Greetings folks, I have been at my current assignment for a while now and am hot for orders out of here. I ran into a friend that works in the (formerly) MPF and she said she saw my name and that I was going to Altus AFB. I'm currently at Sheppard and I know Altus isn't far away at all.
Have any of you been there? I'm a family guy so is it a good place to raise a family (for a few years at least)? What is your opinion?
I left there in '92 and have heard that it's grown quite a bit since. Supposedly they have a Burger King now.
It's a great place for outdoors activities. Lots of open spaces, some nearby mountains, a lake, beautiful thunderstorms. High school football is/was huge.
For shopping and dining you might well be doing some driving, either to Lawton (about 1 to 1.5 hours away) or right back to Wichita Falls (about 1.5 to 2 hours away).
Just checking some websites real quick, no Chili's or Olive Garden, but they do have an Applebee's.
Of course when it comes to shopping, you do have alot of online options now that weren't around when I was there.
Like every assignment, it's what you make of it. Every location has positive aspects; you just have to take advantage of them.
I've never been to Altus, but one of my best friends when I was at Sheppard (early to mid '70s) had been stationed at Altus, and he traveled back there on weekends until he could get his family moved.
BUT--that entire area (Texoma, West Texas) takes a little getting used to. I spent almost five years at Sheppard as an instructor, and spent a good while looking for something "good" to do. Well, the "good" stuff is all around you. There are rodeos where the cowboys are from the immediate area, and you're sitting on bleachers. There are rattlesnake roundups where you can see more rattlesnakes than you've ever seen before, piled up knee-deep around the periphery of a show pen. You can get yourself a rattlesnake sandwich (really does taste a lot like chicken).
The same guidelines apply to the old family guys as to the young bucks: get off base, and get yourself involved in the local communities. There's a lot of things happening, you just have to look at things through a differnt pair of goggles.
Originally posted by TaxmanJim: I left there in '92 and have heard that it's grown quite a bit since. Supposedly they have a Burger King now.
It's a great place for outdoors activities. Lots of open spaces, some nearby mountains, a lake, beautiful thunderstorms. High school football is/was huge.
For shopping and dining you might well be doing some driving, either to Lawton (about 1 to 1.5 hours away) or right back to Wichita Falls (about 1.5 to 2 hours away).
Just checking some websites real quick, no Chili's or Olive Garden, but they do have an Applebee's.
Of course when it comes to shopping, you do have alot of online options now that weren't around when I was there.
Like every assignment, it's what you make of it. Every location has positive aspects; you just have to take advantage of them.
Good luck!
Good post. I think you pretty much nailed the positive aspects there.
I was at Altus in '96 for -141 LM initial qual. I do remember driving south to buy beer, and a trip or two to Lawton just to get out of Altus for a weekend.
I remember flying over Altus. I also remember saying to my co-, do we have enough gas for Sheppard or Tinker?
Just kidding! You can make the best of any place. I remember someone telling me you can get great hops from Altus and I do recall my last boss saying AF was spending money there to improve the facilities.
So just like those who hate words of Minot or Cannon, each has the pluses and minuses.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Reach6,
I was there from May 06 to Sep 06. Not much to do there. The theatre looks like some kind of barn silo on it's side. Went there to watch one movie and ended up listening to three others. It is really not a bad area. My wife and I traveled to Witchita Falls and Lawton a lot to do more stuff and have a better choice of Resturaunts, but not a bad drive. Good for family life and all. Enjoy it.
Since you are not far away, see if you can take a trip up there. You may even get to meet the people you will be working with and see where you will be living.
About 2 weeks ago the wife and I (and kids) did go up there to look around. It was a Saturday so the base was mostly empty. The BX is way smaller than the one at Sheppard but I rarely shop at the BX anyways. Altus has a Wal Mart so I am sure to be a frequent shopper there. The Commissary is small but well stocked so variety of food won’t be an issue. I did see where my squadron will be (CE) and it’s a newer looking building so that might be good. The base looked pretty nice all and all. We drove around and looked at houses for sale and saw a few good ones. It seems the area offers either old houses on septic tanks or newer houses on city water/sewer. I did some internet research and found that the city is in a -9% growth period right now. I wanted to buy a house (1st time home buyer BTW) and there are some nice choices out there but the area seems tied to the base hard core. It looks like I’d have a hard time selling it when the time comes. Many of the houses we viewed out there have been on the market for months already if that says anything. I have a student here at Sheppard that was stationed there before and he said the housing market sucks and (at least for that base) it is better to live on base then buy because of the poor market. I don’t like the idea of living on base and having all my BAH going to some contractor but I also don’t look forward to having to pay two mortgages. It’s a toss up right now. As for things to do, I discovered how to get into that when I got to Sheppard. I’m actually going to miss this place when I leave. Now that I have kids I want to have them experience all there is in a given area. I’ve heard about the rattle snake round ups before and I think my son would love it (he’s 7 years old). I also have him do Boy Scouts so hopefully there is a Troop nearby. I wasn’t raised to be an “outdoors guy” but I am willing to learn and look forward to learning how to be that guy. From what I have read, heard and learned about Altus the situation seems very similar to my first base, Maxwell, before they went contract. I learned much there and had many good leaders and experiences. Hopefully when I get there I can bring that sense of the shop as a family if it doesn’t already exist. Thank you all for you insight. • I did laugh about the “do we have enough gas to get to Sheppard or Tinker comment BTW”
I was stationed at Altus from 1996-1998. I was distraught when I found out I was going there. I went there straight out of tech school and I still remember all the crap my instructors gave me! That said, once I finally got there, I was pleasantly surprised. You will find pretty much all the facilities on base to be top notch. The BX is (or at least was back then) a bit on the small side but anything they don't have in store they could get for you on request. What I would suggest is to get involved with the community. It IS a military community in Altus. Off base, the civilian population either works on base, at Wal Mart or at the meat packing plant. The rodeo is a not to be missed event along with the Mangum Rattlesnake Roundup. Speaking of Mangum (an the other outlying "communities"... watch your speed. The local police are VERY strict with traffic laws and there is ZERO tolerance for DWI. They are VERY VERY strict!
I saw a show on the Discovery channel about the rattle snake round ups, didn't know they were in that area of Oklahoma. I think I'll check it out. I think I'll bring my son to the rodeos as well, he'll like that kind of stuff. As for the police and their speed zones I know how they roll. I have a cousin that is a deputy and he told me about how when the local economy (tax revenue) is low police write more tickets and less warnings to keep the city/town funds ups. I'll remind my wife to watch her lead foot.
Me and my wife our currently stationed at Altus. We've been here for 3 and half years. To be honest I would prefer Shepard over Altus but that's just me. If you need to know anything else about the base just let me know.
What does the housing (private) market look like right now? Are people that are leaving able to sell their houses in a reasonable timeframe? Any shady agents to worry about?
Originally posted by BadBender: What does the housing (private) market look like right now? Are people that are leaving able to sell their houses in a reasonable timeframe? Any shady agents to worry about?
The housing market here isn't to bad. They're building alot of new houses here. Latetly, I haven't heard anybody who have had a problem selling their house. A year or two ago it took awhile to sell for some. Haven't heard anything about any of the agents here.
When we went there we saw new homes being built along the North and North West side of town. They looked to be too much for the BAH I'll get there. I don't want to move on base as it has gone "contract". I already live in "contracted housing" and if not for the "grandfather clause" it would suck more then it already does. To live next to an E4 with my same size house yet I pay more to live here and it drives home the point it is better to own then to rent (in most cases). Thanks for your input BTW.
