My husband was just given a list of choices for his next assignment. We are discussing the merits of each place. I would love to have some insight from both military and non military that live in these areas, have lived there or have traveled through there.
Choices are:
Ft. Meade , MD
Washington ,DC(would want to live on the VA side-Fairfax County)
Norfolk, VA
Ft. Hood, TX
Yongsan, Korea
Stuttgart, Germany
We have 2 DDs ages 11 and 9. We homeschool right now but good schools in the area are important in case we decide to send them back to a traditional school. My daughters are dancers so any info about good dance schools would also be appreciated.
Bring on the good and bad....PLEASE!
Okey doke. My .02$. Of the places you've listed I've been to:
Stuttgart
Ft. Hood
MD/VA
My hubby was stationed in the DC area for several years. It's not bad... but it IS expensive... speaking from a cultural perspective it's an awesome area what with the Smithsonian, the National Zoo, it's all very international. I enjoyed the time we were there...however we didn't have kids for much of it. The schools are pretty good IF you're in the right area. Also the wrong areas are awfully high in crime. Still, depending on where you are it's not bad...if you end up there my best piece of advice...live OUTSIDE the capital beltway!
Ft. Meade: Tho' we have never been stationed there we were close to it and I had friends who were there. It's not a bad assignment, decent housing on base, close to Baltimore and DC, decent enough schools...but.. the locals aren't as nice to soldier families as they could be I've heard. On the plus side, they have a good PX/COmmissary last I heard.
My hubby and I were both stationed in Stuttgart, Germany...but that was a loong time ago. I'm leaning towards this, esp. if this is not your last assignment. If this your last tour think hard on it, it's hard to transition out of the military into the civvie world from overseas. That being said, I don't know how much it's changed in ...uhm... 15 years but when I was there I LOVED it. A very good experience for your kids, they're of an age to appreciate it.
Youngsan, my hubby was there for a year before we got married. It's cool, if you're a single soldier. Can you go there? Most assignments there are not accompanied. It's crowded, noisy, dirty and did I say crowded? Do NOT drive while there... it's ugly. The people aren't super keen on soldiers...or they are TOO keen on them. There won't be a lot of support for the kidlets, as it's not generally an accompanied assignment... so schooling may not be very good. Also there's the smell of Kimchee....yucky.
And last and most certainly least...Ft. Hood. Pluses: Largest base stateside, lots of on base support. HUGE commissary and PX (maybe the biggest CONUS)...good hospital and services like that.... Down side...it's FT. HOOD. It's near Kileen, armpit of the universe, black hole of despair. Admittadly I was only 9-12 when we lived there...but...*shudder* I have very few good memories. On 4 seperate occasions while we lived there I had adult men try to pick me up. They'd cruise the neighborhood near the grocery store and try to get me to get in the car and give them directions to somewhere... 3 of the four guys were soldiers from Hood.
The schools sucked. Of course, this WAS a good 25 someodd years ago and it could have changed since then, but from what I've hear...not much.
Copperas Cove is the other choice for off-base living... not so bad but I haven't heard many folks raving about it, either.
Another downside to Hood these days is that most of the soldiers going there end up in Iraq. Well, I guess that's the same for many bases these days.
Anyways, we're looking down the barrel of a PCS, too... so good luck!
SAra
