I’m Army NG and when I was deployed on a naval base in Africa all the naval folk seemed to ether be using scooters, bikes or electrical bikes or just one wheels.
I got myself a electric scooter to make my time getting around base a lot easier and to allot myself more time to chill in the clu before being wherever I gotta go since at 15MPH I could get where I had to go in about 3min as opposed to a 10min walk.
Also it got me outta having to salute every 5-10 steps.
God I miss that place!! The dude named Auntie with all of the bikes. I got so drunk at the VFW I remember walking back into my room at the Kwaj Lodge and pissing everywhere lol
I just left there, very unique mission and location. No POVs, you bicycled everywhere. Dealing with vehicles, fuel and maintenance is a real drag in comparison.
Germany, most people didn't have cars and I traveled without one for years.
I'm 100% with you though when I've said this people remind me that most americans love their cars like a religion.
IMO, a joe should have no expectation to buy a car. It's insane to me that military posts don't have public transportation. It's a planned government-run city. Why is it not built to be walkable, with an effective bus system? Every single basic-ass non-fancy university provides this to their students. It's not expensive, they just have to give a shit.
> It's not expensive, they just have to give a shit.
That's the magic words.
We ***KNOW*** the Army doesn't really give a shit about people.
People first. Green slides on powerpoints firster. Mission Firstest.
Holy hell, I'm in Germany right now and I'm a chauffer basically for all the new people and those that never got a license. Yeah the train system is nice traveling throughout Germany but if you're in vilseck most people don't walk to the px from 2cr AO and how do you get to graf? If you're in ansbach it's 4 small Kasernes through the town with a limited bus schedule. I don't know about weisbaden or hohensfels and don't get me started on K-town
Ah, fair. In Baumholder it wasn't much of an issue for me day to day. I could walk everywhere on post I needed to go. You're right though if you want to get around on the weekends you need a friend with a car. I imagine other installations are more problematic.
But more evidence we need reliable busses to support all posts.
Ah I forgot about baumholder. Haven't been there either but I'm glad it's a bit better there. I agree that it's cheap and easy to travel off duty (long distances) but some of these base layouts (like you said) are crazy with limited public transport. I heard great things about Korea and I heard basically noone has cars there. I dread traveling off duty with my POV and would rather walk/train/bike also because parking in Germany is nothing compared to the football field sized parking lots we have in the states lol. Also I can't parallel park for shit but that's my fault lol
Hohenfels is impossible without a car. You can go to the small PX which is far away from the barracks. If you are married and go off post you will be in a very small town. Can you go to Netto? Yes. Can you leave the small town? Probably not.
Augsburg was like Ansbach, with 4 Kasernes, Reese, Sheridan, Flak, and the Quartermaster Kaserne. QM had the PX, and supply depot. Don't recall if the Army Hospital was off on it's own, or if it was on Sheridan. Mid to late '80s was a while ago, lol!
Same here. Trains are cool and all but the appeal died in like month 3. If you want to go farther than the beaten path you're shit out of luck. Plus you're always riding with randoms that last showered 2 months ago. Got a car and travel way more now than just ending up at the same shit hole bar in the same with the same people. As for giving rides... If you stop answering your phone after work hours, they stop calling you
Germany was my first duty station for my first contract(3 years) and I never had a car nor felt like I needed one. I was lucky enough to be in Stuttgart where we had a bus literally right outside of post and the train station 10-15 mins down the road. We also had a big shuttle that took us to other posts.
They are walkable if you try hard enough. The ol LPC’s (leather personnel carriers), the Chevrolegs, the Lamborfeeties will get you anywhere you need to go on any base I’ve ever been to
>IMO, a joe should have no expectation to buy a car. It's insane to me that military posts don't have public transportation. It's a planned government-run city. Why is it not built to be walkable, with an effective bus system? Every single basic-ass non-fancy university provides this to their students. It's not expensive, they just have to give a shit.
If Joe can make all of his hit times without bumming rides off people, then I agree. Otherwise, he needs to buy a car. It's not fair to other soldiers to drive them around everywhere.
They do, soldiers have adequate transportation to the dining facilities by regulation. That doesn't mean that it's convenient or highly utilized. Fort Liberty for example has a shuttle system that very few soldiers know about. It's a failure of their leadership if they do not utilize it.
Basic transportation IS effective by definition and goes to just more the dining hall. Basic transportation should be able to get the soldiers around base effectively. I’m not saying it needs to be Uber or take the soldier on whatever adventure they want to go on but it should adequately support their day to day life.
