What makes San Antonio a desirable place to live? (Austin: health insurance, luxury)

[huckster]

San Antonio has had a military presence far before that. Heck the Spaniards sent soldiers here since 1718.
Villa DeBexar it was in the beginning.

Originally Posted by rynetwo

Oh you know, they have been apart of the fabric of San Antonio sine 1876.

[ashbeeigh]

San Antonio is home to roughly 250,000 veterans and 80,000 active-duty personnel, many of them working out of Joint Base San Antonio, which includes Fort Sam Houston and Randolph and Lackland Air Force bases. One in eight residents in Bexar County is tied to the military.

“One of the top employers, if not the top employer in the city, is the Department of Defense,” said Juan Ayala, San Antonio’s director of military affairs. “You have a very robust military presence here. You’ve got 80,000 plus active-duty troops from all services that are here, and they literally perform the mission every day. They are essential to national defense.”

https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/...ilitary-deaths

A quick google search says the SA population is 1.49 million. Take away that number it comes out to 1.16 and then 1 in eight of those is 145000 that leaves 1.015 million people in the city without a military connection.

Most recently SA was ranked #7 most populated city in the US - https://www.moving.com/tips/the-top-...by-population/. Taking out just these military numbers would drop us to 11 just above Austin. I'm not sure how the current article defines the 80k, so that could include contractors but it also could just include family members. I'm wondering what the contractor numbers look like. That would knock out even more people who have connections to the military.

To add to what makes SA desirable for me, it's the easy network of trails and out outdoors activities. Yes, I live in Austin and have great access to some awesome outdoor stuff, but I will hit up Valero or Salado Creek at least once every time I come to town. The fact that these two trails are coming close to being connected makes it even better. What I dislike is how spread out things are. Even with traffic in Austin I can get to a lot of things quickly, whereas SA I'm driving at least 15 miles from where my parents are. But that's just me.

[Galvatron99]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

Anybody else feel like San Antonio being a military city has done a lot in getting rid of its unique culture?

Yes, mainly people from out of state who come here and retire..

Originally Posted by TXStrat

Wow... You go from thinking homeowners being stuck under water with home values is a good thing, to bashing the military in two posts. Sure to make some friends that way.


Your contention about homes not being an investment, but a place to live is uniformed. A home is a place to live for everyone that owns one. It is also the largest single investment most people make. Life happens, job situations change, family situations change. What happens if a homeowner is saddled with an undervalued home and has to move to take care of a sick family member, or move for a job?


San Antonio touts itself as "Military City USA", and yes there are three military installations here, however, they are comparatively quite small, and have little impact on local culture. All three installations in San Antonio are training installations. This means that there is a large, transient student population that is here from several months to a year, and a very small number of permanent staff. Many of the 2 and 3 Star Commands on JBSA have 90% civilian employees. The largest segment of military related people in the area is likely military retirees. Most own homes, and contribute to the local economy through secondary career employment, tax revenues, etc. Alienate them if you want, but probably not a good idea. If you go north of here to Fort Hood, you will find a much higher military population density. In fact, if Fort Hood were to shut down, Killeen, Harker Heights, and Copperas Cove would almost cease to exist, and even Temple, Belton, Lampassas, and Salado would feel some significant pain. Quite different than the tiny segment of military members that exist in San Antonio.

It's Alamo city..not Military City.

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

It has brought a lot of people here who are not from Texas. It has changed Alamo Heights and all of the small towns. Sorry for not accepting my homeland as a place for random people to just come and retire.

I feel ya bro...so tired of seeing those stupid DV license plates..a lot of them are older people who just end up retiring here.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by Galvatron99

Yes, mainly people from out of state who come here and retire..



It's Alamo city..not Military City.



I feel ya bro...so tired of seeing those stupid DV license plates..a lot of them are older people who just end up retiring here.

How long have you been in San Antonio? Is this a new annoyance for you? Because it’s been like this for ages. I’m not a member if the military culture and the contact I have Gad did not sit well with me. It was a bonus when I moved that I won’t have to deal with running into military culture everywhere I go (although it may change soon up here). With that said, it’s part of the SA world and if you don’t like it then maybe you should leave?

