WELCOME: USO volunteer Nicole Slattery gets a couple of service members set up to enter the new USO facilities at Dusit Hotels-The Plaza in Tumon. Kevin Milan/The Guam Daily Post
ROOMY: The USO, on Saturday, opened their new location at the second floor of the Dusit Hotels-The Plaza in Tumon. Kevin Milan/The Guam Daily Post
NOW OPEN: The newly opened USO facilities now located on the second floor of Dusit Hotels-The Plaza in Tumon. Kevin Milan/The Guam Daily Post
CONNECTED: Service members speaking with their loved ones online at the USO facilities at Dusit Hotels-The Plaza. Kevin Milan/The Guam Daily Post
WELCOME: The newly opened USO facilities now located on the second floor of The Plaza in Tumon. Kevin Milan/The Guam Daily Post
WELCOME: USO volunteer Nicole Slattery gets a couple of service members set up to enter the new USO facilities at Dusit Hotels-The Plaza in Tumon. Kevin Milan/The Guam Daily Post
ROOMY: The USO, on Saturday, opened their new location at the second floor of the Dusit Hotels-The Plaza in Tumon. Kevin Milan/The Guam Daily Post
NOW OPEN: The newly opened USO facilities now located on the second floor of Dusit Hotels-The Plaza in Tumon. Kevin Milan/The Guam Daily Post
CONNECTED: Service members speaking with their loved ones online at the USO facilities at Dusit Hotels-The Plaza. Kevin Milan/The Guam Daily Post
WELCOME: The newly opened USO facilities now located on the second floor of The Plaza in Tumon. Kevin Milan/The Guam Daily Post
From a quonset hut on Naval Base Guam to a popular beachside in Piti to a posh hotel at the center of Paradise Island in Tumon, Guam, the USO has come a long way.
Guam’s USO is one of the oldest, having been first established in the 1940s, said Area Director Leigh Leilani Graham.
“This year, USO celebrates 81 years of service,” she said. “We’re almost as old as the USO itself.”
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She added: “But now we’re celebrating ‘It’s a New Day at USO Tumon Bay!’”
The organization’s Tumon center, formerly in the Royal Orchid Hotel, held a virtual ribbon cutting for the new location on Feb. 4.
On Feb. 5, the organization that supports military service members and their families, opened the doors of their newest home at the Dusit Guam and The Plaza Shopping Center property.
“We appreciate our new partners and host,” she said. “We opened Saturday morning and there was already a line of service members and families just waiting to come in.”
Volunteer Nicole Slattery said she appreciates being part of the USO and giving back to military personnel who defend the island and nation. She said service members are enjoying the new location.
“I’m really hearing that it’s really beautiful,” she said, adding that patrons have also noted its one of the largest USO facilities they’ve visited.
Of the services they provide, Slattery said, the computer and gaming centers seem to be the most popular.
Graham said another corporate-community partner, GTA, outfitted the new location with high-speed internet, which makes for great gaming experience. And that will come in handy, she said, as they kick off their esport events.
GTA also provided the center with long-distance calling so service members can contact their families worldwide.
The USO Tumon Bay is an important part of the support services for military patrons. The new center also offers a conference room for private meetings, a sports lounge/gaming room with a big-screen TV, reading areas, and a cafe.
Graham said being in the heart of Tumon Bay is another amazing feature for their patrons.
“It’s a familiar rallying point where they can then go out and explore,” she said. “On any given day, there’s over 2,000 military lodging in Tumon … and that’s growing. We now have all six branches of the military in Guam, including the Space Force, and every single one of them is growing – there’s not one of them that’s not.”
She said they also have a close relationship with the Guam National Guard.
“The National Guard was doing some training on our computers,” she said. “For (service members) to be able to come in, get on the computers, relax, get a game of pool, get in the massage chair for a while before they go out, is part of what we hope to offer.”
She said with their new location open, they’re looking to host an event this coming Super Bowl Monday.
“It’s going to be great,” she said.
Guam’s USO Tumon Bay center serves over 20,000 service members of all six service branches permanently assigned on island, also supporting more than 50,000 service members annually visiting Pacific Fleet ships or transiting through other Indo-Pacific theater destinations.
Graham said they first established in Tumon Bay in 2006 and they’re very grateful for the 16 years at Royal Orchid, where thousands of military personnel and their families were able to enjoy their services.
She added her thanks to the many supporters and corporate sponsors who’ve help USO continue their mission of strengthening «America’s military service members by keeping them connected to family, home and country, throughout their service to the nation.»
For more information, call 671-648-4878 or visit guam.uso.org.
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