Need some Benning Help!

nndidiamaka · June 2010

Hey, my DH is AD Army currently serving in Iraq. My son and I will be moving to Fort Benning in a couple months to set up shop and get our housing squared away before DH comes home. This is our first duty station, so I don't know very much about any of this yet. We've been planning to live on base, but my husband is hearing all kinds of rumors about their housing! We were told by the housing people that we'd likely be living in either Bouton or Custer, but DH is hearing that Custer is a really bad area to live in. Is that true? Have any of you lived in either of these communities? Pros/cons of either? If we don't like either of these communities, is there any possibility we can choose something somewhere else?

We've also heard that Windjammer is the only internet provider allowed on base, but some soldiers are saying their service is lousy and always going out. They say it's very unreliable. Have you had any experience with this? If we get something like Dish Network for our TV service, can we get local channels, or do we have to pay Windjammer for the locals? Would it be in our best interest to just find somewhere off post to live? What areas off post are good, safe neighborhoods?

Thank you for your help!

lauren2_00@yahoo.com · June 2010

Hey there! DH and I lived at Fort Benning for the past 2 years but just PCSed to Arizona for a course. Custer is definitely a neighborhood to stay away from and I don't know much about Bouton. I know many enlisted neighborhoods are being torn down and families are being moved into new housing which is very nice. If you go to this website, https://onestop.army.mil/, there are floorplans for each neighborhood according to rank. You'll also have to contact Ft. Benning housing to be placed on a waiting list for housing.

Windjammer is the only cable provider allowed on post. We had it and had minimal problems with it. If you get satellite, you won't be able to get local channels (this is as of April when we moved, it may have changed but I doubt it).

If you decide to live off post, pretty much the rule of thumb is to pick an area past exit 6 from I-185. There are a lot of nice apartment complexes located off of exits 7 through 10. Also, there are many homes to rent in Phenix City, AL. www.militarybyowner.com is a great site to check out for rental homes. Also, check out https://www.ahrn.com/index.php for rental information. Hope this helps! Good luck with your move

NSanders08 · June 2010

Although I don't know much about living on post, I lived across the river in Phenix City for 20 years and have numerous friends who are either soldiers or married to soldiers. All those that I know live off post so I take it there's a reason. There's alot of new development in both Columbus and Phenix City b/c of the expected increase in military families, so you should be able to find a nice place at a decent price. Hope this little bit of info helps. Good luck!

nndidiamaka · June 2010

Thank you SO much for the information! It helps a lot. I'm really kind of afraid to live off post, just because I don't really know what military life is going to be like. I don't know how I would handle carrying my 8 month old son all over town by myself to look at apartments and such... it seems like it would be easier to live on post. And I don't know what the situation would be for my husband getting to work in the morning -- would he have to leave extra early to get through the gate each morning? The one time I went on base in the morning (granted, it was a Basic graduation day) the lines were HUGE. I would hate for my DH to have to leave an extra hour or half hour earlier when we could avoid a commute all together by living on base. Any thoughts?

lauren2_00@yahoo.com · June 2010

He would definitely have to leave earlier if he had to come into the main gate for PT or work. I used to leave post to go to work around 7:15 and the traffic would be backed up pretty far. If you decided to live in AL, I don't think the gate traffic there is as bad as coming in from Columbus. I thought living on post was good. We were only a few minutes drive from the gym, commissary, and PX.

Need some Benning Help!

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