Dude you don't know Hawaii...I heard it said right here on this very board.:D

Hawaii is the answer. If you live on base you'll be fine(insurance and gas are still going to be a bitch) as far as costs. However, 25th ID loves the field(say hello to the big island and the kahukus). You know the rest, great weather all year round, once in a lifetime experience , blah, blah, blah.

Lot of military there if that's your thing.

Washington state?

The winter & summer sports are covered.

If the regime would have stayed in place any longer in KC I would have jumped on the Seahawks band wagon. There's always that option for you. Other wise it's gonna be about 10 more years before KC comes back up here.

It is in the middle of the Flint Hills.

E-4 somewhere in the midwest. Hawaii is way to expensive.

I graduated from Junction City and have a sister that lives there so I still get back there every now and then.

They have done alot to try and clean the town up, tore down older housing and put new up. I'm not sure how affordable it is though, guessing it could be easily checked out if you wanted. Milford Lake is about the only thing to do, so if you like fishing or boating you will like the lake. Lot of hunting area around there as well. Outside of the lake, their isn't alot to do though so you will be driving to Manhattan, Topeka or KC.

Hawaii, when I was in the Navy I knew a couple guys that got stationed there, nice place but expensive as shit. At the time unless you were E-6 or above you couldn't afford to live off base. You could try and call the base housing center and see what kind of wait time you would have, but if it's still expensive as hell, chances are base housing is going to have a pretty good wait but still worth a call to find out.

Old Dog I think lives in JC so he would be a good source of info about Riley currently.

I'm not really sure how much I can say, but I will tell you this.

my step-brother is pretty high up in the army. He has been to Afghanistan and Iraq multiple times. He was stationed in North Carolina (I think). He was in Alaska a while too. He currently is stationed in Leavenworth. He likes Leavenworth only because it's close to his and his wife's family, and fairly close to the stadium.

He recently got a promotion and decided to move his family back to Alaska. He loved it up there and couldn't wait for another opportunity to move back. He's an outdoors type of person that Loves hunting, fishing, golf, etc. His kids will like it, but his wife won't like being so far away from her parents in Kansas.

Like I said, I'm not sure how much I can tell, but let's just say a base or two in Alaska will be getting a fun, Chiefs fan with season tickets, nice, and cool, guy to a VERY high rank.

yeah, if you're E4, even with a dependant allowance / off-base living (if you are), is way expensive.

when I was there in 98, a god dam quarter pounder with Cheese was $7. a can of chew was $6-7. I can't imagine what the prices are now. Hawaii is awesome if you have money. I was coming off of a 6 month deployment so I had cash to burn. but I was only there for 4 days (but I've been 3 other times on exercises).

living there full-time would be crazy expensive for an enlisted dude low on the totem pole.

have you been there? I have, the storage bunkers are the steepest grade "hill". it may have more curves than other areas, but calling it flat wasn't a stretch by any amount. Unless something changed since 1995. I was only there a week, it was flat, in the middle of nowhere I'd want to live for a few years, compared to leonard wood - that's saying something

The Afghanis probably drive better and have fewer guns.

Why not try for Ft Carson in Colorado Springs. That post fits the bolded part to a "T".

Ft. Riley is probably 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive from Arrowhead. You are close to Manhattan, which is a college town, and has Kansas State football and basketball. Big lake called Tuttle Creek Reservoir is nearby. But otherwise, you're on the edge of the Flint Hills. Not much out there but cows and prairie grass. Hot as hell in the summer, cold in winter, not much spring or fall in between. If I was a young guy I'd go to Hawaii for a few years just to check it out. The middle of Kansas is not exactly a tourist destination.

while I won't argue that Ft. Riley is situated amongst mountains, the Flint Hills are hardly flat. You apparently missed the large mound right across from the airfield...


http://ddlong.brinkster.net/atomicca...s/DSCN0069.jpg

21B,
I would certainly request posts other than Riley, but don't put it too far down on your preference list. Lots of new enlisted housing, excellent DoD schools, and great commissary/PX. 4 x BCTs and other separate brigades, great training areas/ranges. Instant access to I-70.

It's a great post now, but not alot immediately outside the gate. I could think of a lot worse installations to spend a 3-4 year tour.