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Best place to live at Rucker


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  • 2 months later...

I currently live in Dothan and "love it" 90% of the time, the other 10% that I hate it is due to idiotic Bco shenanigans.

On post: I believe that if you are single with no kids then living on post is your best bet.

Enterprise: I would only live in Enterprise if I was able to find a decent apartment and some roommates. You may be able to beat the cost of living on post with roommates, but just barely. And don't think that living in Enterprise will be your escape from Rucker, a ton of people in Enterprise work for/are in the Army.

Daleville/Ozark:...No, never. Unless hepatitis and getting robbed is something you are into.

Dothan: If you have a family then I personally believe this is your best bet. If you dabble in real estate then this is also your best bet for a positive outcome. It is far enough from Rucker to be an actual escape from the military. It has the most to offer in regards to civilized things to do, like a movie theatre and a botanical garden. You will not likely save money by living in Dothan but your quality of life will be much higher. I bough a house in a very nice neighborhood and my kids are able to run out the front door and play with the other kids in the neighborhood without me having to worry about pedophiles or 8 year old crackheads. People often leave their garage doors open during they day which is indicative of how safe the area is. You will likely pay more than BAH in Dothan, I pay $1450 not including utilities. BUT houses here do not stay on the market very long and there are plenty of permanent party members that rent in the area. The commute is only 25-30 minutes, which means as Adrieke64 said, you just wake up that much earlier than on post folks (well really more like 15-25 minutes earlier). I have found only two things wrong with living in Dothan. First is when the idiocrasy of Bco is in full swing, and the fact that it is hard to make friends and hang out with other students since almost everyone lives on post or Enterprise.

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3 hours ago, TheSmallLebowski said:

I currently live in Dothan and "love it" 90% of the time, the other 10% that I hate it is due to idiotic Bco shenanigans.

On post: I believe that if you are single with no kids then living on post is your best bet.

Enterprise: I would only live in Enterprise if I was able to find a decent apartment and some roommates. You may be able to beat the cost of living on post with roommates, but just barely. And don't think that living in Enterprise will be your escape from Rucker, a ton of people in Enterprise work for/are in the Army.

Daleville/Ozark:...No, never. Unless hepatitis and getting robbed is something you are into.

Dothan: If you have a family then I personally believe this is your best bet. If you dabble in real estate then this is also your best bet for a positive outcome. It is far enough from Rucker to be an actual escape from the military. It has the most to offer in regards to civilized things to do, like a movie theatre and a botanical garden. You will not likely save money by living in Dothan but your quality of life will be much higher. I bough a house in a very nice neighborhood and my kids are able to run out the front door and play with the other kids in the neighborhood without me having to worry about pedophiles or 8 year old crackheads. People often leave their garage doors open during they day which is indicative of how safe the area is. You will likely pay more than BAH in Dothan, I pay $1450 not including utilities. BUT houses here do not stay on the market very long and there are plenty of permanent party members that rent in the area. The commute is only 25-30 minutes, which means as Adrieke64 said, you just wake up that much earlier than on post folks (well really more like 15-25 minutes earlier). I have found only two things wrong with living in Dothan. First is when the idiocrasy of Bco is in full swing, and the fact that it is hard to make friends and hang out with other students since almost everyone lives on post or Enterprise.

Thank you for the detailed response. I’m gonna be a flight student and I’m trying to save some money in BAH but also be pretty close to post. I’ll most likely find a place in enterprise

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Why is living off post in Dothan preferable to on post with kids? We were originally going to buy a fixer-upper for rental or flipping off post, but given the Army dragged their feet on getting my school dates to the state (by 2 years) we now have a baby and are on the wait list for Bowden. We decided living on post given the dogs and infant, and my wife in school/doing clinical hours, would probably be easier. I can swing by the house for lunch (so I'm told),  the dogs will have a fenced in yard, no lease, landlords, utilities, maintenance, etc to worry about. We also aren't trying to spend extra money since we have a mortgage to manage for our primary residence back in Massholia. We are only subletting a room while we are gone, so will still be on the hook for most of it. 

How bad is living on a military base for a year really? I'm a career Reserves/Guard guy and have only ever lived on military bases on a training/work-up status. Rucker actually seemed pretty nice whenI was down there for WOCS compared to what I've seen elsewhere. 

 

 

 

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Rucker is on the nice end of the Army housing spectrum. If I went back and did it again I'd live on post rather than out in Enterprise. I lived out on the far side of the circle in a small townhouse development that was nice but meant more time traveling back and forth to work. Rent was $850 I think for a 3 bedroom, 3 bath townhouse with a fenced yard and one car garage, BAH was $1200ish.

