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That's always the case on this forum. Wasn't that long ago that someone was asking for advice on an office location for his small business and he lived in the West valley yet everyone told him to go east valley or downtown...
OP, live near work. You will spend MUCH more time traveling to/from work than you will spend traveling trying to get laid if you go downtown. Even Surprise, the most boring place in the valley, has plenty of things to go do; I have never drank/done the bar thing because I got married at 21 and haven't lived in Surprise in a decade yet I can think or 3 or 4 good bars. That is ignoring the fact that downtown is ridiculous expensive compared to the areas around Luke. For me, money and time are by FAR the two most important things after family, why waste your money on stupid high rents or your time driving so much for the pleasure of those stupid high rents?
Lol, the advice around this forum is always live near where you work but now it is live downtown and commute to the far west valley?
I spent nearly 30 years in the military and there is no way I would live that far from base as a military member or allow one of my junior Sailors to do so. You have to report to work very early, meet for group physical training, training, ceremonies, exercises, and get called in at all hours of the day and night. Also, it is nice to be around other military members for support when you're getting ready to deploy, go TDY, etc.
You can't be late for work like you can as a civilian because there was an accident on the I10 and you live an hour away. The military demands you are where you are supposed to be on time.
The OP has only been in the AF for 5 years so he is relatively junior and not in a position to have the flexibility of a senior NCO or Officer. I can promise there is no one in his chain of command that would recommend he live downtown Phoenix if he is stationed at Luke AFB.
Our daughter is an army dentist. Her hours don't very at all (other than some PT). She's 28 years old (under three years of service). Here commute is 30 minutes because she wants to live in a more social area for young people. And yea, she can be late for work if she got caught in traffic. You would not want to make a habit out of it. But it wouldn't be the end of the day. In the Army and as a captain (that is the minimum rank for any armed service dentist), they treat them with respect. I can only assume there are other support positions that work the same way. I've met her boss (full bird colonel) and he is a great guy. In the AF, they are even more family friendly and laid back. I bet our daughters superiors recommendation would be for her to live wherever she sees fit. For her and people like her, a 25 minute commute from downtown wouldn't be a problem.
As a side note, she doesn't have ceremonies, or exercises other than once a year offsite 150 miles away and some occasional PT. Like I said, her hours are stable and she doesn't get called in at all hours of the day and night. In summary, you cannot apply your military experience to others.
As for proximity and the op. Yep, live close to where work. But for a 2-3 year stint, it's not that big of a deal. Especially for a guy coming form southern California (the op). Furthermore, most of the advice "live close to where you work" is for people buying a property. Buying something locks you in for the long haul.
Last edited by MN-Born-n-Raised; 04-21-2019 at 02:31 PM..
That's what I was thinking. It is a large enough installation to have on-base housing. There is usually BEQ for non-commissioned officers, or BOQ for officers. OP, what is your rank? Why can't you find on-base housing, which used to be free when I was in the military 40+ years ago?
Our daughter is an army dentist. Her hours don't very at all (other than some PT). She's 28 years old (under three years of service). Here commute is 30 minutes because she wants to live in a more social area for young people. And yea, she can be late for work if she got caught in traffic. You would not want to make a habit out of it. But it wouldn't be the end of the day. In the Army and as a captain (that is the minimum rank for any armed service dentist), they treat them with respect. I can only assume there are other support positions that work the same way. I've met her boss (full bird colonel) and he is a great guy. In the AF, they are even more family friendly and laid back. I bet our daughters superiors recommendation would be for her to live wherever she sees fit. For her and people like her, a 25 minute commute from downtown wouldn't be a problem.
As a side note, she doesn't have ceremonies, or exercises other than once a year offsite 150 miles away and some occasional PT. Like I said, her hours are stable and she doesn't get called in at all hours of the day and night. In summary, you cannot apply your military experience to others.
As for proximity and the op. Yep, live close to where work. But for a 2-3 year stint, it's not that big of a deal. Especially for a guy coming form southern California (the op). Furthermore, most of the advice "live close to where you work" is for people buying a property. Buying something locks you in for the long haul.
I spent three decades in the military, I can assure you I have more experience with this then you do having a daughter who has been a dentist in the Army for three years.
I can't apply my three decades of military experience to other military members but you having a daughter that has served as a detist for three years allows you to do so?
Notwithstanding your impressive military "resume" the OP would be better served living closer to Luke.
We had a number of Luke personnel in one of my old neighborhoods in 85021, between northern and Dunlap...east of 17, west of 19th Ave...now you got the light rail there. I grew up 10 miles south of the Pentagon. We had more military brass on my paper route than most bases do. Quite a few bought homes there, and kept them, and came back to them, and retired in them. It was the best financial move most of them ever made. However, this is 2019, and real estate is very inflated in both Phoenix and NoVa. Costs to run a rental are much higher than they used to be. I would try to find an acceptable place for around 800, and invest the rest. If every USAF member had simply put 5-10% of their pay into defense aerospace over the last 10-20 years, they would be very well off.
