Anyone live on a military base? What's it like?

namars01

Does anyone live on base?  My husband is leaving for basic for the air force Aug 9th and so we are both fairly new to all of this.  I was just wondering how housing on base is and if it is nice, etc!  I am so nervous for this big change!!  Any advice would be amazing!!

MrsOjoButtons

http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/42156468.aspx

namars01

Thanks So Very Much!!!  Helped out a lot!!

MrsOjoButtons

No prob Things have been slow lately, so at least that post gives you a few things to think about until more people pop in to answer. Good luck to your husband!

Honeydewchestnut

My H and I just moved onto our first base. It's basically a little gated town. The hardest part so far has been adjusting to the hours of operation at the commisary, exchange, and shopette.

pennymonsterrr

I loved living on base. I felt safe when he was away and had other married friends all over the place. Everything was within walking distance, the gym, the exchange, the pool.. it was awesome. I loved our base house too. Get used to driving reallyyy slow. I never had any problems with my neighbors or had the house inspected. I also feel that we saved money that way. I hope if you go for it you have the same luck!

iluvmytxrgr

Living on base varies from base to base.  Were we are, the base housing is decent, every one is on top of each other.  We don't qualify to live on our base because we need 5 bedrooms and none of the houses are big enough.  I also would live on our base because the schools are terrible, the traffic out side the base sucks and MH prefers to get away from work when he is not working.  We live about 30 mins from the base. 

When your H gets his orders, do your research.  Come ask the ladies here what information they can give you about on and off post housing.  Talk it over and decide what you think your best options are.  It will really depend on the base you are headed too. 

ksrawr

We have never lived on base due to waitlists and then we decided to buy when we got to our current place.  Every base housing is different.  Some are nice some are awful and some have a mixture.  You will need to make sure to call the housing office where he gets stationed to find out what tyype of wait time there might be.  I actually like living off base because it gets us away a little bit. 

ESquared423

My husband and I live on base here in Hawaii because it is such a HCOL that it was not worth it to us to look for housing off-base. We get a lot more bang for our buck by living on base..and we lucked out with a great townhouse end-unit with a fenced in backyard. I enjoy it a lot..I wasn't sure I would, but I really do. The commissary, BX, shopettes, restaurants, pools, gym, library, both of our jobs are all a 10-minute drive or less from our house. I feel safe when he's gone and I like the sense of community I feel by living on base. It's the only base we've ever lived on though, so maybe I'll feel different at our next stop! Good luck to you wherever your husband's job takes you guys!

Sibil

I hated it the few months I was required to live on base. I will try to continue to avoid it. I don't feel safer just bc it's hated since stats show that mil members are usually as big a risk as the community (if not worse). I'd rather live in a more diverse community.