comments on stations

[adnama]

my husband is about to finish advanced jet training. he is unable to get harriers. that means we are looking at prowlers or hornets. i was wondering if there are any marines out there who could give me some info about places they have been stationed while in the fleet. trying to decide if we want east or west coast.
thanks-
amanda
adnamak81@yahoo.com

 

[phrogpilot73]

Having never flown either, or been stationed where they're stationed...
Based on my knowledge of the bases (having visited them):

1. Hornets East (Beaufort, SC)
2. Hornets West (Miramar, CA)
3. Prowlers (Cherry Point)

No Prowlers on the west coast for the USMC.

 

[Crowbar]

It depends on what you're into. I've never stationed at Lemoore or Beaufort so I don't know what those are like. I did spend one night at Lemoore but I don't think that qualifies me to talk about it.

Cherry Point/Havelock is...less than stellar. The surrounding area isn't too bad, you can live in New Bern or Morehead City if you want, about a 20-30 minute drive to each. Obviously there aren't as many entertainment options as on the west coast but if you like outdoorsy stuff and want to buy a house it's manageable. Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach are about an 1:30-2:00 from New Bern, Myrtle Beach is about 3-4 hours from New Bern, DC is 6-8 hours away. You can make it from New Bern to Raleigh in around 2 hours.

San Diego is a great town but I don't think I could live there again. There's plenty to do, plenty to see, plenty to keep you entertained, but I've gotten used to having my own house with a yard and not having people living on top of me. Of course it's going to be expensive, and traffic sucks, but if you don't mind that, it's a great place to live. Good weather pretty much all year. I remember driving my Jeep around all "winter" with the top off. NFL and MLB, plus minor league hockey teams. You can get to the mountains in Imperial County in a couple of hours, same for going up to Orange County and LA. I forget how long it takes to get to Vegas but it isn't more than a few hours.

If he gets Prowlers, he'll be at Whidbey Island for less than a year, maybe 10-11 months. Oak Harbor is a small town, much more rural than I expected. If you like camping, hiking, mountain biking, and the like then you'll probably like Oak Harbor. If you don't like that stuff, then Seattle is just an hour or two away. Vancouver is a pretty short trip, weekend trips up there are common. During the early summer the sun is up for about 18 hours each day.

 

[Postal]

Cherry Point in my opinion avoid. Been stationed there twice. Once to go through the FRS and back again to instruct at the FRS. First time newly married, second time family man. Both times I could not get out of there soon enough. I grew up in Baltimore and my wife in Minnesota. Got alot of small comments about "well your not from the south", "yankee"... Plus the weather is bad for both flying and outdoor activities. Always seems to be raining. I could be spoiled by being stationed in Yuma for both my fleet tours.

Why not Harriers? If you do not mind me asking. Slots or grades? When I winged there were 2 of us selecting. The choices were AV-8B west and F-18 east. I was #2 and #1 wanted AV-8B west. I wanted AV-8B's. Went and talked to the Col and by no suprise I got my first choice also: AV-8B west. Apparently the majority wants hornets.

 

[FLYTPAY]

Having never flown either, or been stationed where they're stationed...
Based on my knowledge of the bases (having visited them):

1. Hornets East (Beaufort, SC)
2. Hornets West (Miramar, CA)
3. Prowlers (Cherry Point)

No Prowlers on the west coast for the USMC.

I say go for Beaufort. Here is why. Cherry Point sucks..Period....Miramar, while in San Diego is hectic traffic-wise and the cost of living makes it difficult to buy nice real estate in an unstable market. Beaufort is not far from Charleston which is an awesome city, Hilton Head, Savannah, Jacksonville. You can get a descent house for the money and the weather is relatively nice. I am going to try to get into the navy squadron at Beaufort.

 

[SnipeDude]

I'm Navy but I've visited friends in Cherry Point and its an armpit! Lived in Charleston, SC and it could be nice if you have the right attitude (i.e., like the South, don't mind driving everywhere, can deal with slow stupid people working in every service job). They call it the slowcountry. With those choices I would go to San Diego and rent a house until the market straightens out.

 

[adnama]

thanks

thanks for the info. we were thinking about the same thing...avoid cherry point. we will most likely be going to miramar. i guess we'll see soon.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

If you end up going to Miramar, consider living up in Poway. It a little to the northeast of Miramar.

 

[Schnugg]

If you end up going to Miramar, consider living up in Poway. It a little to the northeast of Miramar.

One downside...Poway is hot.:icon_rage For every 8 or 10 miles off the beach the temp goes up ten degrees.

For example on a typical day in SOCAL it may be 75 at Torrey Pines Beach, 85 at Miramar, 95 in Poway...and so forth out to Ramona. So imagine a hot day at the beach...phew.:icon_smil

Still lots of ways into and out of Poway these days.

 

[A4sForever]

One downside...Poway is hot.:icon_rage For every 8 or 10 miles off the beach the temp goes up ten degrees. .....

Now I get you .... "hot" .... I thought you meant "desireable" .... or is it, still ???

I had several buds that lived there in the '70's/'80's ..... In the old days, Poway -- still a relatively new development; at least parts of it -- was one big pilot ghetto as the areas to the west and south of the field became wa-a-a-a-a-y too expensive for a typical LT (or LCDR) salary ... ???