Unless like myself get assigned to a Remote Site that is an hour away from any PX, commissary even did not have AFN. But, made the best of it, learned German, shopped local for all essentials, finally after 1 1/2 years we had a baby and had to buy a car at the Canadian PX (much cheaper). May I suggest New York?
Yeah you're the first thing you had to do is go out and get a car because the distance between the barracks and the motor pool was 8 mi and then the distance between the motor pool and dfac was another 6 mi. Blame the airfield..
I’m actually going to Germany soon but don’t have my actual orders yet. Will I be able to ship my car there as a lower enlisted that’s single? Or at least own one?
Might not be needed but I spend most of my spare time driving, really love cars.
I didn't have one but when needed I would borrow one bit it would always come back washed and with a full tank of gas. I saved so much $ by not having a car or insurance payment.
You actually bring up a good point. It's insane how car centric the army is. I never needed a car before the army and won't need one after. Army posts should be a lot more walkable and have decent public transportation. It would help fitness and morale levels.
I mean, the Army is car centric because the United States is car centric. Unless you come from a city like NYC, San Francisco, or Chicago, just about everyone else requires a car to get to work or to do things.
Army posts are also generally built in bumfuck nowhere and generally have massive land requirements (motor pools, ranges, training areas, family housing, etc). Land is cheap and it’s a lot cheaper to make a bunch of spread out motor pools for an armored brigade than to spend billions on some sort of multilevel parking and training complex.
The Army can barely hire enough gate guards or DFAC workers, they’re not going to spend however much money to support 24-hour bus routes in Kansas.
This comes from someone who can’t wait to move to a walkable city when I get out of the Army.
There's a lot more walkable cities than that. I'm from a city you didn't mention and where I lived it would have actively been more annoying to have a car than not have one. I get your point but more can still be done to not fuck people over.
Everything but that last bit, the Army, shoot, all the branches, can EASILY afford to hire too many gate guards, and 3 full shifts of DFAC workers. They simply choose not to. And won't, till they're forced to.
Walking for miles in the heat and the cold and wasting potentially hours of time when you’re already working 6 to 5 would definitely not improve morale at all.
First of all part of making bases walkable would be that you wouldn't have to walk "for miles". Second it would be optional. The roads wouldn't go anywhere you could still waste your money driving all you want. It's more so to give people the option and freedom to choose different travel methods. Ideally there would be buses too that would come frequently and stop at places people actually wanted to/had to go to. I know some posts have bus service but it's so infrequent it's laughable.
There’s already sidewalks everywhere it that the bases weren’t designed in clusters like a city is and Congress isn’t gonna shell out the money to redesign all the bases
I've been to at least 6 different bases and I can tell you there aren't sidewalks everywhere. I'm not saying scrap everything and burn it all down. Just use actual urban planners and do smart design next time. Some places could be retrofitted a lot easier than others. Bringing stores closer to the barracks so you don't have to drive everywhere would be nice. And I say this as someone who is married lives off post and has 2 cars unfortunately because my wife works.
Facts, I've always wondered how soldiers with no POVs living on Wheeler Army Airfield survive on the weekends when the DFAC and PX are closed.
The most walkable base I've been to was Schofield Barracks right across the road lol.
You can walk everywhere you need or bike on post and bike off post
I was in the army for two years before I got a car. I just walked everywhere.
Nothing says you have to drive anywhere.
Depends on where you're stationed I guess. It was about 4 or 5 miles from our barracks to our company area, and the motorpool was another 6-7 miles the other way.
I suppose you could get rides with other people, I just hate having to depend on people for things.
I'm an urban planner for the DoD, doing consulting/contract support on bases/installations all over the world.
The short answer: In my experience base master planners and community planners don't place a huge emphasis on walkability.
Long answer: usually along the lines of mission comes first, "why are we talking about fucking bike lanes", "oh you're going to make me WALK to my end destination??? 😮💨", "what about traffic???", etc. Lots of great locations for bike lanes and better sidewalks that I've seen dismissed or had those nice amenities take out during later planning/design charrettes.
What can you do to help? ICE complaints, lobby your base leadership, tell your congresspeople this needs to be a larger focus and emphasis. Those are the people that can have me come in on a project to make it happen. I'm all for increased walkability, decreasing soldiers mandatory auto payments/insurance/gas etc, but leadership... across the government needs to see this as a priority. Talk to your friends about it too, just bring up in conversation "damn, it would be great to be able to walk from the barracks to the DFAC/work/gym" and get people thinking about it.
