Is Jacksonville close to any military Installation (Orange Park: how much, houses)

[gajsc]

My plans are to relocate to the Jacksonville area by July of this year. Is Jacksonville close to any military installation? Where in Jacksonville will I be able to find affordable housing, and a good school district for my 8 years old son? Some place where is family friendly and lots of activities? Thanks

[TriMT7]

There is navy installation at Jacksonville (unless they've recently shut it down, which I'm pretty sure they haven't).

[FLPL75]

gajsc
There are 2
Jacksonville NAS (planes I think mostly the P3 types)
and
Mayport (ships)
Will you be stationed or working as Civil service and one or both ?

If you will be at NAS you would have lots of choices
Orange Park/Flemming island
the Southside
Mandarian
Julington Creek
If you will be at Mayport
the Southside
Beaches
or east Arlington which is between Kernan to San Pablo (east and west)
and JTB and Atlantic(north and south)
Just be careful right around Mayport the area can be very iffy
a site to look at is
militarybyowner.com
this is where allot of the military folks look and list there houses when transfered
Hope this helps
Karla

[daedalo]

OK yes, and there are lots of nukes between the carrier port at Mayport and the Trident sub base at Kings Bay, thankfully the cold war is over.

[jsimms3]

daedalo, why all the negativity all the time, jacksonville's military presence is huge!

NAS Jax, near me, employs over 23,000! Cecil field used to be what is now Oceana in VA beach/Norfolk. There was something that either the Blue Angels were based here or were started here, but at least they still come every year for airshows!

Mayport is the second largest naval port on the East Coast employing over 14,000 actuve duty, 45,000 in families and retirees, and 1400 in civilian employees.

These numbers taken directly from their correspondign sites, everyone know Jax is a military town and would take a hugely fatal hit if the military were to leave, the military does wonders for our economy!

Also, Mayport just lost the second oldest active carrier, the John F. Kennedy, but there is talk of making the base nuclear capable and getting the George Bush nuclear carrier in like 2009?ish

[sfw1979]

Just wanted to add that NAS Brunswick, Maine is closing by 2011 and most of the posistions being filled here will now move to NAS Jacksonville so the military population will increase in 3-4 years.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by sfw1979

Just wanted to add that NAS Brunswick, Maine is closing by 2011 and most of the posistions being filled here will now move to NAS Jacksonville so the military population will increase in 3-4 years.

Interesting...is the Brunswick base very large?

I had read recently that the military actually only employs 5% of Jacksonville's work force, but there's a perception that Jax is a "military town".

I think there's also a lot of retired military who were stationed here at one time or another who came back to stay...like my neighbor! So that certainly adds to the military perception !

[sfw1979]

Originally Posted by riveree

Interesting...is the Brunswick base very large?

I had read recently that the military actually only employs 5% of Jacksonville's work force, but there's a perception that Jax is a "military town".

I think there's also a lot of retired military who were stationed here at one time or another who came back to stay...like my neighbor! So that certainly adds to the military perception !

It's not huge, but it's a decent size. Not sure how many active duty ithas or civilian for that matter but people here are livid it's closing. Esp all the retires because there goes the commisary, clinic etc. The reason they are closing it down ( as I have read) is to relocate most of the AD to JAX and JAX will be the main air base. So JAX military population should grow some but I don't know how much?

[vicshabcottage]

Originally Posted by sfw1979

It's not huge, but it's a decent size. Not sure how many active duty ithas or civilian for that matter but people here are livid it's closing. Esp all the retires because there goes the commisary, clinic etc. The reason they are closing it down ( as I have read) is to relocate most of the AD to JAX and JAX will be the main air base. So JAX military population should grow some but I don't know how much?

From Brunswick NAS site: "As Maine's second largest employer, NAS Brunswick employs 4,863 military and civilian personnel, including 713 officer, 3,493 enlisted personnel and 657 civilians. The air station provides over $187 million to the local economy, including $115 million in salaries, $38 million in contracts and material purchases and $34 million in medical purchases."

Of course, this doesn't include retired military that will end up moving for benefits purposes. It also doesn't include the impact of the loss of the family associated with the base. Considering that the average American family is 2.59 people, we're talking about almost 12,600 people, before retiree count.

[sfw1979]

Originally Posted by vicshabcottage

From Brunswick NAS site: "As Maine's second largest employer, NAS Brunswick employs 4,863 military and civilian personnel, including 713 officer, 3,493 enlisted personnel and 657 civilians. The air station provides over $187 million to the local economy, including $115 million in salaries, $38 million in contracts and material purchases and $34 million in medical purchases."

Of course, this doesn't include retired military that will end up moving for benefits purposes. It also doesn't include the impact of the loss of the family associated with the base. Considering that the average American family is 2.59 people, we're talking about almost 12,600 people, before retiree count.

It's pretty sad becasue it's a wonderful base with so many things for familes and single sailors to do. Bowdoin college is also in Brunswick so I am told that the military leaving will hurt the town but not knock it off the map. It's still seems pretty sad but it's all signed and it's a done deal to be closed by Sept 2011.