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Fort Bliss - Honest Opinions Please
Have you been to Fort Bliss? We are currently at Fort Hood and we are on a list to be moved since he's in the Aviation Regiment, and I guess they are moving all Aviation to Bliss. I am not really happy about it. It's in the middle of no where and at least here at Hood, I have Austin an hour away. I just was wondering what peoples' honest opinions of Bliss were.
I am hoping my husband will be re enlisting for something else in March, but that's a couple months away and I don't know what he has planned. (He's currently deployed.) But even those options will take us to places I am not so looking forward to going to. But they would be places I know at least.
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Re: Fort Bliss - Honest Opinions Please
Oh good... I like the outdoors, but I come from Seattle. I am a city girl. Guess I am going to go crazy. (:
But thank you for your opinion. Lets me know what there is and what I can expect.
The Dogs and Us
We've been stationed at Bliss for nearly five years now and actually really like it here. El Paso is hardly the middle of nowhere, though you won't find nearly as many amenities as you do in San Antonio. My best advice is to come to El Paso with an open mind. Here are some additional thoughts:
-Yes, there are some crazy drivers from Mexico. For the most part, though, I've found Mexican drivers to be overly cautious about obeying the traffic laws on this side of the border to avoid problems with local law enforcement and the Border Patrol. I have far more issues with New Mexico and Texas drivers than I do with those from across the border, and I do a lot of driving all over town.
-Really consider which side of town you want to live on if you live off-post. We decided from the beginning to live on the West Side (around 20 miles from Bliss) because the schools over here tend to be better and we liked the feel of the neighborhoods more than those in the East and Northeast. A longer commute has been worth it to us because we really do love our neighborhood.
-BAH rates went up this year!
-El Paso is in the high desert. Expect dust, expect cacti, and expect scorpions and lizards. The trade-off is that we have the most breathtakingly lovely sunsets I've ever seen and zero humidity.
-Unemployment is high in El Paso, but if you have a college degree and speak Spanish you'll have a much better chance of landing a good job. Start learning the language now if you can.
-Don't assume that because Juarez is extremely dangerous that there's a high violent crime rate in El Paso. We've actually just been named the safest city with a population over 500,000 in the country. El Paso is incredibly safe, reasonably clean, and has some of the friendliest people I've ever met.
My advice if you need a lot to do when you get here definitly get a schedule of events for things on base. Read up on the news around here for things going on on the weekends and I know there is a couple of musuems in town. Ft. Bliss isn't as bad as I thought it would be when we first moved here but not somewhere we want to be for long as we don't like the desert.
The Dogs and Us
I pretty much hate El Paso. This is the first base I have been to, as we are a new couple, and we live off base and I don't know a soul and I have been here for 9 months. In my experience the drivers are horrible and people in general are rude. I miss the southern hospitality!!
Oh, and yes the housing on Fort Bliss is almost impossible to get. We live on the east side and have a very nice apartment, but I haven't seen that many nice ones to choose from. I do like the weather for the most part. It gets extremely hot in the Summer. I am also scared to even try and get a job because I don't speak Spanish. Mexican overload in El Paso.
Best of luck!
we just left Bliss last year and i didn't mind it at all. i was there for 3 yrs and enjoyed it. the main reason we left is because i wanted to be closer to my family and i couldn't stand my SIL who lives there. no really, that biitch is crazy.
i had no problems with "the mexicans" as some of you have put it or their driving. bad drivers are bad drivers, be they black, white, mexican...etc. you have a great opportunity to learn about another culture, experience their food and holidays and traditions. enjoy it! you knew that moving a lot comes with the territory of being a military spouse. if you don't like it you won't be there forever.
try to stay open-minded.