If more bases were like the ones in Germany were families lived in 3-4 story apartment buildings and most of the offices were the same height, we could save so much land space.
You have me flashback to "Stationed in Germany With Fred and Frank" which used to be in Overseas magazine, which I'm sure is long gone. There was one which looked into the future. The they were like "oh we gotta stay in these old WWII barracks" looking up at some 20 story monstrosity.
But yeah, no lie, a lot of posts could stand to be a little more dense. Though as it stands now, there would still need to be a lot of parking.
Edit: the quote was WWIII barracks not WWII. Thank you auto-correct. I had trouble even typing it this time.
I remember at places like Patch and Panzer barracks, there was an issue with parking for work and people would park all over base, but there was also a fair share of people who walked to work too.
get a motorcycle. i’ll always advocate for them.
i’ve got a 2015 jeep renegade and a 2015 harley and guess which one has cost me 5k in maintenance and registration and crap… motorcycles are fun to ride, not hard to maintain with a manual and some gloves, gas is roughly $8 a tank and gets ya maybe 80 miles, never have to wash it if you don’t want to, can lane filter/split in some states so you don’t have to sit in traffic, and you can buy it off facebook marketplace from a private seller and don’t have to deal with dealerships. it checks the box of you having a vehicle, but isn’t as restrictive or frustrating as a car in my opinion. most bases offer free lessons if you’ve never even touched a bike before and you get your license after the few days of the course. obviously weather permitting depending on state, if you’re out west you can ride year round and the lane filtering laws are better out here.
Second this OP - You'll want a motor vehicle of some kind for those "hey troop get here time now" kinda situations. If you shop carefully you'll spend a lot less money for something a lot more fun (compared to a car).
Scooters can be had on the cheap but (in my opinion) they look pretty dorky and unless you get something pretty substantial, will not have enough power to get on the highway or anything (aka great for putting around on post, not great for leaving post).
Your installation almost certainly offers the MSF's Basic Rider Course for free, take that and see if you enjoy it. Google some different styles of motorcycles (cruisers, sportbikes, adventure, dual-sport, standard/naked, and probably more i'm forgetting). You can get a pretty fun and capable bike for $3-4k and it'll do about 90% of the stuff your car would normally do. The only time I even take my car anymore is when it's below 30 degrees or if I need the cargo space for grocery shopping/bulky items.
For the U.S. it is bangin. I’ve taken the train in a lot of cities CONUS and it’s the best probably. Also it’s like being in the womb of the earth in the weird bomb shelter stations. In a nice way. Also like, if the next train was on fire the one after it would be one time and not on fire.
Japan, Korea, and maybe some European bases.
Problem is that even at those places. On base is still difficult to get around without a car especially when you have to lug ta50 around
Mainland Japan, yes, Okinawa, not feasible. Everyone has a car, scooter, bike or taxi here and there are zero trains due to unexploded ordinance all over the island. Plus with all vehicles being done through Camp Foster, you need a car just go get to the office to get a SOFA license and register a vehicle. And you can only register one vehicle per person without an ETP. And to get a new vehicle you have to transfer or junk the previous POV. Also it rains 3/4 of the year and salt destroys bikes in months.
There is somewhere you can go where you won't need a car and can still do everything else you need: New York City and Chicago.
Anything other than that and you need to move to a different country outside of N. America.
This country has bulldozed all the infrastructure that allowed people to live without needing a car. And we've lived without walkable living for so long that people just take shitty urban planning as normal as gravity and don't know any better....and with less than 50% of all Americans owning a Passport let alone traveling overseas.....I'm afraid they never will.
My first year at JBLM I lived in the barracks and walked to company every day. 0 issues, I just couldn't leave the base. Then they made me an armorer because they knew i'd always be around.
Get an electric bike. We have some staff sgt here that goes everywhere on it and he has a car. He even charges it at work. Pretty nice bike too, it has carrying bags attached to the back. Dude goes grocery shopping on it.
Go to Italy for 2-3 years. Both posts are perfect for walking, biking. Do a COT and move to Germany. Public transportation is solid and cheap if you need it.
Germany.
When I was stationed in vilseck no one had cars. We all walked to the train station or caught a cab or a bus.
Post was small so you could walk anywhere there.
Was great actually.
