球影响力方面最大的竞争对手。国防领导人也对北京日益增强的对台湾的侵略性保持警惕。台湾是一个实行民主自治的岛屿，与美国保持着军事和贸易联系，但中国声称对其拥有主权。

安德森空军基地距离中国大陆约 1900 英里，且位于美国在太平洋的盟友的管辖范围内，因此在未来的紧急情况下，它将成为一个具有战略意义的有利位置。

“关岛至关重要，”空军最高机动性官员迈克·米尼汉将军7月访问安德森空军基地期间告诉《空军时报》，“如果这里发生任何危机或冲突，我们将从这里起兵作战，也将为之战斗。”

这张美国宇航局（NASA）5月23日发布的卫星图像显示，台风“玛瓦尔”正在逼近关岛。（NASA via AP）

度过风暴

5月24日晚上9点左右，台风“马瓦尔”在安德森登陆，以每小时140英里的狂风和28英寸的降雨袭击关岛。

该基地拥有超过8000名人员，驻扎着一支RQ-4“全球鹰”侦察无人机部队，但其主要功能是为太平洋地区的其他军事行动提供支持。该基地经常接待执行例行威慑任务的轰炸机中队，并且是该地区重要的训练演习中心。

风暴来临前，所有可以撤离的飞机都被安排转移，其余的则停放在机库里。一家人蜷缩在黑暗中，忍受着狂风暴雨，手机和无线电信号都无法使用。

“这太令人恐惧了，”安德森空军基地的一位重要配偶艾普丽尔·格斯特纳说道，她的丈夫在第734空运中队工作。“你能听到外面狂风呼啸……还能不断听到棕榈树倒在地上的沉闷巨响。”

关键配偶是由部队指挥官任命的志愿者，他们作为信息渠道，为空军家庭提供资源。

“有很多未知因素，你必须在心理上接受这一点，”她说。

5月30日，即将离开的空军人员及其家属被送往关岛安德森空军基地的1号机库。台风“玛瓦尔”对第734空中机动中队的客运航站楼造成了严重破坏。由于航站楼无法使用，第734空中机动中队与第4侦察中队合作，暂时使用其机库作为临时航站楼，直至主航站楼修复完成。（空军参谋军士佩德罗·特诺里奥/空军）

在接下来的几周里，空军民用工程中心派遣了一个小组评估损失，估算维修费用，并制定后续方案。空军方面表示，约有500处设施受损。

安德森空军基地现场清理主管达斯汀·伯恩上校在最近接受《空军时报》采访时表示：“总体而言，这些建筑状况良好。我们没有损失任何建筑物，能够继续执行任务。但显然，我们现在有很多设施都出现了渗水和水灾损坏。”

空军民用工程司令部 (AFCEC) 负责监督空军自然灾害恢复工作的罗伯特·巴特洛上校表示，由于多种原因，安德森空军基地在应对台风“玛瓦尔”时比廷德尔空军基地在应对飓风“迈克尔”时表现得更好。“迈克尔”是 2018 年重创佛罗里达州廷德尔空军基地的五级飓风。

巴特洛说，安德森空军基地地势比廷德尔空军基地高，所以风速较慢，也没有受到风暴潮的影响。关岛的建筑物是按照五级飓风的标准建造的，五级飓风的风速超过每小时157英里。

博恩表示，与廷德尔不同，安德森的任何设施都没有遭受需要拆除重建的结构性损坏。

他说：“我们正在考虑对几处设施进行新建，因为……维修成本太高了。我们或许应该……添置新的设施，并以更好的方式进行建设。”

格斯特纳的前景则不那么乐观。

“我们正在慢慢恢复，但这需要很长时间，因为有些建筑物完全被摧毁了，”她说。

5月26日，四级台风“玛瓦尔”袭击关岛并对安德森空军基地造成破坏后，进行了初步的损失评估。（空军一等兵艾莉森·马丁/空军）

格斯特纳补充说，虽然基地提供的沙袋帮助她家免遭洪水侵袭，但安德森空军基地的许多人就没有那么幸运了。

“很多人家里都没铺地毯，因为他们的房子都被淹了，”她说。“人们家里有霉菌，尤其是在通风口周围。”