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2 minutes ago, mike0331 said:

Why is living off post in Dothan preferable to on post with kids? We were originally going to buy a fixer-upper for rental or flipping off post, but given the Army dragged their feet on getting my school dates to the state (by 2 years) we now have a baby and are on the wait list for Bowden. We decided living on post given the dogs and infant, and my wife in school/doing clinical hours, would probably be easier. I can swing by the house for lunch (so I'm told),  the dogs will have a fenced in yard, no lease, landlords, utilities, maintenance, etc to worry about. We also aren't trying to spend extra money since we have a mortgage to manage for our primary residence back in Massholia. We are only subletting a room while we are gone, so will still be on the hook for most of it. 

How bad is living on a military base for a year really? I'm a career Reserves/Guard guy and have only ever lived on military bases on a training/work-up status. Rucker actually seemed pretty nice whenI was down there for WOCS compared to what I've seen elsewhere. 

 

 

 

The quality is very subjective. All of the families we know in flight school live on post and like it for the most part. Even the "bad" housing on post isn't anything to complain about. My family is coming from living in a major metropolitan city so the downgrade, if you will, to the on post housing and schools was a deal breaker for us. Living on post is a low risk decision and like you said it isn't for a very long time, at worst your family will be bored, but they can see you slightly more often and be more connected to the military life if that is your thing.

For me I was willing to put up with some financial risk and some drive time in exchange for better schools, better housing/amenities, and a happier wife (haha). But if I did not close on the house we live in now, we would have lived on base. 

 

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6 minutes ago, Thedude said:

Rucker is on the nice end of the Army housing spectrum. If I went back and did it again I'd live on post rather than out in Enterprise. I lived out on the far side of the circle in a small townhouse development that was nice but meant more time traveling back and forth to work. Rent was $850 I think for a 3 bedroom, 3 bath townhouse with a fenced yard and one car garage, BAH was $1200ish.

My buddies in Enterprise regret buying in Enterprise, I live probably twice the distance from base as they do yet only drive for 5-10 more minutes haha.

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Good to know. Didn't know if there was some secret boogeyman to life on base. We have a 1 month old who will be a 4 month old when we PCS. We live in a nice house in the burbs outside Boston currently, so Rucker will be a change of pace for sure. I figured having an infant my wife will find a better network on base and there should be less to worry about. I'll also be more accessible. 

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All the fun events hosted by WOCS classes lol. Weekly carwash will be nice. 

What's the huge life adjustment? What am I missing? I've been on orders since I got back from WOCS, so almost continuously since the spring so I am used to armying right now, granted my hours are amazing and I'm on a small team right now so I am shielded from most of the "stupid." 

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To the OP, I almost forgot your...hidden menu option.

I know a few people that do this and I strongly considered it for a while, but you can also live in a trailer/5th wheel/RV! If I was single, I would do that for sure. I believe my buddy that is doing that now pays about $400/month for all living expenses minus food and he hasn't had a problem in the 6+ months he has been here. A fellow on YouTube, Rex or Tex something also did that through flight school.

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I'm on ADOS with my Guard unit working for the WOSM/OSM (warrant/officer recruiters for the regular army folk). 

Didn't think about the restaurant angle. My wife and I cook so at least we have that going for us. The plan was to get a pellet grill when we get down there. With my free time my hobbies down there will probably be guns and wheeling. It will be nice to finally take my Rubicon off the pavement. I'll need a lead on a good gun shop (stocking up while I live in a free state), range, and legal off-roading spots. 

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4 hours ago, TheSmallLebowski said:

My buddies in Enterprise regret buying in Enterprise, I live probably twice the distance from base as they do yet only drive for 5-10 more minutes haha.

Oh yeah, I would never buy in Enterprise. The market is so saturated from the busy years at Rucker that you can’t drive 1/4 mile without seeing 15 for rent signs. For me Enterprise is a big city with all the comforts you could want so I didn’t mind. Last time I went back for a course there was even a new movie theater with big reclining arm chairs instead of the old strip mall pair. 

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16 minutes ago, mike0331 said:

I'm on ADOS with my Guard unit working for the WOSM/OSM (warrant/officer recruiters for the regular army folk). 

Didn't think about the restaurant angle. My wife and I cook so at least we have that going for us. The plan was to get a pellet grill when we get down there. With my free time my hobbies down there will probably be guns and wheeling. It will be nice to finally take my Rubicon off the pavement. I'll need a lead on a good gun shop (stocking up while I live in a free state), range, and legal off-roading spots. 

Lock’n’load outside the Enterprise gate used to be pretty good and it has an indoor pistol range with decent prices. Range Control used to have a privately owned weapons range out to 300m you could sign for on most days and shoot at for free. You can offroad through most of the trails in the training areas when open and the pig and turkey hunting is pretty great. 

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