ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam — The first contingent of twelve F-15E Strike Eagles from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, arrived at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on Friday to begin an indefinite deployment. The fighters are accompanied by about 300 personnel from 391st Fighter Squadron also from the Idaho base.

“This gives us an opportunity to conduct operations in an area where we could be tasked in the future,” said Lt. Col. Gene Anderson, director of operations for the 391st Fighter Squadron.

“We really want to do training with a lot of the local assets and learn how business is done in the Pacific area of responsibility.”

He said the 391st Fighter Squadron members have been integrated into the 36th Air Expeditionary Wing at Andersen and emphasized the unit’s intention to take advantage of any training opportunities that present themselves.

Because Andersen hasn’t had a fighter presence “in a long time” preparations were more extensive than usual, he said. “And we had to bring a pretty large footprint with us.”

Also on rotational deployment to Andersen are about 400 members of the 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., and the New York Air National Guard’s 107th Air Refueling Wing from Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Officials said the deployment isn’t related to any particular threat, but in keeping with normal policy and normal force repositioning.

The opportunity to train in Guam will give the fighter squadron the opportunity to familiarize itself with the Pacific theater, both the physical environment and the “different sorts of command relationships and the different sorts of command and controls,” said Col. Stephen Wolborsky, vice commander of the 36th Air Expeditionary Wing.

Guam offers the advantage of being a U.S. territory and so training is not restricted by diplomatic concerns. Andersen houses “the Air Force’s largest storage capacity for jet fuel,” said Wolborsky.

“We have the largest munitions storage area in Pacific Air Forces. We have this airport and runway environment [of] about 7½ million square feet.”

The indefinite length of the deployment did not seem to bother Anderson. “Of all the places I’ve been on this planet, I’ve never seen anyplace more pro-military than Guam,” he said. “We’re really enjoying it.”