安德森空军基地内的机场航站楼是受灾最严重的设施之一，空军人员及其家属会在这里搭乘被称为“有空位航班”的包机前往美国本土。

由于设施漏水和屋顶破损，负责运营客运航站楼的第 734 空运中队被迫将杂乱的行李秤和候车室搬到另一个中队的建筑物内。

在接下来的几周里，部队和他们的家属通过一个巨大的机库进出，这个机库通常存放着全球鹰无人机，但在部队暂时从日本调集行动期间一直空置着。

现在，旅客们将在旧客运航站楼附近的拖车营地等候航班，直到该航站楼完成大规模修复。

“内部需要彻底改造……基本上要拆掉所有的石膏板，一直拆到只剩框架，如果框架还完好，那就从那里开始重建，”博恩说。

清理工作是一个多步骤的过程。首先，军方会努力恢复供水供电等基本公用设施，并移走阻塞主要道路、威胁居民房屋的倒伏树木。承包商会进场密封建筑物，以确保在关岛频繁的热带降雨以及随后的任何其他大型风暴中，雨水不会渗入。

然后，建筑物内部会进行翻新，包括铺设新地板、粉刷墙面和添置家具。博恩的团队将研究如何加固设施以抵御更强风暴，例如加装能够抵御时速200英里风速的屋顶和安装防碎玻璃窗。

博恩说，空军可能会在墙壁底部一两英尺的地方加装瓷砖，以防止将来出现水渍和霉菌。

他说：“这是一个确保我们正确解决问题的机会。我们将努力寻找能够抵御另一场台风的最新技术。”

关岛距离美国大陆较远，这使得大型建设项目更加复杂和昂贵。博恩说，材料可能需要长达两个月的时间才能通过海运到达。

此外，有限的设备和劳动力资源必须由岛上的公共和私营部门、美国联邦紧急事务管理局以及五角大楼共同共享。关岛与巴特洛在佛罗里达州的办公室之间15个小时的时差也给项目管理带来了其他障碍。

6月6日，在关岛安德森空军基地，第734空中机动中队GS-11级值班军官胡安·梅尔卡多正在装载一辆水罐车，这些水罐车将分发给关岛当地社区。来自美国印太司令部各军种的联合军事人员为联邦紧急事务管理署（FEMA）提供支持，并与关岛和北马里亚纳群岛联邦官员合作，共同应对台风“玛瓦尔”造成的毁灭性影响。（空军一等兵艾莉森·马丁/空军）

“我认为我们已经克服了这个问题，”巴特洛说。“我们做了大量的协调工作……但这仍然是一个挑战。”

重建得更好

灾后重建工作可能需要花费多少资金以及需要多长时间，取决于五角大楼在多大程度上利用这场风暴的机会来建设一个更好的基地。

安德森公司在台风“玛瓦尔”来袭时，已经投入数亿美元进行升级改造。这场台风也为改善上世纪40年代末建造的设施提供了更多契机。

空军 2024 财年预算要求国会拨款在飞行线上新建一个区域，以容纳 14 架 B-52 同温层堡垒轰炸机和额外的加油机，以及支持这些行动的通信和电力基础设施。

“如果没有这个停机坪和配套设施，安德森空军基地将无法在突发事件期间充分支持轰炸机的作战行动，这将严重影响战备状态并降低作战能力，”该部门写道。

5月26日，关岛安德森空军基地，基地住房区内散落着大量垃圾。（视频截图，由空军中士迪瓦恩·考克斯拍摄）

它警告说，不建设新的停车场“可能会增加发生严重事故的可能性”。

2021 年，美国空军开始在安德森空军基地建造一个新的武器储存综合体，该综合体将存放数十枚远程导弹，这些导弹被认为在与中国可能发生的战争中至关重要。

“我们可以迅速为轰炸机重新装弹。它们在这里降落后，可以迅速重新装弹并再次起飞，”第36弹药中队指挥官吴添福少校去年表示。“这提高了二次打击的杀伤力。”