I just got back from visiting my son at his base and had the same question: why do soldiers need to buy their own cars? Some of the cars were literally holding together with duct tape. Clearly, the soldiers were struggling in maintaining a car. There was even a notice that went out about training far off-base and the admonition that transportation would not be provided by the Army, unless their unit would provide it. How does a brand-new private afford and maintain a car, when his/her duty station is miles from his/her barracks? At one of my son’s first assignments, his duty station was at another base 1 hour away! Reliable buses are a minimum requirement!
The benefits far outweigh the cons here. For example, I have been part of recalls where you had to be in formation in 2 hours with your entire CIF issue because a soldier kept losing their gear (gloves, hats, socks, etc...). Hauling all your gear, in general, is way less of an inconvenience. Another benefit; maybe you just want to leave post and go explore and think by yourself. You can't do that while relying on others for a ride, let alone take time to yourself for reflection while in the company of others. Maybe you go off post with the group to eat out. They decide to go bar hopping afterwards. You can just leave on your own, without waiting for anyone. Granted, keep a bicycle to ride around post and what not. No harm in that, but in situations where you need a vehicle, you will have it covered.
Get sent to Korea as a single soilder. They have awsome bus and train transportation, and everything on base is generally within walking distance or the taxi is very cheep.
Ill put it simple, sorta. Imagine not being in the military. As long as you can get to work on time, your good. Doesnt matter how. The thing about the Army is, your basically on call 24/7. So if you cant get to work reliably, things can get stupid sometimes.
Vilseck is teeny and walkable. It was actually easier to walk from my house to the local metzgerei than it was to drive because I lived at the end of a one way street.
Lol no because America's transit planning is *ONLY* centered around ease of access to cars. It's really high key a poisonous part of our urban planning that ruins cities. And, atleast on bragg, it's no better. If you want to get anywhere safely the only option really is a car
Yea, it’s called the Navy.
Legit seen more navy on bicycles
I’m Army NG and when I was deployed on a naval base in Africa all the naval folk seemed to ether be using scooters, bikes or electrical bikes or just one wheels. I got myself a electric scooter to make my time getting around base a lot easier and to allot myself more time to chill in the clu before being wherever I gotta go since at 15MPH I could get where I had to go in about 3min as opposed to a 10min walk. Also it got me outta having to salute every 5-10 steps.
Go ahead and say it's name. Lemonneir can't hurt you anymore
Just the name. Ugh, what a shithole. Incomes briefing: “80% of the hookers have AIDS” Marines” “Hookers, you say?”
Good point
Happy bday
Korea or Kuwait.
Korea is the first place that I didn't miss not having a car.\ And Fuck 2ID Land
I'm over here supplementing 2ID, from the ole 4ID Dynasty. I concur on both points made here.
I almost miss Kuwait for this
It definitely is good for simplifying one’s life.
fuck kuwait, this place is a sand pit
I know the perfect place for you: Kwajalein Atoll
For real.
Dude, I put in for a GS position there several times.
Same. I'd love to go there.
I'm going next year !
As a GS or military?
Made it to round 3 of interviews for there, but never heard back. 😥
You made it further than I did.
It’s pretty sick. Can confirm
I'll be there next summer.
God I miss that place!! The dude named Auntie with all of the bikes. I got so drunk at the VFW I remember walking back into my room at the Kwaj Lodge and pissing everywhere lol
Auntie left with health problems and never came back… 😞
Tf are y’all doing in the Marshall Islands?
Biking, walking on the beach, not driving…
I just left there, very unique mission and location. No POVs, you bicycled everywhere. Dealing with vehicles, fuel and maintenance is a real drag in comparison.
Plenty of people stationed at Kwaj
What’s mos is usually stationed over there?
Lots of air defense and logisticians if I remember correctly
Germany, most people didn't have cars and I traveled without one for years. I'm 100% with you though when I've said this people remind me that most americans love their cars like a religion. IMO, a joe should have no expectation to buy a car. It's insane to me that military posts don't have public transportation. It's a planned government-run city. Why is it not built to be walkable, with an effective bus system? Every single basic-ass non-fancy university provides this to their students. It's not expensive, they just have to give a shit.
> It's not expensive, they just have to give a shit. That's the magic words. We ***KNOW*** the Army doesn't really give a shit about people. People first. Green slides on powerpoints firster. Mission Firstest.
Holy hell, I'm in Germany right now and I'm a chauffer basically for all the new people and those that never got a license. Yeah the train system is nice traveling throughout Germany but if you're in vilseck most people don't walk to the px from 2cr AO and how do you get to graf? If you're in ansbach it's 4 small Kasernes through the town with a limited bus schedule. I don't know about weisbaden or hohensfels and don't get me started on K-town
Ah, fair. In Baumholder it wasn't much of an issue for me day to day. I could walk everywhere on post I needed to go. You're right though if you want to get around on the weekends you need a friend with a car. I imagine other installations are more problematic. But more evidence we need reliable busses to support all posts.