[huckster]

True,
Ashbeeigh you are right. The military culture is a good one and military people usually are good employees.
Soldiers of our country do an unimaginable job, at times. My son served, Dad, uncle, Grandfather.
However.
Everything has a bad side to it. There is a certain amount of demagoguery that rises up in the military
sometimes.
Officers and ex- training instructors often keep an assumed air of assumed authority about them, a bubble that needs bursting. I never knew anything about this until one day when I was seventeen. Dad slammed the front door of our brand new house in the face of a neighboring Air Force Captain in full uniform. He was screaming that we were riding a tiny little motorcycle to fast up and down our street. We were all kids with me being the oldest. In mid sentence, barely did he have a chance to open his mouth.
I guess he got the message because that was all we heard from him. Ever. I have had to deal with these types also. An annoyance? Yes.

Originally Posted by ashbeeigh

How long have you been in San Antonio? Is this a new annoyance for you? Because it’s been like this for ages. I’m not a member if the military culture and the contact I have Gad did not sit well with me. It was a bonus when I moved that I won’t have to deal with running into military culture everywhere I go (although it may change soon up here). With that said, it’s part of the SA world and if you don’t like it then maybe you should leave?

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by huckster

True,
Ashbeeigh you are right. The military culture is a good one and military people usually are good employees.
Soldiers of our country do an unimaginable job, at times. My son served, Dad, uncle, Grandfather.
However.
Everything has a bad side to it. There is a certain amount of demagoguery that rises up in the military
sometimes.
Officers and ex- training instructors often keep an assumed air of assumed authority about them, a bubble that needs bursting. I never knew anything about this until one day when I was seventeen. Dad slammed the front door of our brand new house in the face of a neighboring Air Force Captain in full uniform. He was screaming that we were riding a tiny little motorcycle to fast up and down our street. We were all kids with me being the oldest. In mid sentence, barely did he have a chance to open his mouth.
I guess he got the message because that was all we heard from him. Ever. I have had to deal with these types also. An annoyance? Yes.

I came across military culture more in the five years of non—profit and social work experience than my 20 years living here as a child. If you live in areas a bit away from the military (away from fort Sam, Randolph, lackland) the military world kind of dwindles. Not surprisingly though, I found that one of my classmates in high school was a military brat last year and had no idea. If you’re away from it and then get thrown into it it can be a shock, as you said. It sounds like a few of our fellow posters are feeling that. I wasn’t working directly with the military, but it was a culture I ran into enough that I needed to get away.

[Galvatron99]

Originally Posted by Nevereveragain

This entire post is one gigantic fail.

Just like your existence is

[Galvatron99]

Originally Posted by ashbeeigh

How long have you been in San Antonio? Is this a new annoyance for you? Because it’s been like this for ages. I’m not a member if the military culture and the contact I have Gad did not sit well with me. It was a bonus when I moved that I won’t have to deal with running into military culture everywhere I go (although it may change soon up here). With that said, it’s part of the SA world and if you don’t like it then maybe you should leave?

I would like to move too..but I honestly don't know where to

Originally Posted by huckster

True,
Ashbeeigh you are right. The military culture is a good one and military people usually are good employees.
Soldiers of our country do an unimaginable job, at times. My son served, Dad, uncle, Grandfather.
However.
Everything has a bad side to it. There is a certain amount of demagoguery that rises up in the military
sometimes.
Officers and ex- training instructors often keep an assumed air of assumed authority about them, a bubble that needs bursting. I never knew anything about this until one day when I was seventeen. Dad slammed the front door of our brand new house in the face of a neighboring Air Force Captain in full uniform. He was screaming that we were riding a tiny little motorcycle to fast up and down our street. We were all kids with me being the oldest. In mid sentence, barely did he have a chance to open his mouth.
I guess he got the message because that was all we heard from him. Ever. I have had to deal with these types also. An annoyance? Yes.

Haha, omg..she never said military culture was good. And no they are not good employees, I know someone that is out and they are a manager. Well, multiple people have complained about this person, about how rude they are and always by the book. And that's just 1 person..my gf also has similar stories.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by Galvatron99

I would like to move too..but I honestly don't know where to




Haha, omg..she never said military culture was good. And no they are not good employees, I know someone that is out and they are a manager. Well, multiple people have complained about this person, about how rude they are and always by the book. And that's just 1 person..my gf also has similar stories.

My family is in San Antonio and I am in Austin. It is far enough away to be away from the San Antonio military bubble but close enough to drive down when I need to do something. You'll feel the cost of living, but my salary has moved up to account for that change. Feel free to message me if you have questions, I don't want to derail this into a San Antonio versus Austin thread.

[supfromthesite]

New Braunfels or another smaller town is the way to go imo