Advice on next Air Force Base

I only spent significant time at three bases. One is in the UK and it's closing this year, one is Lackland, and the last was McChord. I enjoyed being at McChord.

That was 15, er now 16, years ago though, not sure what it's like now.
 
jmez said:
Ellsworth in Rapid City would be worth a look. Right on the edge of the Black Hills a lot of otudoor, hunting, and fishing opportunities. Rapid is a nice city. Not too big at 68,000 but enough to have amenities. 4 seasons with mild summers and mild winters. The Black Hills area isn't your typical cold Northern Plains type climate, it is a lot like Denver climate wise.

If you are looking for a bigger city with more amenities I'd look at Offut in Bellvue/Omaha as well. Not near as many outdoor opportunities but is pretty nice as far as cities go IMO.
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MBrown, Thanks for your service.

Not a serviceman on my end.

My sisters family resides in Omaha. Personally I'm a little overwhelmed when I'm surrounded by more than few hundred people at a time. However, Omaha would be worth a look, there are several rural towns with amenities that are an easy drive from the city. You can be in KS, MO, IA, SD, MN in a relatively short drive. Omaha is larger city in the middle of Agriculture, so private land, private land with walk-in access, & public land access start at the city limits. To me that equals a lot of opportunity for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities across many months. If waterfowl is your game Omaha is the the middle of a huge flyway as well. 4 seasons for sure.
 
MBrown said:
And I actually tried to convince her of staying up here.... I said "I can get out of the Air Force, and get you your dream car and house if we stay." She didn't even ponder it for a second LOL
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Mark, I think the time has come for you to start wearing the pants that family! I really hope that you haven't allowed her to have her way for so long that a precedence has been set.:) Seriously though, good luck with your next station, hopefully you'll get to a good area. When are you out of here?
 
I spent time at Mt. Home, and a Geographically separated unit off of Ellsworth. Either of those bases have opportunities for the outdoorsman. Hunting and fishing opportunities are there for sure. I liked to hunt and fish, and fly fishing was an option as well. Better fly fishing in the black hills near ellsworth, but there were great opportunities for Sturgeon near mountain home AFB.

Side note: if you ride a motorcycle, the black hills has another great opportunity: the Sturgis Rally. Great motorcycle riding, and the place blows up with people and bikes every august.

I do NOT recommend Dyess AFB. Im down here in Texas and am not in the military now....but they don't hardly know what public land is down here.
 
I retired out of Dyess and like that it is, "close enough" to the Western States. Public land leaves something to be desired here. I spent quite a few years at Luke and wasn't a fan of Phoenix due to it being a big city. I did like Arizona as a whole and had some good hunting there. I still continue to hunt there when I get lucky enough to get drawn. If I was still in and could put in for any place, I would pick Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming or Montana. A guy that worked with me when I was at Whiteman is the MDSS Supt at Peterson. He seems like he hunts more than he works!!
 
cumminsbassguy said:
I am currently here at Fairchild as a 135 crew chief. over on the east side of WA. whats your job?.. because that really can limit the bases you can go to. for example.. I only have 6 bases to choose from stateside.
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Where are you hunting this year? Bow, Rifle or? I am up 395, N of Wandermere.
 
AK Troutbum said:
Mark, I think the time has come for you to start wearing the pants that family! I really hope that you haven't allowed her to have her way for so long that a precedence has been set.:) Seriously though, good luck with your next station, hopefully you'll get to a good area. When are you out of here?
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Thanks Greg! And I'm leaving out of here 2017 October. So next hunting season might get a bit expensive lol.

Aren't you heading to Kodiak soon? We'll be down there from the 26th to the 5th.
 
I'm at Malmstrom. It's a great place for the most part. I'm from Guam so a small town feel is appreciated. Haven't really got into freshwater fishing but your right next to the Missouri and a lot of rivers are pretty close. I love to hunt out here and am making my next base of preference based on elk hunting haha. I would prefer to stay here another 3 years, but big AF wants to PCS missile officers every 3 years, so FE Warren or Minot are my only other two choices.


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Roy68 said:
MBrown, Thanks for your service.

Not a serviceman on my end.

My sisters family resides in Omaha. Personally I'm a little overwhelmed when I'm surrounded by more than few hundred people at a time. However, Omaha would be worth a look, there are several rural towns with amenities that are an easy drive from the city. You can be in KS, MO, IA, SD, MN in a relatively short drive. Omaha is larger city in the middle of Agriculture, so private land, private land with walk-in access, & public land access start at the city limits. To me that equals a lot of opportunity for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities across many months. If waterfowl is your game Omaha is the the middle of a huge flyway as well. 4 seasons for sure.
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I spent 5 years at Offutt. It is actually agreat base and I like Omaha a lot. The problem is that it is literally in the middle of know where. (That is why the US Strategic Command is located there). Seriously though, Omaha doesn't look too far from the mountains but it is 8-9 hours of driving to get to Denver and then a few more hours to get up into the mountains. I know many people that have been stationed in Colorado Springs and they love it there. I lived in Denver for 10 years and would highly recommend the bases in Co Springs over Buckley in Denver. Buckley is in not in the best part of Denver and it is even further East.
 
No thanks on Colorado or Utah. Did I mention that Mtn Home was an incredible location for basically every kind of hunting you could want and great fishing. Loved my time there, would go back in a heartbeat if I was made to leave AK. Malmstrom would be #1 on my list though, Montana is just a great place all around.

All depends on what you want to do...

Also, a BOP, is hardly a BOP these days.... I did one once, and got real lucky there was an opening at a base I actually wanted. Best of luck with that. Best advice, find out what bases are actually available for a BOP and then pick the one that suits you and your family the best.
 
I would go out west somewhere.

A state that has elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, pronghorn, ect.
Not only those yearly species, but also species you can apply for like sheep and goat.

Colorado would be great.
You get desert sheep, rocky sheep, mountain goat, elk, deer, pronghorn, and plenty of fishing.

You are close enough to apply and hunt in Utah which a a great non resident state. You are close to Wyoming where you would have the opportunity to get into some great bonus species.
Arizona and New Mexico not being far either.

Colorado puts you in a state with lots of neat game and plenty of surrounding state variety.
 
One thing to note if your in Montana is they'll kill you with vehicle registration fees since there is no state tax. You can still be a resident of somewhere else and pay really low registration fees but if your military and Montana resident, you pay resident vehicle registration fees. I became a resident to make buying online tags a lot easier, but dread every time I have to renew my truck and wife's RAV4 registration. Montana's hunting season is very generous too. It gives people a lot of time to get it done.


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I heard nothing but good things about Mountain Home. I was stationed at Fairchild and the Las Vegas area. I enjoyed Wa but wasn't too thrilled with the hunting.


NV has been great to me! I've hunted elk, lopes, muleys, and sheep so far and killed a sheep, muleys, and lope. This year is round two with the elk....rifle this time and more knowledge than before. I had orders to your base....but you know how things go. They got denied two days after I got them.


I did MS....don't do that :)
 
MBrown said:
Thanks Greg! And I'm leaving out of here 2017 October. So next hunting season might get a bit expensive lol.

Aren't you heading to Kodiak soon? We'll be down there from the 26th to the 5th.
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I may see you down there. I fly down on the morning flight of the 4th, then back home on the 13th.


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MBrown said:
Good luck if I don't talk to you before then.

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You too man, get some blood on that pack. Hey, if you're working the beginning of next week, stop on in and say hello, I'd like to hear about your plans


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