Pros and cons

[sandykay]

OK, give me the Pros and cons for these bases. There are some states which have several babses I realize that. DH is updating his dream sheet and we want the good, bad and ugly. Also if you had your choice where would you go?

ANDERSEN, GUAM
AVIANO, ITALY
BARKSDALE, LOUISIANA
BUCKLEY/PETERSON/SCHRIEVER, COLORADO
EGLIN/MACDILL/TYNDALL/HURLBURT FIELD, FLORIDA
EIELSON/ELMENDORF, ALASKA
HICKAM, HAWAII
INCIRLIK, TURKEY
KAISERSLAUTERN/SPANGDAHLEM, GERMANY
LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
POPE/SEYMOUR JOHNSON, NORTH CAROLINA
SCOTT AFB MIDAMER, ILLINOIS

[Southern-momma]

Alaska....cold as heck in the winter. But beautiful in the summer. Elieson (ie Fairbanks) is actually warmer than Elmendorf (Anchorage) in the summer. But on the same note much colder in the winter. And than there is less to do in Fairbanks.

The housing is nice as long as you get the new(er) stuff. The city is lovely and normally pretty friendly as long as you are careful in a couple areas. The drivers tend to be crazy and there are only about 5 main roads in town and they tend to get VERY busy in the mornings and afternoons.

Hit me up, you know where I am lol.

[BubMunkeyBles]

I'm only commenting on where we've been or where lots of people in DH's field have gone and we visited.

AVIANO, ITALY - DH is there now, BEAUTIFUL area, normal OCONUS stuff, some shops have issues, but overall DH has finally started to like it, very easy to travel
BARKSDALE, LOUISIANA- We can go here too, haven't heard much good, poor area etc and long waiting list to live on base, but not the worst of some places we've heard

EGLIN/MACDILL/TYNDALL/HURLBURT FIELD, FLORIDA - I would prefer Tyndall or MacDill. I love Tampa so I'm biased. Great housing allowance at MacDill, no real base housing available though. Tyndall is in a nice area too (Panama City). Eglin and Hulburt Field are okay, but run down off base, not as close to things to do, but still nice.

INCIRLIK, TURKEY- They have a curfew, have to live on base, usually is 2 year remote assignment

KAISERSLAUTERN/SPANGDAHLEM, GERMANY - DH would happily go to either and both are at the top of his OCONUS sheet. He liked the smallness of Spang but the ammenities of Ramstein area

[SnowCrystal]

I've only lived in two of the places you've listed...

Elmendorf: LOVED IT and would go back in a heartbeat! A lot of newer base housing, good shopping (now that Target is open out the back gate), beautiful scenery, and snow. If you love to do outdoor type things, this is the place for you.

Hurlburt/Eglin: It was a nice place to visit, but I wasn't thrilled with the area. Too many tourists from Spring Break until late fall. Granted, the beaches were gorgeous and shopping was good. HUGE drawback for me was Highway 98, which is the main road going from P'cola to Panama City. If there was a wreck, it could delay you getting anywhere in the area for up to four hours. It's only a two lane hwy most of the way around were we lived and it sucked. The schools in Okaloosa county irritated me with how they taught the FCAT (standardized testing). It seemed that the test scores were all that mattered to them.

[CorpsmanWife]

I have never lived on the bases here in Colorado but I can tell you that Schriever is east of Colorado Springs and they have just opened it up for housing. It is out in the middle of the country and the closest community is a small town called Ellicott and is very agriculutural. I don't think they have any amenities like a commissary, etc but it is close to Peterson which has all of that as well as a lot of new housing being built right now. Colorado Springs is a nice town, it used to have that small town feel but is quickly becoming quite the metropolis without all the hang- ups of a big city.
Buckley is in Denver and I really don't know a whole lot about the base itself but I do know I hate driving into Denver. It is a very large city but it does have a really nice zoo and huge museum of natural history. Both Colorado Springs and Denver are very family friendly but Colorado Springs tends to be more conservative and has a very large Christian population since it is home to Compassion Int. (a child sponsorship corporation) and Focus on the Family. Not sure if any of that matters to you one way or the other. Colorado Springs has a lot of nice parks, hiking trails, lots of family events/festivals, etc. They have the nation's only zoo that is set in the mountains, it's small but nice. The weather is pretty mild most of the time. We had rain/snow at the beginning of the week but will be in the 70's by this weekend. The typical saying around here is if you don't like the weather, wait 5 min and it will change! lol
Feel free to pm me if you have any questions, if I don't know the answer than I will find it for you! :-)

[princessmack]

My hubby is Army but we are at Ft. Carson. DH was on Peterson recently. Said it was nice and very spread out compared to Carson. As for the city of Colorado Springs. We love it here. There is alot to do around here. Tons of hiking trails, most roads have bike lanes, parks, and tourist stuff to do.
I have not been to Alaska myself but I do have a friend stationed over there. She hates it there.
Well I know it not much but hopefully it helps! Good Luck!!

[kwickham]

Dh was stationed at Seymour Johnson in the reserves so we didn't live there, but the town around the base is really small and kind of in the middle of nowhere.