Help pick a base please (Army, training, stationed, join)

[sheilajj]

Can you please tell me about the general quality of life of any of these bases? I know they may not be the best choices:

1) Fort Riley
2) Fort Hood
3) Fort Polk
4) Fort Rucker
5) Fort Sill

Thanks,

I may have to move to the areas soon, so I would just like to know anything.

[Poncho_NM]

I have been to all five posts, but none for more than four months and over 4 years ago or more. If it just an issue of the geographical location, I would choose Fort Hood. But on the other hand, Rucker is only 90 miles from Panama City, Florida.

Might depend on your age, gender, family situation, MOS, personal desires etc....



Rich

[EarthBound?]

Originally Posted by sheilajj

Can you please tell me about the general quality of life of any of these bases? I know they may not be the best choices:

1) Fort Riley
2) Fort Hood
3) Fort Polk
4) Fort Rucker
5) Fort Sill

Thanks,

I may have to move to the areas soon, so I would just like to know anything.

I'd go for FORT SILL!!!!

I spent three years there and just fell in love with the folks out in Oklahoma. Go talk to the CD people on the Oklahoma thread, I'm sure they'll be more than happy to help you out and answer any questions you have.

Its just the way they are .

[caution]

I'll just list the bad things about each. All are fine and what you make of them.

- Riley - flat, cold, Kansas? c'mon, it's KANSAS.
- Hood - it's like living in a big city where everyone is a soldier, Texas? you know what they say about Texas 'cept for Austin and Houston
- Polk - once had the highest suicide and AWOL rate of the Army, dudes would ETS and join again to get out, hot, muddy, backwards, LA lives up to it's reputation, but at least it aint MS.
- Rucker - hot, sandy, AL lives up to it's reputation, but at least it ain't LA
- Sill - no idea, but it's in Oklahoma, there's a clue

If you're a dude, Rucker may be nice around spring break time after driving south an hour or three.

FWIW, I was at Polk for four years when the 5th ID was there (and still an infantry division) and I loved it. It's a great place to fish and hunt. I was there before the casinos popped up and the only thing to do was go to the Hot Pussycat in Sleazeville or drive to Lake Charles and hit up Chasers. It was about 70 miles to a mall back then. Great place to be a solider if you like mud, bugs and pain. I really enjoyed it.

[texdav]

I liked fort sill when I serve there as I liked the based. polk you can keep and hood is nice but pretty hot and dusty in the summer and water tastes rotten.

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by caution

I'll just list the bad things about each. All are fine and what you make of them.

- Riley - flat, cold, Kansas? c'mon, it's KANSAS.
- Hood - it's like living in a big city where everyone is a soldier, Texas? you know what they say about Texas 'cept for Austin and Houston
- Polk - once had the highest suicide and AWOL rate of the Army, dudes would ETS and join again to get out, hot, muddy, backwards, LA lives up to it's reputation, but at least it aint MS.
- Rucker - hot, sandy, AL lives up to it's reputation, but at least it ain't LA
- Sill - no idea, but it's in Oklahoma, there's a clue

If you're a dude, Rucker may be nice around spring break time after driving south an hour or three.

FWIW, I was at Polk for four years when the 5th ID was there (and still an infantry division) and I loved it. It's a great place to fish and hunt. I was there before the casinos popped up and the only thing to do was go to the Hot Pussycat in Sleazeville or drive to Lake Charles and hit up Chasers. It was about 70 miles to a mall back then. Great place to be a solider if you like mud, bugs and pain. I really enjoyed it.

If you have no idea about OK then why slam it? Why slam Texas too? I've been to both and you will not find nicer people.

[caution]

Originally Posted by cobolt

If you have no idea about OK then why slam it? Why slam Texas too? I've been to both and you will not find nicer people.

Becuase it is fun to make fun of states and military bases. I did my time in TX and have driven through OK twice. I, therefore, can make fun of those places.

In case you didn't notice, I pretty much slammed all of them equally. The worst comments were about Polk, a place I loved.

[Mylläri]

From not knowing what your interests are and the available choices, the only good choice at face value is Fort Hood. I've been to all of them and like Fort Hood much more than all the others.

[Balad1]

Fort Rucker is the home of Army Aviation and is the primary training center for aviation MOS's.

I liked Rucker and found the locals to be friendly and patriotic.

As someone else mentioned it is within easy driving distance to the Gulf of Mexico and the various resort towns.

[Brackdogg]

TX is not a bad place to be. Although I was stationed at Carswell in Ft Worth. I grew up in NJ until I joined the military, but have lived here in TX for 13 years now. Warm weather, low cost of living, and laid back people. Seems like a win-win situation to me..