PJC Site in Milton

[THRILLER]

Hey,

Well it is slowly coming down to the PCS move to FL. right now we are trying to decide between Collins Mill Creek Apartments and Whiting Pines. Any of you guys know (or have heard) of avg electricity costs for that apartment?

About the PJC thing, the wife is going to be attending the college and we were trying to get a rough idea of how far the commute is to PJC (Milton site). From the looks of the map, it seems like is shouldn't be more than 20min.

As for Whiting Pines, who are some of the good providers of high speed internet access that you recommend? Basically, we’re looking for a "user friendly" website where you can pay online...kind of like USAA's site.

Thanks again for the help!

Peace,

THRILLER

 

[KBayDog]

1. Whiting Pines to PJC Milton is ~5 mins with a strong head wind.
2. MediaCON has the cable monopoly in the Milton area, I'm afraid. Don't know of/can't speak of any others.

My recommendation? If your wife is going to the Milton campus, and you will be at VT-3, there is no reason not to move into the Pines. She'll appreciate the closeness to campus, and you'll appreciate the short commute when you have a 0530 brief. PJC also has a campus (the main one?) near the airport; it's about 20-30 mins, tops. (The Warrington campus is down near Correy Station, which is ~45 mins, depending on traffic.) If she elects to go to UWF, or even needs to use the library or other facilities, it's only ~20 mins.

Also, there are more than a few Air Force families in housing, which is always nice. (You Zoomies need to stick together if you are going to survive serving alongside the Naval services )

 

[gregsivers]

2. MediaCON has the cable monopoly in the Milton area, I'm afraid. Don't know of/can't speak of any others.

You got that right about MediaCom, they blow. But they are the only ones in Milton.

 

[Gatordev]

I've switched over to DSL w/ Bellsouth. I was not a big Bellsouth fan before, but my DSL has been as fast or faster than Mediacan't, and they're saying I can even go up to 6 Mb/s for a few bucks more (I'm at 3Mb/s, same as Mediacom's rated speed, but keep forgetting to call Bellsouth). FWIW, Mediacom's cable speed was around 2.9 Mb/s on a weekday in South Central Pace. Much slower on the weekend when everyone is online.

 

[trvsmrtn]

I have a signal amplifier that a cable guy in Jax gave me. When we first moved into Whiting Pines I was at about 1.5 Mb/s. After hooking up the amplifier, I'm at 4.5 Mb/s which is about twice as fast as my neighbor's DSL.

 

[helosusmc]

Thriller,

My wife and I moved up here in August for Advanced and lived in an apartment on the north side of Pensacola. She attended class at the PJC campus by the airport. That lasted for about 2 months until we just decided the best situation for us was to move to Whiting Pines. It has been a MUCH better situation. For one, you're in a house instead of an apartment. My wife now makes the 5 minute commute to the PJC Milton campus. Also, even though mapquest says it's around 20 miles to Whiting Field, it takes a solid 45 minutes, sometimes over an hour if traffic is bad. I was waking up at 2:45 for my 4:45 briefs. This is just my 2 cents but for Primary, you need to study your nuts off and set yourself up for success. It's easier to do that when you live 10 minutes from base.

 

[THRILLER]

Thriller,

My wife and I moved up here in August for Advanced and lived in an apartment on the north side of Pensacola. She attended class at the PJC campus by the airport. That lasted for about 2 months until we just decided the best situation for us was to move to Whiting Pines. It has been a MUCH better situation. For one, you're in a house instead of an apartment. My wife now makes the 5 minute commute to the PJC Milton campus. Also, even though mapquest says it's around 20 miles to Whiting Field, it takes a solid 45 minutes, sometimes over an hour if traffic is bad. I was waking up at 2:45 for my 4:45 briefs. This is just my 2 cents but for Primary, you need to study your nuts off and set yourself up for success. It's easier to do that when you live 10 minutes from base.

Good stuff!

Ya, the wife and I both have decided to have her go to PJC in Milton. I called Whiting Pines today and they still do not have a waiting list for 2 bedrooms. Sounds like that is what we'll do.

