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Twentynine Palms
Naval Station Great Lakes My two favorite, are all in fucked up states. Naval Base Ventura County Whidbey Island |
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Quoted: MacDill AFB is the nicest base I’ve ever been on. Looks like a golf resort. Beautiful. Air Force knows how to live I’ll give them that. Eielson AFB near Fairbanks, AK had the best US Military food I’ve ever eaten at the chow hall. They had shrimp cocktail for God’s sake. View Quote Played a round of golf there back in March. Some of the officer housing is bay front and quite nice. civi equivalent would be millions. Course was ok. Very buggy. We like the Tampa Bay area. Nice beaches. Lots of traffic in season though. |
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Quoted: It was... Lived in Quarry Heights before Noriega got froggy. Truely end of an era View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: If it was still in existence, the Canal Zone would be absolutely marvelous. It was... Lived in Quarry Heights before Noriega got froggy. Truely end of an era Ahhh yes, I grew up in Balboa on the Pacific side in the 60’s, it was paradise. Ft. Amador beach, the Yacht Club, Napoli pizza, Clubhouse empanadas, Ron Cortez, Panamanian babes…… |
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Hurlburt and Eglin would top my list. Hurbie wing commander stood up while I was there and said, "Six months from now, half of you will be stationed at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. The next day there was a line out the door at MPF of people dropping retirement orders, if that tells you anything. It put us into an aircrew training pipeline crisis that damn near hamstrung AFSOC.
Ramstein has (or did have) the largest US expat population in the world. All the benefits of Germany with a good measure of non-German compliance tossed in. The golf course is excellent, the "0" Club has chandeliers that got a wing commander relieved. Most of the other German bases aren't far behind. Yakota and Misawa will give you a living experience you won't get twice in one lifetime. So will Souda Bay, Greece. Huge difference between visiting a foreign country, and actually living there. All the AF guys I knew who were stationed there loved Offutt. Same for a large number from Tinker. Seemed odd to me, but to each their own. Two of my mentor chiefs retired to Hill, and I hear nothing but good things from them. I loved Quantico (and Lunga, the reservoir) but I was a child, so don't take my word for that one. |
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Quoted: It was... Lived in Quarry Heights before Noriega got froggy. Truely end of an era View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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Quoted: The best probably are located in a place the average person cannot afford. Coronado Island Colorado Springs Etc. The best bang for your buck is probably San Antonio, TX. View Quote I agree with Colorado Springs. San Antonio is a shit hole though. Crime is terrible. I just spent two months there for some training. Every night people broke windows to get into cars in the parking lot. They even stole a guys tail lights from his f150. There are crack heads living under every overpass. I am based out of Florida and the drivers in San Antonio make Floridians look amazing and courteous. |
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Quoted: Everyone hates it, but I really liked Ft Polk. The area was much like N WI, Pine trees and sand. The locals were great and I got into a hunting club as soon as I got there. I hunted and fished all over and I am looking at retiring to western LA. I am not a city person, i hate cities, so I was fine with Sleezville and DeCritter. Alexandria was an hour away, and major cities were a few hours. View Quote I used to think I was the only person in the Army who enjoyed my time at Polk. Did my hunter safety there and hunted all over post. fished till my heart's content, no big city shit to deal with. I have a SC accent so the locals didn't hassle me much. All in all I enjoyed it a lot. Did you ever get out to the July 4th celebrations at Alligator Lake? They used to bring out Field Guns and the Artillery guys from the All Criminal Regiment how batts would do a gun salute for every state after dark. Good show. |
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Corry Field in Pensacola, FL. Back in the 80's every other Friday in the chow hall was Steak and Lobster. Officially there was no seconds but I was never denied...
