Pros and Cons of living in an area with so many people in the military (Norfolk: oceanfront, apartment complexes)

[Caladium]

What do you see as the pros and cons of living in an area with so many people in the military? Also, what is the percentage of residents who are connected with the military in one way or the other, and how is everyday life in Hampton Roads affected when there are talks about budget cuts in the military?

Are some of the cities more military oriented than others?

[stva]

I have mixed feelings. The military has always been big here and always will. A very high percentage of people here have some connection (including myself). I favor a more diversified economy in the long run. We'll see if it happens when/if the DoD budget is cut. I'd say that the whole area is pretty military oriented, especially Norfolk, VA, Hampton, and NN, with Suffolk and Williamsburg slightly less than the rest of HR.

Pros:
- Stable economy.

Cons
- Lack of employment opportunities for professionals not affiliated with the military. This is huge in my opinion. There are blue collar jobs here but not many corporate jobs.
- Housing prices are driven up by housing allowance.
- Low wages - many jobs are taken by military spouses or military retirees with a pension who are willing to work for less
- High male/female ratio (I guess this is subjective though!)
- Low average level of education due to large number of enlisted personnel and tendency for homegrown young college educated professionals to leave due to lack of job opportunities.

I think that any region would love having all of the federal dollars being spent here, but it has hindered the long term growth of the area. We need to attract and keep young educated professionals.

[xGrendelx]

One pro I can think of is that the military brings people to HR from all over the world, so there is a sense of diversity that may not be there otherwise.

The biggest con I've experienced is that some of the younger guys in the military like to act like tough guys which leads to a lot of posturing, hostility, and the occasional fight. I've personally been involved in a couple fights in bars at the Oceanfront (mostly trying to break up fights involving friends of mine), and once in front of my mother's house because of stupid road rage between me and some Navy guy. I try to avoid letting that macho BS get to me now.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by stva

The military has always been big here and always will

That's reassuring to hear. I was a little worried about what might happen to the area if the next administration announced drastic military cuts.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by xGrendelx

The biggest con I've experienced is that some of the younger guys in the military like to act like tough guys which leads to a lot of posturing, hostility, and the occasional fight.

That's a little bit of a fear for me, too, although the odds are low that I would go someplace where fights are likely to break out, anyway. Unless someone started a fight at the beach, I guess. We might encounter some road rage, however. I guess you just learn how to deal with and avoid it.

[xGrendelx]

Originally Posted by Caladium

That's a little bit of a fear for me, too, although the odds are low that I would go someplace where fights are likely to break out, anyway. Unless someone started a fight at the beach, I guess. We might encounter some road rage, however. I guess you just learn how to deal with and avoid it.

Road rage definitely seems pretty bad in HR. I don't know if it's worse than other areas, but just about everyone I know has at least one crazy road rage story.

As far as the other fights, they were all at smaller bars and clubs at the Oceanfront that doubled as music venues at night, and the shows usually attracted a rowdier crowd. The combination of rowdy locals with out-of-town military tough guys always turned into something. Now virtually all of those venues have stopped doing shows because of fighting.

There was one other fight I was involved in where a Marine and some of his friends came uninvited to a party at a friend's house and stole (well, he tried to at least) my friend's iPod. However, I don't know how much of that situation can be blamed on anyone's military affiliation.

[Zeromus-X]

I'd just like to say that the first post is spot-on. Being a non-military resident looking for a corporate or IT job, it's increasingly difficult to keep living here. Housing prices never really took a dive like they did in many other areas of the country.

Another common thing I see is that people locally tend to be more ... how to put it ... "generic" when it comes to their tastes. You'll hear a lot of Nickelback and Puddle of Mudd and Seether on the radio, typical middle America rock bands. The majority of the bands in bars are doing the same cover songs that they were doing twenty years ago. There aren't a whole lot of artsy-type areas outside Ghent and maybe a few places in Newport News. Most of the apartment complexes look like they were built by the same company. The city of Norfolk is constantly shutting down bars for absurd reasons, only to open "family friendly" places in their locations. Lots of eclectic restaurants tend to close quickly while the chains keep growing.

It almost seems like the region is homogenized for lack of a better word.

[bonnielisabeth]

Originally Posted by Caladium

That's reassuring to hear. I was a little worried about what might happen to the area if the next administration announced drastic military cuts.

Well, as someone who was there in the late 80s early 90s, it happened back then. Lots of people downsized from shipyards...I moved to the deep south to take a job in a small town. And, met several other Hampton Roads natives who had also moved there for jobs! It was surreal. One of my coworkers turned out to be a former machinist who lost his job in the shipyards and had to go back to college and retrain.

The potential for economic problems in HR after the wars are over is one of the reasons I decided not to move back.

http://bpa.odu.edu/forecasting/sor/2...00chapter4.pdf See ODU's The State of Military for more facts and figures.

[UHgrad]

Originally Posted by xGrendelx

Road rage definitely seems pretty bad in HR. I don't know if it's worse than other areas, but just about everyone I know has at least one crazy road rage story.

There has been a lot of research on people returning from active duty and having issues driving in a civilian setting, I suspect this has a lot to do with the road rage around here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/us...pagewanted=all

That, and the fact that most 20 year old enlisted guys tend to drive like douchebags anyways.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by UHgrad

There has been a lot of research on people returning from active duty and having issues driving in a civilian setting, I suspect this has a lot to do with the road rage around here.

Interesting that many people return from active duty and settle in HR rather than their home towns. That strikes me as a compliment to the area.

Also interesting the things that end up having an effect on things like road rage. In my neck of the woods, road rage is low (which is weird, because traffic is really bad up here). Anyway, they say it's because of the high percentage of people with secret clearances. I guess the theory is people aren't willing to risk losing their clearance just for the dubious luxury of getting mad over a traffic issue.