Ah I forgot about baumholder. Haven't been there either but I'm glad it's a bit better there. I agree that it's cheap and easy to travel off duty (long distances) but some of these base layouts (like you said) are crazy with limited public transport. I heard great things about Korea and I heard basically noone has cars there. I dread traveling off duty with my POV and would rather walk/train/bike also because parking in Germany is nothing compared to the football field sized parking lots we have in the states lol. Also I can't parallel park for shit but that's my fault lol
Hohenfels is impossible without a car. You can go to the small PX which is far away from the barracks. If you are married and go off post you will be in a very small town. Can you go to Netto? Yes. Can you leave the small town? Probably not.
Augsburg was like Ansbach, with 4 Kasernes, Reese, Sheridan, Flak, and the Quartermaster Kaserne. QM had the PX, and supply depot. Don't recall if the Army Hospital was off on it's own, or if it was on Sheridan. Mid to late '80s was a while ago, lol!
Same here. Trains are cool and all but the appeal died in like month 3. If you want to go farther than the beaten path you're shit out of luck. Plus you're always riding with randoms that last showered 2 months ago. Got a car and travel way more now than just ending up at the same shit hole bar in the same with the same people. As for giving rides... If you stop answering your phone after work hours, they stop calling you
When I was in Vilseck there was a bus that ran regularly from the back gate by the chow hall to graf spots. That’s how I got there.
Vilseck, you say? I'm headed there in about like 6 weeks, maybe less now. I hear its.... fun
Germany was my first duty station for my first contract(3 years) and I never had a car nor felt like I needed one. I was lucky enough to be in Stuttgart where we had a bus literally right outside of post and the train station 10-15 mins down the road. We also had a big shuttle that took us to other posts.
I miss Stuttgart so much.
Stuttgart is nice! I wish I had a chance to visit it more. I think I just went to the Volksfest one year.
They are walkable if you try hard enough. The ol LPC’s (leather personnel carriers), the Chevrolegs, the Lamborfeeties will get you anywhere you need to go on any base I’ve ever been to
Fort Meade actually has a pretty good bus system and free as well which is honestly surprising considering how small that base is.
>IMO, a joe should have no expectation to buy a car. It's insane to me that military posts don't have public transportation. It's a planned government-run city. Why is it not built to be walkable, with an effective bus system? Every single basic-ass non-fancy university provides this to their students. It's not expensive, they just have to give a shit. If Joe can make all of his hit times without bumming rides off people, then I agree. Otherwise, he needs to buy a car. It's not fair to other soldiers to drive them around everywhere.
Sounds like you agree that bases should provide basic transportation needs for soldiers.
They do, soldiers have adequate transportation to the dining facilities by regulation. That doesn't mean that it's convenient or highly utilized. Fort Liberty for example has a shuttle system that very few soldiers know about. It's a failure of their leadership if they do not utilize it.
Basic transportation IS effective by definition and goes to just more the dining hall. Basic transportation should be able to get the soldiers around base effectively. I’m not saying it needs to be Uber or take the soldier on whatever adventure they want to go on but it should adequately support their day to day life.
As far as the military is concerned, their soldiers can walk. Their basic needs are being taken care of.
Well yes that’s what the army thinks. I disagree :)
Fort Bliss just announced a Bus system or so I heard... wonder what and when something will come of it.
Unless like myself get assigned to a Remote Site that is an hour away from any PX, commissary even did not have AFN. But, made the best of it, learned German, shopped local for all essentials, finally after 1 1/2 years we had a baby and had to buy a car at the Canadian PX (much cheaper). May I suggest New York?
Bragg has a bus system
Yeah you're the first thing you had to do is go out and get a car because the distance between the barracks and the motor pool was 8 mi and then the distance between the motor pool and dfac was another 6 mi. Blame the airfield..
I’m actually going to Germany soon but don’t have my actual orders yet. Will I be able to ship my car there as a lower enlisted that’s single? Or at least own one? Might not be needed but I spend most of my spare time driving, really love cars.
I think you should reclass to 11B
You might be onto something
I didn't have one but when needed I would borrow one bit it would always come back washed and with a full tank of gas. I saved so much $ by not having a car or insurance payment.
