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Kingsville or Meridian
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I am currently in Meridian, I have about 3.5 months to go. I've been here a year last week.
Meridian Pros: It is actually not that bad of a town. There is not a very vibrant night life (understatment of great preportions), but there is a lot to do if you enjoy the outdoors, golf, mtn biking, fishing, hunting, camping, water skiing, etc... There's a respectable mall, similar to either of the two in Pensacola. Most of the major chain restuarants (outback, o'charly's, etc).
Cost of living is pretty cheap. BAH for a single 0-1 is roughly $450. You can get a nice two bedroom apt for about $600/month, so if you have a roomate you still have the extra BAH for bills before ever spending any base pay. On base housing is pretty standard-maybe a little older than the Whiting Field stuff and the BOQ is not bad at all, very comparable to Whiting.
As far as the training goes, you will probably take a different path towards your wings than I have because you will probably be on the TS program. However, if you are fortunate enought to fly the T-2 it is just that - fortunate. It is a great aircraft to learn how to fly jets in.
I have found the command climates at both VT-9 and VT-7 to be outstanding. I've never been in doubt that the number one priority of the squadron was to get me winged.
Getting to fly the glass cockpit T-45C is a huge Pro. The aircraft is awesome and loads of fun to fly after you get the hang of running the system, MFDs, HUD, GPS/INS nav, waypoints, etc... You are at such an advantage going to a Hornet or Harrier RAG having flown a glass cockpit aircraft already.
As far as geography goes, you are about three to four hours from so much... Memphis, Atlanta, Jackson, New Orleans, Pensacola. Starkville (Miss State Univ), Hattiesburg (Southern Miss), and Oxford(Ole Miss) are all easy day trips for great SEC football in the fall, not to mention the abundance of charming young southern belles
Some of the Cons:
If you come through on the T-2 sylabus it will take you longer to get your wings than it would if you went to Kingsville. This is probably not true for the guys now coming up here on the TS sylabus.
Meridian is definitely in the Heart of Dixie. Personally I love it, but of course I grew up in Milton Florida so I'm kind of a small town boy anyway. However, a lot of guys find Meridian to be a bit to 'down home' for their tastes.
The media is pretty bad. I mean if a guy bowls a 300 down a Dixie Lanes its gonna be the lead story on the evening news. The radios stations, well, if you don't like country music now, you will before you leave Meridan, either that or you will wear out your car's tape and cd player.
The weather is crazy. I mean it was almost 80 last week and today it didnt get above 50, dipping down into the hight 20s tonight. The summers are very very very hot and humid, but not all that different from the Pensacola area. You can count on fairly low overcasts most days from December 'till at least the middle to end of February. This makes getting some flights done difficult because you get canx for weather over and over. You can of course count on thunderstorms most afternoons from mid-May through August.
Well that's about all I can come up with right now, but I'm sure there is more and perhaps Matt can chime in with some input.
Hope this has helped and best of luck with selection.
jec
Meridian Pros: It is actually not that bad of a town. There is not a very vibrant night life (understatment of great preportions), but there is a lot to do if you enjoy the outdoors, golf, mtn biking, fishing, hunting, camping, water skiing, etc... There's a respectable mall, similar to either of the two in Pensacola. Most of the major chain restuarants (outback, o'charly's, etc).
Cost of living is pretty cheap. BAH for a single 0-1 is roughly $450. You can get a nice two bedroom apt for about $600/month, so if you have a roomate you still have the extra BAH for bills before ever spending any base pay. On base housing is pretty standard-maybe a little older than the Whiting Field stuff and the BOQ is not bad at all, very comparable to Whiting.
As far as the training goes, you will probably take a different path towards your wings than I have because you will probably be on the TS program. However, if you are fortunate enought to fly the T-2 it is just that - fortunate. It is a great aircraft to learn how to fly jets in.
I have found the command climates at both VT-9 and VT-7 to be outstanding. I've never been in doubt that the number one priority of the squadron was to get me winged.
Getting to fly the glass cockpit T-45C is a huge Pro. The aircraft is awesome and loads of fun to fly after you get the hang of running the system, MFDs, HUD, GPS/INS nav, waypoints, etc... You are at such an advantage going to a Hornet or Harrier RAG having flown a glass cockpit aircraft already.
As far as geography goes, you are about three to four hours from so much... Memphis, Atlanta, Jackson, New Orleans, Pensacola. Starkville (Miss State Univ), Hattiesburg (Southern Miss), and Oxford(Ole Miss) are all easy day trips for great SEC football in the fall, not to mention the abundance of charming young southern belles
Some of the Cons:
If you come through on the T-2 sylabus it will take you longer to get your wings than it would if you went to Kingsville. This is probably not true for the guys now coming up here on the TS sylabus.
Meridian is definitely in the Heart of Dixie. Personally I love it, but of course I grew up in Milton Florida so I'm kind of a small town boy anyway. However, a lot of guys find Meridian to be a bit to 'down home' for their tastes.
The media is pretty bad. I mean if a guy bowls a 300 down a Dixie Lanes its gonna be the lead story on the evening news. The radios stations, well, if you don't like country music now, you will before you leave Meridan, either that or you will wear out your car's tape and cd player.
The weather is crazy. I mean it was almost 80 last week and today it didnt get above 50, dipping down into the hight 20s tonight. The summers are very very very hot and humid, but not all that different from the Pensacola area. You can count on fairly low overcasts most days from December 'till at least the middle to end of February. This makes getting some flights done difficult because you get canx for weather over and over. You can of course count on thunderstorms most afternoons from mid-May through August.
Well that's about all I can come up with right now, but I'm sure there is more and perhaps Matt can chime in with some input.
Hope this has helped and best of luck with selection.
jec
Paul Draper
Registered User
Ok, I'll throw in my 2 cents here, since I've actually lived in Kingsville.
HOT...I remember MANY a triple digit temp day. Things to do...well...let me see...not much. Unless you like hanging out at Wal-mart. Both of the malls down there were pretty much empty last time I was there a few years ago. Corpus Christi is about 30-45 min northeast and that's probably where you'd have to go for something to do.
The only thing that keeps Kingsville afloat is NAS Kingsville, and a major plastics company called Celanese located up the road in Bishop.
The only reasons why I'd choose Kingsville (if I had to choose), is that I have friends there, and I know my way around South Texas. (heck, I lived there for eight years).
I can't speak much for Meridian, the only time I was there I was just passing through.
Again...just my 2 cents.
HOT...I remember MANY a triple digit temp day. Things to do...well...let me see...not much. Unless you like hanging out at Wal-mart. Both of the malls down there were pretty much empty last time I was there a few years ago. Corpus Christi is about 30-45 min northeast and that's probably where you'd have to go for something to do.
The only thing that keeps Kingsville afloat is NAS Kingsville, and a major plastics company called Celanese located up the road in Bishop.
The only reasons why I'd choose Kingsville (if I had to choose), is that I have friends there, and I know my way around South Texas. (heck, I lived there for eight years).
I can't speak much for Meridian, the only time I was there I was just passing through.
Again...just my 2 cents.
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