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Any place without a military presence is the best military town. In fact, when I am looking for a good military town, I just make sure there is no military anywhere near the area.
to support other opinions in here, i must agree that san diego is the best military town/city. all branches of the military are stationed here including huge military jurisdictions including camp pendleton (mostly army), miramar (mostly air force), coronado (a mix of marines/navy/air force), national city (mostly navy/marines/army), point loma (navy/marines), etc.
as for the worst, i would say any small town in the middle of nowhere!
Any place without a military presence is the best military town. In fact, when I am looking for a good military town, I just make sure there is no military anywhere near the area.
Any place without a military presence is the best military town. In fact, when I am looking for a good military town, I just make sure there is no military anywhere near the area.
The past 4 1/2 years I've lived in the following military towns in this order:
1. Great Lakes, IL
2. Little Creek, VA
3. Panama City, FL
4. Eglin AFB, FL
5. Colt's Neck, NJ
6. Coronado, CA
7. San Diego, CA
8. Great Lakes, IL
9. Panama City, FL
So I'm back to where I started from. Also spent temporary time in Norfolk, VA and Pearl Harbor, HI.
Demographically, worst is VA.
All other factors put together (traffic, weather, road condition, quality of life) I like FL most. The biggest negatives I think are the lack of certain grocery chains, the steep road drop-offs that scrape the vehicle underbody, the lack of nearby freeway systems, the slow speed limits and the high # of traffic lights.
San Diego remedies some of these problems, but really is just a frustrating drive home from work with rush hour from 3pm-730pm. San Diego feels isolated and a long drive from any good outdoors spots. And the people not as approachable nor friendly in CA.
IL has pretty bad roads, a frustrating road toll system, and all parking lots are sloped downwards so the woman tending to her baby seat will have her shopping cart roll and hit your vehicle.
All other factors put together, NJ is the worst, simply because there's nothing to do. Yes you can drive to New York, but I never did simply because NJ was so downright depressing.
Weather can make or break, and in that case IL and VA are the worst. Too cold when its cold, too humid and hot when its hot. Why would anyone want to live where there are both extremes?
Insects as well can be a make or break. IL is pretty bad. Driving through farmland and cornfields to get there, I had so many bugs splatter on my car during the humid months. Also, I remember in boot camp there was a day with billions of gnats in the air; I had to restrict and time my breathing to keep from inhaling any. Another day had millions of ladybugs in the air and were landing all over me when I was marching, and I hate the smell of ladybugs. Other times I just got ate up by the mosquitos. And then it got really cold and presumably all the bugs were gone for a while.
Worst = a tie between Ft. Irwin and Ft. Polk. Talk about isolation from society... Most Army bases are located away from populated areas anyway, but these two bases are out there.
Best = a tie between Ft. Carson and the Presidio of Monterey. Monterey would have won hands-down, but it is so expensive to realistically live there without still being in the military.
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