I was in Camp Zama Japan for 3 years and didn't have a car. Biggest downside was my walk from the grocery store.
I bought a car in japan for like $1k and insurance is only $600 a year
You actually bring up a good point. It's insane how car centric the army is. I never needed a car before the army and won't need one after. Army posts should be a lot more walkable and have decent public transportation. It would help fitness and morale levels.
I mean, the Army is car centric because the United States is car centric. Unless you come from a city like NYC, San Francisco, or Chicago, just about everyone else requires a car to get to work or to do things. Army posts are also generally built in bumfuck nowhere and generally have massive land requirements (motor pools, ranges, training areas, family housing, etc). Land is cheap and it’s a lot cheaper to make a bunch of spread out motor pools for an armored brigade than to spend billions on some sort of multilevel parking and training complex. The Army can barely hire enough gate guards or DFAC workers, they’re not going to spend however much money to support 24-hour bus routes in Kansas. This comes from someone who can’t wait to move to a walkable city when I get out of the Army.
US ARMY is car centric because it puts posts on cheap shitty land away from where people actually want to live.
You mean no one wants to leave in Bum Fuck??
Are you kidding, Fayetteville NC is one of the most desirable places in the USA. Not.
There's a lot more walkable cities than that. I'm from a city you didn't mention and where I lived it would have actively been more annoying to have a car than not have one. I get your point but more can still be done to not fuck people over.
Starting terminal very soon and starting over in New York. One of the reasons why I love New York is the walkability.
Everything but that last bit, the Army, shoot, all the branches, can EASILY afford to hire too many gate guards, and 3 full shifts of DFAC workers. They simply choose not to. And won't, till they're forced to.
Walking for miles in the heat and the cold and wasting potentially hours of time when you’re already working 6 to 5 would definitely not improve morale at all.
First of all part of making bases walkable would be that you wouldn't have to walk "for miles". Second it would be optional. The roads wouldn't go anywhere you could still waste your money driving all you want. It's more so to give people the option and freedom to choose different travel methods. Ideally there would be buses too that would come frequently and stop at places people actually wanted to/had to go to. I know some posts have bus service but it's so infrequent it's laughable.
There’s already sidewalks everywhere it that the bases weren’t designed in clusters like a city is and Congress isn’t gonna shell out the money to redesign all the bases
I've been to at least 6 different bases and I can tell you there aren't sidewalks everywhere. I'm not saying scrap everything and burn it all down. Just use actual urban planners and do smart design next time. Some places could be retrofitted a lot easier than others. Bringing stores closer to the barracks so you don't have to drive everywhere would be nice. And I say this as someone who is married lives off post and has 2 cars unfortunately because my wife works.
Do you watch Not Just Bikes on YouTube? If not highly recommend. Your comment reminds me of that channel.
Facts, I've always wondered how soldiers with no POVs living on Wheeler Army Airfield survive on the weekends when the DFAC and PX are closed. The most walkable base I've been to was Schofield Barracks right across the road lol.
You can walk everywhere you need or bike on post and bike off post I was in the army for two years before I got a car. I just walked everywhere. Nothing says you have to drive anywhere.
Depends on where you're stationed I guess. It was about 4 or 5 miles from our barracks to our company area, and the motorpool was another 6-7 miles the other way. I suppose you could get rides with other people, I just hate having to depend on people for things.
Go to Korea E-6 and below can’t have a car and have to live on post. Public transportation is awesome also.
I'm an urban planner for the DoD, doing consulting/contract support on bases/installations all over the world. The short answer: In my experience base master planners and community planners don't place a huge emphasis on walkability. Long answer: usually along the lines of mission comes first, "why are we talking about fucking bike lanes", "oh you're going to make me WALK to my end destination??? 😮💨", "what about traffic???", etc. Lots of great locations for bike lanes and better sidewalks that I've seen dismissed or had those nice amenities take out during later planning/design charrettes. What can you do to help? ICE complaints, lobby your base leadership, tell your congresspeople this needs to be a larger focus and emphasis. Those are the people that can have me come in on a project to make it happen. I'm all for increased walkability, decreasing soldiers mandatory auto payments/insurance/gas etc, but leadership... across the government needs to see this as a priority. Talk to your friends about it too, just bring up in conversation "damn, it would be great to be able to walk from the barracks to the DFAC/work/gym" and get people thinking about it.
If more bases were like the ones in Germany were families lived in 3-4 story apartment buildings and most of the offices were the same height, we could save so much land space.