At the time Pensacola was a Navy/College town and there were "LOTS" of hot girls and without a lot of rich guys hogging all the women it was paradise for having a good looking girlfriend. |
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Quoted: I agree with Colorado Springs. San Antonio is a shit hole though. Crime is terrible. I just spent two months there for some training. Every night people broke windows to get into cars in the parking lot. They even stole a guys tail lights from his f150. There are crack heads living under every overpass. I am based out of Florida and the drivers in San Antonio make Floridians look amazing and courteous. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: The best probably are located in a place the average person cannot afford. Coronado Island Colorado Springs Etc. The best bang for your buck is probably San Antonio, TX. I agree with Colorado Springs. San Antonio is a shit hole though. Crime is terrible. I just spent two months there for some training. Every night people broke windows to get into cars in the parking lot. They even stole a guys tail lights from his f150. There are crack heads living under every overpass. I am based out of Florida and the drivers in San Antonio make Floridians look amazing and courteous. You may be right. I lived outside of the city and would venture in for work, restaurants, sports, etc. Living in the city proper probably is a bad idea. Having said that, the surrounding areas were great. |
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Quoted: So much depends in what you want out of that life? Affordable housing and lots of hunting / fishing? You might love Fort Leonard Wood. If you don't want to be in a remotes area and like city amenities you will hate it. Weather and climate is another one. As you see above, some people absolutely love the Florida panhandle. Others, myself included, hate the humidity and seemingly biannual hurricane drills. The Colorado Springs area is extremely popular. I've known people who spent hears angling for a job out that way. It's getting stupid expensive out there now, which also impacts that quality of life equation. View Quote I was at Leonard Wood last month and was stunned at the beauty of the area |
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Quoted: MacDill AFB is the nicest base I’ve ever been on. Looks like a golf resort. Beautiful. Air Force knows how to live I’ll give them that. Eielson AFB near Fairbanks, AK had the best US Military food I’ve ever eaten at the chow hall. They had shrimp cocktail for God’s sake. View Quote MacDill is nice but does not have a hugh number of permanent party so the amenities are limited. I don’t golf but the course looks nice. It is on the end of a peninsula so base access means dealing with south Tampa traffic. Cost of housing here has also gone through the roof in the past couple years. It has no appeal to me personally as I’m there often enough that the sweet location has worn off on me. Lastly, it will be under 10 feet of water if a hurricane comes up Tampa Bay. I was at Lewis in the late 80’s: Absolutely loved the area. It’s probably ruined like Seattle though |
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As far as Army bases, I only ever heard good things about Carson.
Any of the bases in Italy are good and much smaller than CONUS and many in Germany. Plus you're in Italy. Other than that I would avoid Army bases. |
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Quoted: Aviano. Unbelievable there. View Quote Loved when we would go there for a while in the 90's. Stupid Italian ground crew parked us so stupidly, then we couldn't' get a tug to push out. Told us to reverse. I got out checked all the shitters that were off our nose, they were empty. The radio calls were hilarity when they went tumbling. Beautiful flying..Seems like they really built it up since then. |
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NOT the following...
Ft Benning or Ft. Moore now i guess Ft Polk aka Ft. Puke Ft. Irwin |
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Was stationed at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah Georgia, when I was in the 1st Ranger Battalion in the early 80's.
You are right in Savannah, you have the beach at Tybee Island, River Street and all that. Of course we were always in the field at Ft. Stewart or on deployment but it was pretty nice. |
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Anyone ever stationed at NAS Sigonella? I went through there a few times but never for any extended period, it seemed like a nice place.
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Four years at NAS Boca Chica was nice. But raising kids in Key West I would not do.
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I am honestly shocked that there are a few people saying 29 Palms. I was there 10 months for Comm school and a few more times for CAX, and I was happy to leave every time.