Collins Mill Creek Apartments is still tempting though...what do you guys think? Collins or Pines?

Peace,

THRILLER

 

[Snacks]

Helosusmc is right, you'll want to live close to Whiting. I'm here in Whiting Pines with my wife, and we like it just fine. The community is good, and Mediacom isn't all that bad. Some of the houses here have been recently renovated and are nice. I've been in the AF 5 years and at 2 different bases, and the housing here is the best that I've seen. By the way, the Navy has come down and said that starting in 07, housing residents will have to start paying utilities. Keep that thought in mind and try getting through Primary as fast as you can.

 

[THRILLER]

By the way, the Navy has come down and said that starting in 07, housing residents will have to start paying utilities.

Interesting,

So is that set in stone or is it a proposal? If they do start charging utilities, then are they planning on giving the Navy folks back some of their BAH to cover this? I thought the whole point of taking away your BAH was to cover the cost of the "rent and utilities" for base housing.

Again…this is news to me.

Peace,

THRILLER

 

[Snacks]

Pretty much set in stone from what we were told at our last standdown about a week ago. Don't expect to get BAH to cover the cost of utilities. Yes, BAH is supposed to cover the cost of "rent and utilities" for housing, but the Navy is needing to save money and apparently this is the best way they can save. Also, VT-3 is setting the A/C in it's buildings to 78 this summer, so break out the Gold Bond and get ready for swamp crotch this summer.

 

[gregsivers]

Pretty much set in stone from what we were told at our last standdown about a week ago. Don't expect to get BAH to cover the cost of utilities. Yes, BAH is supposed to cover the cost of "rent and utilities" for housing, but the Navy is needing to save money and apparently this is the best way they can save. Also, VT-3 is setting the A/C in it's buildings to 78 this summer, so break out the Gold Bond and get ready for swamp crotch this summer.

We had to turn off the hall lights in the HT bldg, but the heat was on all "winter". Funny the way the try to save money.

 

[THRILLER]

So do the houses at Pines already have electricity meters or are they going to have to install these?

Well...worst case scenario...we move to Collins Mill Creek Apartments in 07...or maybe we should go ahead and do that now.

Peace,

THRILLER

 

[Snacks]

I don't know if the houses already have meters or not, I haven't really cared enough to look. However, I did see a meter reader going through the neighborhood last week, but he was only looking at unoccupied houses. I don't know anything about the Collins Mill Creek Apartments, but you should take a look at the housing here in Whiting Pines before you finally decide. Are you on casual status now or still in school?

 

[THRILLER]

I don't know anything about the Collins Mill Creek Apartments, but you should take a look at the housing here in Whiting Pines before you finally decide. Are you on casual status now or still in school?

In school right now. 7 weeks left.

The wife and I plan to do some looking around as soon as we get there. The FFSC sent us a really good care package with lots of great info on Pensacola and Whiting. The gent that I spoke to was Mr. Jackson...great guy who was extra kind.

As far as what we are limited to...we both want to be fairly close to NASWF and close to PJC in Milton. Therefore we are limited to one (maybe two) apartments that we would even bother staying in.

As for API, I'll just carpool with a fellow stud. I'm sure that won't be too hard to do.

The main thing I like about the Pines is the community and having my own yard. An added plus is the fact that there are no bills (other than cable company) to worry about.

Anyone have any problems with storage and damage to goods? I'll probably be shipping our stuf out fairly soon and chances are we will have it put in storage for a few weeks before we get down there. I plan on taking pictures of almost everything with value over $100. Any other tips?



Peace,

THRILLER

 

[Snacks]

Yeah, take pictures of everything, not just stuff over $100. Also, when I had my stuff moved from Biloxi to P-Cola, I had to end up picking it up myself because the movers wouldn't do it for 2 weeks. Make sure you have absolutely everything you need with you before you let the movers take your goods. If you have a small tv, you might want to take that with you so you and your wife will have something to keep your sanity while you wait for API and your goods. If you run into that situation, PM me and I'll try to help you move your stuff.