Ft. Bragg (Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham: home, good schools, university)

[saralee]

Please forgive my geographical ignorance. What forum is Ft. Bragg in? Is that the Army post outside of Fayetteville? Is it the Triad area?

A good friend of mine is currently a chaplain in the Air Force, he's been in at least 12 years if I am not misaken. He feels like he'd get "more" out of the Army at this time, be more of service I think.

If you know the military, you know that there can be a huge gap between the different batches. I'm an Air Force vet whom never considered the Army.

At any rate, he is likely to be assigned to Fort Hood, TX; Fort Campbell, KY; Fort Drum, NY; Fort Lewis, WA; or Fort Bragg, NC. He was born and raised in Paterson, NJ. The Mrs. came from WA state, hated NJ with a passion but especially Paterson and similar areas. I don't know what other terms to put it in except to say she's a bit "delicate" and very concerned about the welfare of their three young children. My family is more daring by comparison, more willing to take chances, explore and the things that bother a lot of people, don't bother us. (Now it sounds like we're a wild bunch .)

This family also home schools or sends their children to Adventist schools, depends on where they are living at the time. They would be relocating from Alabama.

The Mrs. just told me they are leaning toward Ft. Bragg or Ft. Drum. But they really aren't familiar with any of the above choices. I kind of bristled when I heard because she doesn't strike me as someone whom would be happy there. I know what she went through in Paterson! I immediately thought they might be better suited for Ft. Drum.

Anyone willing to chime in here about Ft. Bragg and the greater community? If this post should be moved to a more appropriate (specific) forum, please do so. I am not here to offend anyone but I just want to be able to pass on more personal experiences with her, as opposed to the things I have "heard" and not been exposed to myself.

I find NC beautiful, which is why we came here from Jersey but ... Ft. Bragg?

I'm counting on C-D friends to be helpful and informative in this area. Please feel free to DM anything you don't want to publically post. And definitely correct me if my perception is skewed.

As always, love and blessings,

Sara

[LRoyal10900]

Ft. Bragg is now officially, as of yesterday or today, annexed into Fayetteville & Spring Lake.

Fayetteville has its good, and its bad, just like anywhere else. But there IS plenty to do in Fayetteville, if you bother to look for it. And there ARE good schools. I know everyone will immediately chime in with "go to Sanford" or "go to Southern Pines", but there IS an east-side to Fayetteville (Stedman, Eastover areas) which is much slower paced and just good ole' country folk. But you're still close enough to town that going to town isn't an "issue"--they've just added I-295 that takes you from the eastern part of the county directly to Ramsey Street (Ft. Bragg (you can get from Stedman to Ft. Bragg in about 30 minutes), Walmart, Methodist University, Fayetteville State University, etc.), and makes getting around a little more convienent. There are lots of nice, new subdivisions popping up over this way, but it's still not overcrowded, nor is traffic unbearable.

[al_roethlisberger]

Now now, not everyone will necessarily say "go to Sanford" ergo suggesting that Fayetteville is bad (I being one of those folks that often does encourage considering Sanford as an alternative though.)

That being said, if one for some reason decides that they'd like to live outside of Fayetteville though, Sanford would be an excellent alternative that is within easy driving distance that many at Ft. Bragg have chosen as home.

Sanford is a small-sized city that has just about everything you need, while being centrally located within 30-60 minutes of Greensboro, Raleigh/Durham/Cary, and Fayetteville.

Housing is very affordable, lots of wide open spaces, and there is a lot of investment going on in the area as folks in the other metro areas are looking to get away and get some space.

Good luck!
Al