Jasmine is an Air Force wife, middle school math teacher, and dive master who has fully taken advantage of her latest duty station in Guam. While she faced challenges during the PCS process, she persevered and has embraced once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
Travels and Tribulations
Jasmine met her husband, Geoff, while he was stationed in England. He was stationed at Mildenhall and living by Newmarket, and she was 30 minutes outside of Cambridge, working on her teaching certification. As luck would have it, her default Tinder radius was wider than she thought, and the two matched.
From the beginning, she knew their dating would be serious and that his Air Force career would move them around the world. As their relationship progressed, Geoff received three-year orders to North Carolina, and Jasmine later moved to join him after she completed her teaching certification in England.
However, this major move was not without its obstacles and trials. While she was able to visit her husband, her American visa was denied, so she was ultimately stuck in England for 18 months waiting for travel approval. Geoff received orders to Guam during this time, but with Jasmine’s visa situation still unresolved, her first year in Guam was an isolated one.
Making The Best of It
Because it took a year for her to get her visa, Jasmine was unable to leave Guam and couldn’t get her driver’s license, leaving her stuck in the house for most of her day. Not wanting to succumb to boredom, Jasmine leaned into new hobbies.
She set three goals for herself at the gym to keep herself motivated: do a pull-up, deadlift two plates, and bench a plate. She’s proud to have met all these goals and says that “setting goals kept me going and kept me sane.” She also learned how to upcycle furniture by watching YouTube videos. From painting an old bookshelf to reupholstering chairs, she transformed old pieces into something beautiful.
Turning Point
Once her visa was approved, Jasmine was eager to begin working and filling her days. She started off as a substitute teacher before transitioning to full-time teaching at another school in town. Once she’d collected a few paychecks, she decided to put the money towards a rekindled passion: diving.
Jasmine was originally certified in Barbados at 16, so she scheduled refresher dives to rebuild her skills and confidence. As luck or fate would have it, a woman asked Jasmine on her very first boat dive if she’d join her on a diving trip to Palau. Even though they’d just met, Jasmine agreed to the adventure and quickly got her advanced and deep-water certifications completed. Two months after that first boat dive, Jasmine was exploring the pristine reefs in Palau.
Exploring New Worlds
Diving has become a central part of Jasmine’s time in Guam, and her hobby has morphed into a career. She’s been able to dive in Palau, Chuuk, Guam, and Yap, and will be going to Pohnpei for Spring Break. Each island offers its own unique attractions and challenges for divers.
Because of Operation Hailstone, Chuuk has many wrecked ships to explore, and people fly from all over the world to participate in wreck and technical dives. Yap Day is an annual holiday celebrating traditional Yapese culture, and Jasmine was fortunate enough to experience it for herself during her dive trip. She’s looking forward to diving with the black manta rays and sharks in Pohnpei.
While all of these islands are acclaimed diving sites, their remote locations make visiting them time and cost-prohibitive for many hobby divers. Living in Guam gave Jasmine the opportunity to live near these far-flung islands and to develop relationships with divers who are skilled at leading exploratory dives.
Jasmine has completed over 300 dives and has earned her dive master certification, elevating her from a recreational to a professional level. She’s excited that she can be paid to guide dives and has begun work as a contractor with a local dive shop. When she and her husband move to Florida later this year, she is hopeful that she can continue to dive and potentially lead dive trips.
In addition to dive trips, Jasmine has fully taken advantage of Guam’s proximity to Asia to travel. She and her husband went to Seoul, South Korea, where they saw the Starfield Library, the Gangnam Style Horse Dance Statue, and Seoul Tower. They also visited Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, Japan, during cherry blossom season and took a belated honeymoon trip to Bali for two weeks.
Living the Movie Magic
Before her husband had even received orders for Guam, Jasmine had watched and loved the Netflix movie, Operation Christmas Drop. Based out of Guam, Operation Christmas Drop is the Department of Defense’s longest-running humanitarian airlift operation. Volunteers help to collect vital supplies that are dropped to dozens of Pacific islands before Christmas to spread hope and “love from above.”
After watching the movie so many times, Jasmine was determined to get involved as soon as she arrived in Guam. During her first year, one of her friends had sponsored a box, so she was invited to decorate and fill it during a packing day. The next year, she helped collect donations at the Commissary and packed a box with another friend. During her third year, she continued to volunteer, but her fourth and final year was her biggest and most successful.
Jasmine was “always asking to help” and was able to join the event committee. She organized and led a dive-cleanup fundraiser, created trivia questions for a fundraiser, participated in a fundraising run, and kept asking how she could be involved. “There’s no harm in asking; you just have to keep on asking and pestering,” Jasmine said, and her diligence paid off.
After her family joined her for the annual box-packing event, Jasmine learned she had been chosen to ride on the C-130 to Chuuk for a drop. It’s a rare and unique opportunity to be chosen to fly along, and it was only possible because of Jasmine’s dedication to the cause.
Final Reflections
Overall, Jasmine is grateful for her time in Guam and all the unique opportunities it has presented her with. “When else can I say I went on a dive on a Tuesday after work and saw manta rays,” she said, reflecting on how saying “yes” to opportunities has given her so much fulfilment and purpose. While the first year was difficult and lonely while she waited to get her driver’s license, Jasmine made up for lost time with travel, diving, and work.
The only predictable part of military life is that it’s unpredictable, but if you embrace the adventure, are unafraid of being told “no,” and are willing to try new things, you might just discover a whole new world of opportunities.
Katie McDonald is a Navy wife, and she and her husband are currently stationed in Guam. After 5 years as an English teacher, Katie is currently working as a freelance writer and enjoys writing about books and travel.. https://www.katiereads.com/
Last Updated on April 2, 2026 by Writer
Leave a Reply