I live close enough to Luke that I can hear the music 3x/ day if I choose to.
I really like my area - but I'm married with a young family
This really isn't a singles area - we have friends who are single, but it is limited.
A lot of the singles are divorced, have children, etc - doesn't make them undateable, but is worth keeping in mind
Living near westgate or arrowhead could be an option - there is a fair amount to do along the 101 - but it depends on your interests and what you like doing
I like central phoenix and would lean towards that area if I were single - but that is me and my values
Check out the areas around the 101 at Glendale, Northern, Bell...... if you think you can be an entertained that may make the most sense
My wife and I lived in an apartment in arrowhead when we first moved out - 24 and most our friends were single and had a blast and enjoyed the area
I spent three decades in the military, I can assure you I have more experience with this then you do having a daughter who has been a dentist in the Army for three years.
I can't apply my three decades of military experience to other military members but you having a daughter that has served as a detist for three years allows you to do so?
Notwithstanding your impressive military "resume" the OP would be better served living closer to Luke.
It doesn't matter if you were in the military for 30 years relating to what I just accurately stated. Enlisted members will have less working knowledge of what many officers do and visa versa. If you were an officer, that still doesn't mean you know what other officers do (schedules expectations etc). It's no different that when I worked at Honeywell, I had no idea what project managers jobs were like or what the schedule of a union machinist happens to be. As a side note, my daughter or any other person would have precisely zero knowledge of what you did formally even if she was in for 30 years. No matter how hard it is for you to swallow, it's why I can have more knowledge about military dentists schedules while having zero military experience than you do. Now if she talked with her patience and was able to cobble together a clear picture of the day and life of an Army _______, she could comment on the topic. Since she has small talk with her patience, I propose she will be able to cobble who does what, when and how.
I just gave you an accurate snapshot of a military dentist schedule in the Army. I'll expand. They get every other Friday off, never weekends, and she is allowed to moonlight as a civilian (which she does to earn $1000 per a day on those Fridays and Saturdays). So now you know. She has fellow dentists (joint base) that are AF dentists and doctors as well. She went to a soft basic training where the medical core attend. So she has a lot of friends all around the country as well as the revolving door of dentists going into residencies on base. Hence, she isn't going to be smarter after 30 years versus 3 years on such a basic topic as here job description. So why do I know??? Because we have hour long chats on if she wants to go into a specialty for the Army or AF (yes, they are actively asking for cross commissions into a specialty of the AF which is a sweet deal). I'd expect you to know zero about what I just mentioned as explained from a guy who has never been in the military.
The bottom line is you cannot assume (nor I) that someone flying a desk at Luke and in a more laid back, family friendly environment probably (I don't know but I bet I'm right) won't be having variable hours as you suggested. So when it comes to those positions inside of the military, toss out your 30 years of experience and let's wait for the op to tell us what he does. Then we can all learn something new just like you did with military dentists and doctors schedules.
My only point in posting earlier was that we don't know what the op does and your points may not be applicable (yet they might be spot on). It depends on what he does. Within the military and even with 40 years of service, there are hundreds of job titles that you or our daughter won't have any working knowledge of their day to day activity.
Last edited by MN-Born-n-Raised; 04-22-2019 at 06:58 AM..
We had a number of Luke personnel in one of my old neighborhoods in 85021, between northern and Dunlap...east of 17, west of 19th Ave...now you got the light rail there. I grew up 10 miles south of the Pentagon. We had more military brass on my paper route than most bases do. Quite a few bought homes there, and kept them, and came back to them, and retired in them. It was the best financial move most of them ever made. However, this is 2019, and real estate is very inflated in both Phoenix and NoVa. Costs to run a rental are much higher than they used to be. I would try to find an acceptable place for around 800, and invest the rest. If every USAF member had simply put 5-10% of their pay into defense aerospace over the last 10-20 years, they would be very well off.
Or get a 2 bedroom for $1800, pick up a roommate and split ($900 ea). Then bank the rest. An $800 centrally located apartment will be less-than-ideal.
I just described what our daughter did. She got a 1800 square foot apartment that I could easily live in (nice digs) for $2500 a month. $1250 ea as they split (all in with utilities) and she banked the rest. Her BAC + BAS totaled $1900 a month tax free. If she lived on base as others have floated, she would have inferior digs and lose the $650 advantage ($1900-$1250 out of pocket). Yes, you can spend more on gas and car wear-and-tear which takes away some of that. Or, you could be driving central to enjoy your early 30's and spend it that way too. So it might be a push in the car expense department....
Edit: Actually, it would be slightly less as the BAC for her zipcode and rank is around $3K a year. If I understand it correctly (a 2 year old conversation so I don't remember) you get that either way (on base or on off base). Still, living on base can cost you money if you are not good at math.
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