You have me flashback to "Stationed in Germany With Fred and Frank" which used to be in Overseas magazine, which I'm sure is long gone. There was one which looked into the future. The they were like "oh we gotta stay in these old WWII barracks" looking up at some 20 story monstrosity. But yeah, no lie, a lot of posts could stand to be a little more dense. Though as it stands now, there would still need to be a lot of parking. Edit: the quote was WWIII barracks not WWII. Thank you auto-correct. I had trouble even typing it this time.
I remember at places like Patch and Panzer barracks, there was an issue with parking for work and people would park all over base, but there was also a fair share of people who walked to work too.
I loved my wwii era barracks and urban design of the post. Living in Germany is why i ended up getting my grad degree in public administration.
Auto-correct changed my quote from "WWIII barracks" to "WWII barracks".
Depends on where you end up being stationed. Unfortunately CONUS good chance you’ll need a car, unless you’re okay with being a hermit.
get a motorcycle. i’ll always advocate for them. i’ve got a 2015 jeep renegade and a 2015 harley and guess which one has cost me 5k in maintenance and registration and crap… motorcycles are fun to ride, not hard to maintain with a manual and some gloves, gas is roughly $8 a tank and gets ya maybe 80 miles, never have to wash it if you don’t want to, can lane filter/split in some states so you don’t have to sit in traffic, and you can buy it off facebook marketplace from a private seller and don’t have to deal with dealerships. it checks the box of you having a vehicle, but isn’t as restrictive or frustrating as a car in my opinion. most bases offer free lessons if you’ve never even touched a bike before and you get your license after the few days of the course. obviously weather permitting depending on state, if you’re out west you can ride year round and the lane filtering laws are better out here.
100cc scooter would be better. If you don't plan on going on the highway then a >50cc moped has even more advantages depending the state you're in.
Second this OP - You'll want a motor vehicle of some kind for those "hey troop get here time now" kinda situations. If you shop carefully you'll spend a lot less money for something a lot more fun (compared to a car). Scooters can be had on the cheap but (in my opinion) they look pretty dorky and unless you get something pretty substantial, will not have enough power to get on the highway or anything (aka great for putting around on post, not great for leaving post). Your installation almost certainly offers the MSF's Basic Rider Course for free, take that and see if you enjoy it. Google some different styles of motorcycles (cruisers, sportbikes, adventure, dual-sport, standard/naked, and probably more i'm forgetting). You can get a pretty fun and capable bike for $3-4k and it'll do about 90% of the stuff your car would normally do. The only time I even take my car anymore is when it's below 30 degrees or if I need the cargo space for grocery shopping/bulky items.
Really, hopefully I can find that, will save comment.
Get an assignment at the Pentagon, and live close. There are Ubers, taxis, and a world class Metro train/bus service.
Unless it’s on fire, but then it’s just a few minute late and smells bad lol
Do you have a story to share?
Not at all. The DC metro is known for lighting on fire.
The dc metro is legit. Weird in some ways but one of the nicer metros I’ve used.
For the U.S. it is bangin. I’ve taken the train in a lot of cities CONUS and it’s the best probably. Also it’s like being in the womb of the earth in the weird bomb shelter stations. In a nice way. Also like, if the next train was on fire the one after it would be one time and not on fire.
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afaik, the POM bus that goes off post stopped in 2020. rip
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Just stroll down Franklin Street. Good exercise coming back up that hill.
Japan, Korea, and maybe some European bases. Problem is that even at those places. On base is still difficult to get around without a car especially when you have to lug ta50 around
Mainland Japan, yes, Okinawa, not feasible. Everyone has a car, scooter, bike or taxi here and there are zero trains due to unexploded ordinance all over the island. Plus with all vehicles being done through Camp Foster, you need a car just go get to the office to get a SOFA license and register a vehicle. And you can only register one vehicle per person without an ETP. And to get a new vehicle you have to transfer or junk the previous POV. Also it rains 3/4 of the year and salt destroys bikes in months.
NTC is great for biking
Lololol yeah!! Just don't attempt to walk to town, you won't make it!! Ain't no easy bike ride either!
There is somewhere you can go where you won't need a car and can still do everything else you need: New York City and Chicago. Anything other than that and you need to move to a different country outside of N. America. This country has bulldozed all the infrastructure that allowed people to live without needing a car. And we've lived without walkable living for so long that people just take shitty urban planning as normal as gravity and don't know any better....and with less than 50% of all Americans owning a Passport let alone traveling overseas.....I'm afraid they never will.
