Fort Sill, OK - anyone know anything?

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 22, 2009

I know the area - I spent four years at Altus AFB, OK, about forty-five minutes west of Fort Sill. You're about an hour and a half from Oklahoma City, three hours from Dallas, and a long way from everything else (seriously).

Lawton's not a bad town - it was doing some serious growing while I was in Altus. If I HAD to be in SW OK, Lawton's where I'd prefer. It should tell you something when I say we used to drive there to shop someplace other than Super Wal-Mart and JCPenney in Altus....

I know Fort Sill is a basic training base and we used to see them light the sky up when they'd go out in the field and play war games. That's how flat it is out there...

The people in Oklahoma are very friendly and they were always very pro-military (without the bases those towns would literally dry up). I can think of worse places to be assigned (uh, North Dakota, anyone...)

The water there is very hard - I had a very mild rash for the first two weeks or so I was there but it went away and it never happened again. People who'd been stationed there a while said that was pretty common. And it's dusty and the wind blows A LOT...

But the country out there is beautiful in its own way - so much of it hasn't been disturbed by humans since Native American tribes walked the prairie. You can see prairie dogs (I think there's a prairie dog reserve out there - I know I went somewhere that was wall-to-wall prairie dogs and it was very cool) and coyotes all over the place.

Overall, it wasn't a horrible place to live. Rent's cheap as chips and the BX complex at Fort Sill rocks (and that was 13 years ago - that was the first place I ever had a cup of Seattle's Best Coffee - in that food court!).

NursePamela · Sep 22, 2009

Thanks for the input.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 23, 2009

Sorry I don't know anything about the base, but most people seem to hear that Oklahoma is a fate worse than death - but your assignment is what you make it, so I thought you'd like to hear some positives.

(I don't know if you've heard this - I can't even remember if you're prior service or not - shame on me - but in the military, the worst base you've ever been to is the one you're stationed at now, and your last base was the best assignment ever...LOL!)

dscrn · Sep 23, 2009

my daughter lives in OKC (non military) If you are a lover of fast food, you're headed in the right direction! The country outside of the city is quite undeveloped-LOTS of cows. OK is hotter than blazes in the Summer, and they knew what they were talking about "the wind comes whistling down the plain". Lots of alergy stuff blowing about. Rent is cheap...

bluemorningglory · Sep 23, 2009

A friend of mine was an Army doc who was stationed there. She was very "meh" about the place. She felt that there was more camaderie at BAMC

dscrn · Sep 23, 2009

oh yes...OKC has one of the best trauma centers in the states-which is good, because there is no vehicle inspection, and motorcycle riders don't have to wear helmets, Uturns on busy highways can also be a bit tricky-if vehces are involved, it's a "wreck", not an accident. Also, doesn't seem to be much salting/sanding of roads during icestorms.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Sep 24, 2009

Fort Sill is almost two hours from OKC...

I lived in SW OK about forty minutes west of Fort Sill when I was stationed at Altus Air Force Base. In four years, it snowed once and it lasted two days on the ground. The wind does blow there - a lot - I'll give you that, but once you realize the lay of the land you understand why: the wind blows literally straight down from Canada and there's nothing in the topography to stop it.

Forget the remote chance of ice - I was there during the F5 tornado of 1999 and saw its aftermath firsthand. Tornadoes are a very real threat (they call a tornado watch here in NC and I just look at the sky and laugh - you really haven't lived until you've literally seen the sky boiling with clouds that look almost green and you've watched the anvil cloud build literally in your front yard). If you rent an older house I'd recommend a storm shelter - I had one and actually used it twice when our sirens went off in the little town I was renting in. It can also flash flood pretty quickly; be sure your renter's covers flooding. (Seriously.)

The coolest thing I ever saw was the afternoon a tiny (tiny?? Well, compared to that F5..) tornado jumped the end of our runway. It was also the scariest...

JennNJ83 · Sep 24, 2009

I don't know anything about the nursing situation there, sorry, but I know that it's a great place to be stationed!! (In my opinion) The people are really nice, there is a mall down the street and overall in a good area.