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Quoted: Anyone ever stationed at NAS Sigonella? I went through there a few times but never for any extended period, it seemed like a nice place. View Quote My wife spent 3 weeks there for a TDY with the USAF last year and she hated it. Basically the island stopped paying taxes to the mainland of Italy, so the Italian gov decided to stop collecting trash and she said there was trash everywhere. (Not sure if that finally changed) It was brutally fucking hot - like 105-110 for 2 of the 3 weeks there and she wasn't really impressed by the local food - and we loved the food in mainland Italy when we visited there. She did climb Mt Etna which was cool, and some of the little towns were really pretty from the pictures but she said it was definitely not a long term place she'd want to be. |
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Hawaii was great as newlyweds.
Not at work? You're on vacation! Waikiki was hoping every week night and the beach was right there as well. Colorado almost as good, but mountain stuff needed a weekend to really enjoy it. |
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Quoted: I guess it’s relative. I’m up in AK now paying out the nose for everything. I don’t know if El Paso housing prices have gone full retard but they weren’t too bad in the far east/northeast when I was there ~2 years ago. View Quote I have been here almost 5 years now. Things have rapidly changed. The NE is out of control with crime/ traffic, the illegal alien camps are in NE, and people (all over the city) are being forced out due many not being able to afford housing. Property taxes keep getting jacked up, up and up. Glad I landed where and when I did. I wont be surprised if the RUS locality pay we fall under changes in 1-2 years. Its getting VERY expensive to live here. |
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Quoted: I have been here almost 5 years now. Things have rapidly changed. The NE is out of control with crime/ traffic, the illegal alien camps are in NE, and people (all over the city) are being forced out due many not being able to afford housing. Property taxes keep getting jacked up, up and up. Glad I landed where and when I did. I wont be surprised if the RUS locality pay we fall under changes in 1-2 years. Its getting VERY expensive to live here. View Quote Yikes. Hopefully those trends reverse, otherwise so much for my hopes of returning back there in 5 years or so to retire |
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I haven't lived there, but if I had a choice it would be Rota, Spain. Second pick would be any base in Italy with a preference for Sigonella.
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Quoted: zero experience with other bases but came here to suggest Camp Ederle. I was born and raised there. It’s a nice place to live.. lots of cool place to visit from there. Never been to Camp Del Din though. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Caserma Ederle in Vicenza gets my vote. zero experience with other bases but came here to suggest Camp Ederle. I was born and raised there. It’s a nice place to live.. lots of cool place to visit from there. Never been to Camp Del Din though. Looks like they just haphazardly stuck Del Din where the airfield was. edit-just noticed your location. You would know better than I. |
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Quoted: Ft Drum, home of the 10th Mountain. View Quote I enjoyed Ft Drum for the quiet, solitude and people. If you enjoy snow, cold and the two weeks in summer between the end of black fly season and the onset of 35 degree nights by the end of August, you’ll love it where Interstate 81 becomes two lanes. Spent several years there in increments throughout the ‘90’s.The uppermost Northern tier of New York State is beautiful but desolate and economically depressed. |
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Not Lejeune.
And fuck all u guys that got stationed somewhere cool. |
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Quoted: I enjoyed Ft Drum for the quiet, solitude and people. If you enjoy snow, cold and the two weeks in summer between the end of black fly season and the onset of 35 degree nights by the end of August, you’ll love it where Interstate 81 becomes two lanes. Spent several years there in increments throughout the ‘90’s.The uppermost Northern tier of New York State is beautiful but desolate and economically depressed. View Quote Hasn't changed much when I was there starting in 2011. It was okay, but there wasn't a ton to do, it was in kind of a poorer, rural area and everything of note was far enough you needed a pass to go do. |
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Quoted: MacDill AFB is the nicest base I’ve ever been on. Looks like a golf resort. Beautiful. Air Force knows how to live I’ll give them that. Eielson AFB near Fairbanks, AK had the best US Military food I’ve ever eaten at the chow hall. They had shrimp cocktail for God’s sake. View Quote I came here to say MacDill and I've been to pretty much major base in the DoD. Niceset overall with all things considered. Depends what you want though. Fairchild AFB for example...some people love it and others absolutely hate it. Same with the nuke bases east of there. |
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