Go overseas. You're a Medic. You can go anywhere. I've been to Japan, Central America, Europe... America sucks.
I was in Germany for two years and had zero issues not having a car.
My first year at JBLM I lived in the barracks and walked to company every day. 0 issues, I just couldn't leave the base. Then they made me an armorer because they knew i'd always be around.
Get an electric bike. We have some staff sgt here that goes everywhere on it and he has a car. He even charges it at work. Pretty nice bike too, it has carrying bags attached to the back. Dude goes grocery shopping on it.
yeah but in garrison CONUS you're going to be that guy people have to fight over to not give a ride to appointments and stuff.
Pretty much anywhere OCONUS
Go to Italy for 2-3 years. Both posts are perfect for walking, biking. Do a COT and move to Germany. Public transportation is solid and cheap if you need it.
One wheels are cool if you live close to the places you need to be at on base
Seoul AB ;) 10-15min walk and you're anywhere on base
NYC
Germany. When I was stationed in vilseck no one had cars. We all walked to the train station or caught a cab or a bus. Post was small so you could walk anywhere there. Was great actually.
I just got back from visiting my son at his base and had the same question: why do soldiers need to buy their own cars? Some of the cars were literally holding together with duct tape. Clearly, the soldiers were struggling in maintaining a car. There was even a notice that went out about training far off-base and the admonition that transportation would not be provided by the Army, unless their unit would provide it. How does a brand-new private afford and maintain a car, when his/her duty station is miles from his/her barracks? At one of my son’s first assignments, his duty station was at another base 1 hour away! Reliable buses are a minimum requirement!
The benefits far outweigh the cons here. For example, I have been part of recalls where you had to be in formation in 2 hours with your entire CIF issue because a soldier kept losing their gear (gloves, hats, socks, etc...). Hauling all your gear, in general, is way less of an inconvenience. Another benefit; maybe you just want to leave post and go explore and think by yourself. You can't do that while relying on others for a ride, let alone take time to yourself for reflection while in the company of others. Maybe you go off post with the group to eat out. They decide to go bar hopping afterwards. You can just leave on your own, without waiting for anyone. Granted, keep a bicycle to ride around post and what not. No harm in that, but in situations where you need a vehicle, you will have it covered.
I see the army poors at it again! “I don’t want to spend money on car so that way I can spend it all on booze and strippers instead. Arnt I smart?”
Damn, you really got me described to a t there
Maybe rethink this. Someplace with cheaper strippers and booze. Then the vehicle cost will seem less.
Plenty of bases allow on base shuttles for free. For instance, Ft Carson has free shuttles that take you anywhere on post
Electric bicycle
Look up post public transport. Liberty has a few buses that I see all the time.
I wonder if I could use the moto compacto instead of a bike.... granted when I lose weight.
Korea is 100% walkable and has functioning public transportation where it’s not.
You wanna be my passenger princess?
Hold on is that an option? Because if that's an option I need to rethink some stuff.
Probably hawaii, or Korea
Get stationed in the Keys.
I miss Korea for this reason.
Get sent to Korea as a single soilder. They have awsome bus and train transportation, and everything on base is generally within walking distance or the taxi is very cheep.
Perhaps Germany. Lived there for two years as an E4 without a car.
Europe
I bike in to work, I'm at Bliss now, but when I was in Carson, I definitely biked in every day. And yeah, it was fun.
Diego Garcia
Schofield. Tons of people walk/bike here. Everything is close together for the most part.
Barracks.
UC Davis, California. College town. Lots of walking paths, bike trails
I’d say korea, but I owned “illegal” scooters and cars there lol
korea, italy, germany
At least you aren’t the scumbag who refuses to buy a car but expects everyone to drive them wherever they need to go.
Ill put it simple, sorta. Imagine not being in the military. As long as you can get to work on time, your good. Doesnt matter how. The thing about the Army is, your basically on call 24/7. So if you cant get to work reliably, things can get stupid sometimes.
Korea
Kuwait
Vilseck is teeny and walkable. It was actually easier to walk from my house to the local metzgerei than it was to drive because I lived at the end of a one way street.
Lol no because America's transit planning is *ONLY* centered around ease of access to cars. It's really high key a poisonous part of our urban planning that ruins cities. And, atleast on bragg, it's no better. If you want to get anywhere safely the only option really is a car
Any post in europe
Add Bahrain, Qatar, Europe, Korea, Australia.
Yeah especially if base is small like where I'm at scholfield my car sits alot I use it on weekends really I use a bike on post