据国防刊物《The Drive》8月11日报道，一系列其他防空项目正准备将关岛变成“地球上防御最严密的地方”。

在米尼汉参观基地机动中队期间，空军人员指出，某些机库是按照海军标准而不是空军标准建造的，因此太小，无法舒适地移动设备。

关岛安德森空军基地的电器仓库损毁严重。（视频截图，由空军中士佩德罗·特诺里奥提供）

这个问题以及更多其他问题都可以纳入空军针对安德森空军基地的风暴后计划中。

为了支付这笔费用，第一笔资金可以作为一项临时拨款法案的一部分，用于在 2024 财年初期为联邦政府提供资金，同时国会敲定一项拨款方案，以维持到年底。

“我们从2023财年的拨款中挪用了一些资金，用于启动一些紧急维修工作，”博恩说。“随着2023财年接近尾声，我们正在寻求专项拨款，以确保2024财年顺利进行，从而能够继续进行维修工作。”

进一步的资金投入将纳入五角大楼 2025 财年及以后的年度预算申请。

巴特洛说：“情况很复杂，因为我们涉及多个服务和设施，而且还涉及到美国领土。我认为在如何筹集资金方面存在不同的方法，但同时也要认识到，这项工作必须协调一致。”

关岛作为美国领土，其国会代表团规模小于各州——众议院仅有一名无投票权的代表——这可能会阻碍其争取更多资金和关注的能力。

但关岛在太平洋地区的战略重要性使其成为联邦政府投资的首选目的地，并引起了美国政界人士的更多关注。越来越多的联邦议员和军方领导人到访关岛进行正式访问，关岛最近还举行了自2007年以来的首次国会实地听证会。

“我认为他们能够非常清楚地看到影响程度，以及确保我们的战略利益得到修复并与国家需要保持一致的必要性，”博恩说。

5月26日，驻关岛安德森空军基地的第734空中机动中队空军人员协助运送联邦紧急事务管理局人员的货物。（空军参谋军士迪瓦恩·考克斯/空军）

在五角大楼全力开展灾后重建工作的同时，空军人员也在应对自然灾害后日常生活的种种现实。

格斯特纳表示，寻找新鲜优质的食物一直很困难，而且由于岛上正在修复电网，还会出现周期性的停电，这也带来了不小的麻烦。

台风“玛瓦尔”加剧了军属在关岛找工作长期以来面临的困境，也使心理健康服务更加捉襟见肘。格斯特纳表示，禁止新兵抵达安德森空军基地的命令也让长期人手短缺的飞行中队雪上加霜。

一些空军人员在社交媒体上抱怨食品价格高昂、宿舍发霉以及其他住房问题。

8 月 15 日，在非官方的“空军士兵/士官/高级士官”Facebook 页面上发布的一条匿名投诉显示，一家军方经营的杂货店货架几乎空空如也。

“在关岛的军需品商店里，这只是平常的一天，”帖子写道。“接下来要去镇上的杂货店，光一加仑牛奶就要15美元以上。”

风暴来临前，五角大楼削减了驻外美军的生活津贴，理由是海外商品和服务的价格与美国本土的价格持平。

台风过后，食品和汽油价格飙升，安德森空军基地的空军人员因此手头拮据。格斯特纳说，这迫使她的家人在购物时三思而后行，不得不购买一些质量不如平时吃的食物。

8月1日，马里亚纳联合区域司令部宣布，五角大楼取消了原定于11月实施的另一次削减驻关岛人员津贴的计划。

格斯特纳赞扬了基地领导和安德森社区在整个危机期间的积极响应，并希望为空军人员及其家属开设更多台风防灾准备课程，以确保人们在未来更加安全。

但治愈风暴带来的情感创伤需要时间。

“有时候我会感觉很好，觉得‘哦，一切都在恢复正常，情况好转’，”格斯特纳说。“但随后我会看到一些东西——可能是某个帖子，也可能是岛上某些地方仍然看起来很糟糕——感觉就像又回到了台风过后的一周。”

5月26日，台风袭击关岛并造成安德森空军基地受损后，初步损失报告已完成，清理工作随即展开。（截图来自一等兵斯宾塞·珀金斯拍摄的视频）

瑞秋·科恩是《空军时报》的编辑。她于2021年3月加入该刊物，担任高级记者。她的作品曾发表在《华盛顿邮报》、《弗雷德里克新闻邮报》（马里兰州）、《空军与太空部队杂志》、《国防内幕》、《卫生政策内幕》等刊物上。