Military Families

PCS'ing to Fort Hood

Hi ladies, I mainly lurk here but I need some tips. DH had orders to pcs to Hood with a report date in September. By that time I will be 7 months pregnant and I am wondering about places to live. 

DH and I own a home here in Campbell and have had no luck in selling our property. We plan on living off base at Hood and renting since there are rumors that his battalion may be moving to Bliss in a year.

I have heard that Coopras Cove is not the best place to live and that Harker Heights is where the best housing is. However I am fine with living in Killen but I am not sure of the "good" areas are. Where would you recommend? 

Also since I will be pregnant and I have tricare prime, what is Darnel like? I am planning on having a natural med free birth and I am hoping they are as supportive of it there as they are here at Blanchfield.  

I really appreciate your tips and advise thanks in advance ladies. :) 

Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker

Re: PCS'ing to Fort Hood

  • I wish I had some tips but I'm also wondering the same thing my husband and I will be PCS'ing there in October. I'll be 5 months pregnant.
  • Well, here is to getting some good info for both of us. 
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • Loading the player...
  • Copperas Cove has a few decent housing areas but it's very hit and miss over there, and even most of the nice areas in Cove are older houses.  If you live in Killeen I wouldn't even look north of 190.  Most of the newest areas are in the southern part of town, and the area bordering Harker Heights (again, south of 190) is decent as well.  Heights has the most new housing, but it's probably going to be a little more expensive to live over there.  If we ever, God forbid, have to be stationed at Hood again, we'll be looking in Heights for housing first. 

    I delivered at Darnall and had a good experience.  Well as good as it could have been with two uncooperative babies anyway.  My OB was a.ma.zing.  I wish I could take her with me wherever I go.  That said, I was obviously in the high risk program.  I never even saw a midwife, but I know they have some.  I do know that even with twins, the choice of pain meds and epidural was completely up to me, and I didn't feel at all pressured into having them (other than having an epi line placed in case of a c-section... but that was because of twins).  While I had a great experience, and I know many others that have, I also know of several women who hated Darnall.  ::shrugs::  It's all a personal thing I guess.

  • Housing is pretty hit or miss through Cove and Killeen. Like pp said, do not look north of 190 in Killeen....go south. I live in Copperas Cove but out farther (heading toward Lampasas). Harker Heights is nice but as the homes are newer it is also the most pricey (mostly officers live in that area if that helps).

    When I began my pregnancy I saw only midwives and while they will try to get you with the same one each time there is no guarantee. I developed gestational diabetes and was moved to the high risk side but then I saw a different doctor every single time. While I honestly thought my prenantal care could have been better I did notice how quick they are to try and fix things and make it better if you make comments via their evaluation systems.

    As far as the delivery went...they were amazing! There are a lot of babies born at Darnall and the experience shows. The nurses were wonderful as were the interns and doctors. They never offered me pain medication until I asked for it. I never felt pressure to do anything "their way". The have birthing balls you can use but I don't think they are equiped for water birth. They were also excellent at explaining things before doing them.

    Good Luck and Welcome to Fort Hood! We have been here 4 years and will be here at least another 1.5.

  • does anyone know if these apartments are good?

     https://www.apt-homeguide.com/lookoutridge.htm

  • imageb_cole6:

    does anyone know if these apartments are good?

     https://www.apt-homeguide.com/lookoutridge.htm

    I don't know about those exact ones, but DH lived in the Lion's Run apartment complex for a little while, which is really close to those, and it was a decent place.  That's a pretty good drive from base though.  I think DH had to leave for work almost an hour before he had to be there to make sure he had enough time to get there, and get through the gate before the traffic getting on base was too backed up to make it to work on time.  That was several years ago though, so the traffic situation from that side of town may be different now.

  • i agree with the ladies that already responded, copperas cove is just a hike away from everything(well what there is in the area) and it is hit or miss on housing. killeen isnt bad, but definitely stay south of 190(the expressway/highway that runs through EVERYTHING) and just be aware of what things look like around the houses or apartments you look at. harker heights can definitely have nicer and newer houses, but it can get expensive pretty quickly. fort hood is the first base i've been to, but i love it because its so huge that it has everything you could want in a base and Darnall hospital on base has always had superb care, which i'm finding only gets better during pregnancy.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • We've been down here at Ft. Hood for several years now.  The first time around, we lived in Harker Heights...The nicest people I met were two of our neighbors.  Everyone else was rather .... rude... I guess, is the nicest way to put it.

    I did look into getting a house in Killeen, but the crime rate there is horrible and definitely not somewhere I'd want to live by myself whenever hubby got deployed.

    Now, we're living in Copperas Cove and have been here for 2 1/2 - 3 years I think.  There's good and bad areas to live in.  I would recommend looking for a house in Cove over near FM 116 (Randa Street is the only street name I can think of off the bat and the rent on that road runs about $750, but it's a quiet neighborhood).

    Darnell was wonderful to me a couple weeks ago...and the midwife and doctors I had along the way were awesome.  

    When you go into labor, you get your own private room that they help you deliver in...in the same room is where they clean up the baby, do whatever blood work/shots need to be given at the time, and weigh him in.  They have "HUGS" (I think that's what it's called) where the baby gets a little band around his/her ankle and the whole floor will go into lock down if the babe's away from you for a prolong amount of time...or goes near any of the doors on the labor/delivery side of things or in mother/baby.  The nurses are all super sweet and gentle with the baby on the mother/baby side of things.. I can't really remember much about them on the labor/delivery side, except every time I checked in they were really nice :) and the doctors explain everything that's happening in layman's terms...

    Anyways, I can recommend two different agencies in this area..The first is Colonial Properties located in Harker Heights.  They were the one we used for two different houses (one in Harker Heights and one here in Cove) and the only one's down here that would rent to us while we had our Chow Chow dog...I'm pretty sure you can call and request a list of houses to be either faxed or emailed to you...Or have someone go and get keys to take pictures to send to you so you know what's available around that time... and Armadillo Properties (located in Copperas Cove) that's been very helpful every time we've had to call in a work order on the newest place we've moved to. 

    If you have any other questions, feel free to ask :) 

This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"