Military Families
mommaJen10
member
Intro and ?'s...
mommaJen10
member
Hi to everybody! I've been a lurker for a while but have decided to start posting. My husband and I have been married for two years and we just had our daughter almost a month ago. DH just graduated from college and went through ROTC, so he is a 2LT. In November he is going to Ft. Jackson for training until Feb and we are going to Ft. Hood in March.
So my questions are:
1. How will Thanksgiving go with him being in training? I know he gets to take leave for Christmas but I don't know about Thanksgiving.
2. How do the Ft. Hood ladies like it there? I know it's a huge base and can be different for everyone but I just wanted some general opinions.
Thanks!
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Re: Intro and ?'s...
I've never been to FT Hood, so I can't answer your questions about that.
I can answer about Thanksgiving. He will train through that day. He may get the day off from classes, but he will celebrate it there with his class mates.
Welcome! My DH was at Ft. Jackson a few years ago for training. He went in November like your DH and ended in February. Thanksgiving is just another day for them. My DH was in-processing at the time so they actually got to eat Thanksgiving dinner with the higher ups. It was nice for them. And yep my DH got about 2 1/2 weeks for Christmas. That was real nice.
Don't know anything about Ft. Hood though
)
Fort Hood. Yeah. LOL
Um, well it's hot as hell during the summers (it is in Texas after all). As big as the base is, there's not a whole lot to do in town really. It's not a terrible place to live, but I'll be happy if we never have to go back there again. DH being stationed there for almost 8 years has a lot to do with that though.
The on-base housing is either really old, really small, or nice but with paper-thin walls where you can hear your neighbor. If you do decide to live on post, I actually didn't mind Pershing Park. A friend of mine lived there and she didn't dislike it. Her house (duplex) was kind of old, but you couldn't hear the neighbors, unless they were exceptionally loud, and she had a pretty big house, especially the common living areas. Plus even though it's technically base housing, it's outside the gate so if you have visitors they don't have to worry about getting a pass or anything unless you're in some kind of lockdown mode.
If you live in town, stay south of 190 in Killeen (in general the further south and/or east the better), or try for Harker Heights. Just be aware that their zoning laws are kind of weird, so even if you like a house make sure you check out the streets around it. Sometimes you'll have a really nice neighborhood almost completely surrounded by townhomes full of drug dealers. I wish that was an exaggeration. It's not.
While there's not that much to do in Killeen, there are some things. They just built a really nice movie theater in Heights. Well not just built anymore, but it's new and really nice compared to the one in Killeen. I'm pretty sure they now have every chain restaurant you could possibly want since it seems like they've gotten a lot of new ones lately. The bowling alley on base is massive and they have all kinds of different events. There's a few good clubs in town if you don't mind taking the chance of getting knifed in the parking lot on the way home. Seriously though, if you ever go out to a club there, please take someone you trust to protect you.
Austin is about an hour south and has lots to do, and there's the outlets in Round Rock that are between Killeen and Austin. Temple and Waco are to the east, and they have a few more options of things to do. The Belton Expo Center (about 10-15 minutes east) sometimes has really good concerts and events, and usually has special pricing for military. San Antonio is a couple hours away, but is a close enough distance for overnight getaways, or even special day trips. BLORA is a park on a lake next to Hood that is specially for military. Unless they've changed it, it's free for military to get in. They have horse back riding, a water park, paddle boats, and lots of fun things to do on the water.
Thanks for the info girls!
Leslie - Thank you for all the info! It actually sounds a lot like the "big" town near me so hopefully it won't take too long to get used to. 8 years is a long time at one base - I hope that doesn't happen to us!
leslie thanks for sharing that info we'll be moving there in October and I keep trying to tell DH that Killeen isn't the best of town to live in but he refuses to listen. lol