Ft. Sill or Ft. Knox (Lawton, Buffalo: relocating, military, condominiums)

[LizaMR]

Hello all!!

I'm originally from WA. State and I use to live near the army post in the city of Tacoma. I can honestly say that WA is a beautiful state, so I would like to live in a nice, clean, pretty, fun state. I am not much of a small town girl, I like to be able to shop at 3am if I have the urge to and I've always lived in or around military post and as of right now, I am living in Puerto Rico, but soon to be relocating to either Lawton (ft.sill) or somewhere in KY (ft.Knox) and since I've never been to neither states, I cant decide where to move to, but my soon to be husband wants me to make the final decision, but I need some help. Can someone please give me some insights about OK/Lawton?

Which Army Post is better= Ft. Sill or Ft. Knox?

[newyorkborn&raised]

If I were you and it was between posts in KY or OK, I'd pick KY...but not Ft. Knox...I'd pick Ft. Campbell. Fort Sill is the home of the Artillery and they have Basic Combat Training there. Oklahoma is just "too much in the middle of nowhere" for my tastes. Fort Knox is the Army's home of Armor and they also have BCT. I'd pick Ft. Campbell just because my friends were stationed there with the 101st and they loved it. Keep in mind none of these posts are going to be anything like Ft. Buchanan...and if it were me, I'd stay in PR. Good luck with your decision!

[Synopsis]

It depends on what kind of scenery that you like. Off hand, I think Fort Knox or Campbell would be more of what you are accustomed to. Fort Sill is in the Southwestern part of Oklahoma and it's a semi-arid climate, while Fort Knox is more like the countryside you would see in Washington State. I'm not one to discourage newcomers to Oklahoma; I'm just trying to give you an honest insight. I'm an Okie through and through and love Oklahoma more than anyplace else.

[LadyRobyn]

I could be completely wrong, but I don't think much of anything is still open at 3am in Lawton. (or after 9pm for that matter. ) We only go up in the daytime on weekends.

[Bobby H]

A lot of fast food restaurants, convenience stores and both Wal-Mart super centers are open at 3:00am in Lawton. Many of the more expensive sit-down restaurants (Red Lobster, Outback Steakhouse, Chilis, etc.) are open fairly late. The hours vary from one restaurant to the next. The new Olive Garden is nearing completion. Another 24 hour fitness center is fixing to open.

Lawton has two first run movie theaters that usually feature two evening shows for a given movie. The Carmike 8 in the west side of town is MUCH better than the 12-plex in Central Mall. The Carmike has digital cinema in all 8 auditoriums and three of the screens are equipped with Real-D digital 3D for movies like Beowulf and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Lawton has a lot of bars, but not very many good night clubs. Scooters, Gertlestones pub, Mike's Sports Grille and Buffalo Wild Wings gets most of Lawton's night life.

I don't know what kind of activity is happening at Army posts in Kentucky, but a LOT of expansion is taking place aboard Fort Sill due to BRAC consolidation. Currently a lot of different buildings and new post housing is under construction. The really big surge of new personnel and missions relocating to Fort Sill will happen in 2009. The Lawton-Fort Sill area could add as much as 25,000 more residents over the next 5 years due to this expansion aboard Fort Sill and other positive trends.

In 2008, construction is supposed to begin on "phase 1a" of Lawton's 2nd Street/Downtown Redevelopment project. A 12 block zone of old properties between 2nd Street and Railroad Ave. is getting purchased for demolition to make way for a large, new shopping center featuring several "big box" retailers wanting to locate in Lawton. They have picked that area since it is close to I-44 and next to additional phases that will bring about new condominiums, restaurants, night clubs and lots of other stuff.

The Lawton area has some excellent scenery nearby in the Wichita Mountains, Medicine Park and the Wildlife Refuge. There's lots of great places to hike and go rock climbing. Lake Lawtonka is pretty decent although it has been getting crowded in recent years. Good boating and fishing can be found in many other places nearby.