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Jut curious, why are you not considering on-base housing?
I'm not the OP, but many of us choose not to live on post/base one our spouses get past a certain rank, due to the type of housing that we would be offered on post/base not being worth the amount of BAH we'd have to give up. In my case, since it is just my husband and I, we'd get a pretty crappy (according to my standards) 2 bedroom unit and have to give up our $1635 per month BAH. We can get a much nicer, privately owned home for less, right outside the gates.
The OP's husband has been in for 8 years. I'm assuming he's gt a little rank on his chest by now!
I volunteer at the Family Readiness Center at an Air Force base and if the all readiness centers at all military installations offer the same service, then you should contact the one @ Camp Lejeune. Many people don't utilize the services at them because they aren't aware of what they offer. They can give you a lot of info about the base you will be at (they should give you a website you can visit for info, schools and services for your son and direct you about housing. They also give info about resume writing and how to find a job. I would think that CJ would offer a ton of services because they have so many troops there. I did a Google search and this looks like their phone number 910-451-0176.
I'm not the OP, but many of us choose not to live on post/base one our spouses get past a certain rank, due to the type of housing that we would be offered on post/base not being worth the amount of BAH we'd have to give up. In my case, since it is just my husband and I, we'd get a pretty crappy (according to my standards) 2 bedroom unit and have to give up our $1635 per month BAH. We can get a much nicer, privately owned home for less, right outside the gates.
The OP's husband has been in for 8 years. I'm assuming he's gt a little rank on his chest by now!
I get that sorta. We chose to move into an older, not as nice on-base house several times throughout my husband's career in support of our long-term goals. There are also hidden costs of not living on base - we figured gas at $5 gallon, extra cost of groceries bought on the local economy vs the commissary, the cost of utilitites, OOP costs for medical co-pays and medications picked up at Walgrrens vs using the military pharmacy etc...
We had a military couple apply to live in our rental house - he had about 8 yrs in. I thought they were nuts - it's a beautful former model home in a beautiful neighborhood but it would have taken like 35% of their gross income.......
I get that sorta. We chose to move into an older, not as nice on-base house several times throughout my husband's career in support of our long-term goals. There are also hidden costs of not living on base - we figured gas at $5 gallon, extra cost of groceries bought on the local economy vs the commissary, the cost of utilitites, OOP costs for medical co-pays and medications picked up at Walgrrens vs using the military pharmacy etc...
We had a military couple apply to live in our rental house - he had about 8 yrs in. I thought they were nuts - it's a beautful former model home in a beautiful neighborhood but it would have taken like 35% of their gross income.......
We live in a beautiful neighborhood right outside the gates. It's two miles from my husband's office, and not any further away from the commissary, PX, pharmacy, gyms or any of the other amenities than if I lived on post. We are able to pay all of our rent + utilities and still have a little left over, plus we in a larger, nicer home than anything they'd give us on post
Hmm... most of my experience is here in California, Camp Pendleton and overseas. We lived off post overseas (mostly due to pets and a desire to see more of the local life). And when I was active duty, my spouse was stationed elewhere and I lived in the barracks...
Anyway - I don't know what the situation is on the East Coast (where OP is going) but here - safety is a major concern as well.... Both the front and back gates of the base back up into "gang neighborhoods" .
As a military wife who moves with an autistic child sight unseen allllll the time, I know what you are going through and it sucks money balls. It can be done successfully but unfortunately it takes a lot of research on our part. My ECHO case manager could list a plethora of services for my son here that accepts our insurance but that doesn't mean she can tell me which services are "good" vs "just ok".
I would find a local autism support group and ask them. Most of them are on facebook now as well. I'm not sure what services your child needs but they will be the ones who have the experience in the area to help you figure out which is best. I use greatschools.org to compare test scores but keep in mind each state has their own rules and regulations so you really can't compare state to state as easily.
We are moving again in two weeks and I was highly concerned about a non fail school for my son that we've experienced here. I used the Autism Speaks website to track down someone in the city we are moving who really helped me with which schools to use and which to stay away from. They gave me a number to a local advocate.
As far as living on or off base. I've lived both on and off base, both have pros and cons. I choose where to live based off of schools and district zoning sometimes doesn't allow living on base. It's just a personal situation basis.
If you need anymore help please feel free to PM me.
my wife and i pretty much always chose to live off-base. on every base i was tationed at, we could find housing that was significantly cheaper than BAH, even including extra fuel for travel, etc.
i am sure that there are benefits that i never realized to living on-base, but in my mind, nothing came close to the freedom and distance i had by moving out into town.
we didn't have a disabled child when i was active, so i don't know about services for military families, but we have one now, and i am finding that many states have programs for families with disabled children (some of them are even free or at very low cost). so i would suggest checking with your local community for options as well as within the military.
i am sure that there are benefits that i never realized to living on-base,
In 22+ years in the military, as a family, we only lived in on-post housing once, which was while we were in Germany for 42 months. The Commissary and PX was about a 3 minute walk. Until they moved our office I could walk to work in about 5 minutes. The quarters were old German WWII quarters which were in good shape. The living room was large enough for our son to ride his "Big Wheel" which he was prohibited from doing. Giant playground that we could see from our window and a few blocks to the library and soccer, baseball field at our kids school. The German bus stopped about 30 yards from our building, Straßenbahn (Trolley) was maybe a quarter mile. BAH was a low rate at those times (70's/80's) and was calculated differently. Yes we had a vehicle there (FIAT 128 Station Wagon) and we had convenient safe parking, but our bicycles were more convent at times. And we could receive AFN TV...
If I could go back to the same setup, I would do it again for 3 or 4 years without hesitation.
Rich
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