Pros and Cons to On post Housing (Fort Sam Houston)

[cuddlepuppy]

I am headed to SAMMC for the next 4 years. My family has never been on active duty (civilian deferred for my training).

What are the pros and cons of living on post in general?

Anyone have any insight to on post living at Fort Sam Houston?

Thank you.

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[colbgw02]

Rank and number of dependents?

Assuming, like most people in your situation, that you're an O-3 with a normal number of children (pretty much any number less than 5), then on post housing is really a non-starter.

First of all, the amount of on post housing available for company grade officers is extraordinarily small. There will almost certainly be at least a several month wait.

Secondly, the housing really isn't worth waiting for. The housing they offered me was only slightly larger than the tiny condos I lived in during medical school and residency. And most of the options involve a duplex or even a quad, so you're still sharing walls with your neighbors.

Lastly, SA has a low cost of living but is large enough to offer plenty of off post options. You won't have to exceed your BAH by too much in order to get something much nicer and larger than quarters. Considering its size, the traffic isn't horrible (people who think it is need to be reassigned to DC to get some perspective), so many people are willing to commute a decent distance to live in some of the nicer, more affordable areas.

I know of only one person who lives on post, and he's a senior NCO. His quarters are relatively new and probably a better deal than what he could get on the economy. I do not know a single officer who lives on post.

 

[Caverject]

I am headed to SAMMC for the next 4 years. My family has never been on active duty (civilian deferred for my training).

What are the pros and cons of living on post in general?

Anyone have any insight to on post living at Fort Sam Houston?

Thank you.

I managed to get on-post housing in 2008 as a brand new captain at Fort Sam and I loved it. I was in a 5 bedroom house for just my wife and I. We had kids while I was there so we "grew" into the house. The best perk about living on post is the minute commute to work.

The bad thing about living on post is if your not earning equity if you buy a house. Plenty of rental proporties available off post but all "safe" areas minus Alamo Heights are at least a 20 minute commute. I have absolutely zero regrets living on post...

 

[colbgw02]

I managed to get on-post housing in 2008 as a brand new captain at Fort Sam and I loved it. I was in a 5 bedroom house for just my wife and I. We had kids while I was there so we "grew" into the house. The best perk about living on post is the minute commute to work.

The bad thing about living on post is if your not earning equity if you buy a house. Plenty of rental proporties available off post but all "safe" areas minus Alamo Heights are at least a 20 minute commute. I have absolutely zero regrets living on post...

FSH housing was privatized in the middle of 2009, as you well know, but maybe the OP doesn't. The days of a childless captain and his wife getting a 5-bedroom home are long gone.

 

[burs0028]

I am renting a home in Northwood; a neighborhood just north of Fort Sam. Caverject's estimates on time to commute to SAMMC from Fort Sam and the surrounding neighborhoods are not reflective of my experiences. I would estimate my drive time is ~15min from my driveway to the north BAMC gate. There are a lot of apt complexes and houses closer than where I live in the area (Rittiman & Austin Hwy --don't bother looking east of Austin Hwy since that is a lower-income area than you're probably wanting.) As far as a 1 min commute from Fort Sam: BAMC is actually off the east end of Fort Sam--separated from the main base by a public railroad;, you have to leave the main base through a security checkpoint and then re-enter in the SAMMC area through a 2nd checkpoint--line included. I have driven through this area multiple times and while I don't actually live on base, there is no way that you could literally be a minute from work. With base speed limits of <25mph, going through the gate areas, etc you're realistically 5-10min away despite being "on post", at the soonest. Also, what the other posters stated about the difficulties of on-post housing assignments are currently are accurate. I looked in May 2012 and at O-3 with 5 years I qualified for a 1500 sq-ft 2 bed 2 bath with no garage; that same BAH$ off-base has me in a 3/2 with 2 car garage and a huge lot for my dog and daughter to enjoy. These factors coupled with the ridiculous wait-lists (considered lucky if you get off the list in >12-18months) makes living on-post for today's junior officers a waste of both time and money.

 

[Caverject]

FSH housing was privatized in the middle of 2009, as you well know, but maybe the OP doesn't. The days of a childless captain and his wife getting a 5-bedroom home are long gone.

Actually, it was privatized before I arrived in 2008. I've always dealt with Lincoln Military Housing. When I was put on the waiting list, I was told 6 to 12 months. At the time, I was going to OBC so I didn't move into a place yet. 2 weeks later I got a call from LMH about the house because no one else wanted it. It's all timing.

As far as the drive time I was talking about, I was talking about Live Oak, Schertz, Stone Oak areas. Northwood is a nice area too and honestly, I forgot about it!

No matter what you decide it depends on what you find valuable...

 

[cuddlepuppy]

Those are great insights, I appreciate them tremendously.

I am an 03 and will become an 04 in June. I start active duty at SAMMC in August.

It is me, my wife, and our 1 year old son.

If I hear everyone correctly, I will have to wait quite some time to get off of the wait
Iist and if I do get housing, it will be a smaller home than what I could afford with my BAH off base.

Any other cons to living on post though? My wife is convinced that our neighbors on post would be more welcoming than civilian neighbors and that she will have a network of friends from the beginning due to the shared bond of being in the military. Too idealistic or is that true.

There must be a reason why everyone of my future partners are SAMMC are telling me to not live on base. But they can't really give me a good reason why not too.

 

[Caverject]

.

Any other cons to living on post though? My wife is convinced that our neighbors on post would be more welcoming than civilian neighbors and that she will have a network of friends from the beginning due to the shared bond of being in the military. Too idealistic or is that true.

It's idealistic. During my 4 years, we got to know 2 neighbors and that was it. Everyone is doing their own thing in the neighborhoods. It's not like Fort Hood or Bliss where everyone is effected by division movement. I certainly wouldn't choose to live on post at Fort Sam for the military neighbors!

 

[colbgw02]

Any other cons to living on post though? My wife is convinced that our neighbors on post would be more welcoming than civilian neighbors and that she will have a network of friends from the beginning due to the shared bond of being in the military. Too idealistic or is that true.

There must be a reason why everyone of my future partners are SAMMC are telling me to not live on base. But they can't really give me a good reason why not too.

One of San Antonio's nicknames isn't Military City USA for no reason. Military, former military, and DoD civilians are everywhere. It's also a friendly place in general, so there's no reason to think that your off-post neighbors won't be just as welcoming as on-post ones would be. I've lived in places where the local population isn't very military-friendly, and believe me, San Antonio's not like that.

Besides the measurables, I've always avoided living on-post because of wanting to avoid Army culture, for lack of a better term. I grew up in Army quarters, so I feel like I'm well-versed in what it's like, and it's just not an experience I wanted to repeat as an adult. For one, my wife had zero military experience before meeting me, so I was concerned because there can be an element of culture shock. Do a Amazon.com search for all of the books about being a military spouse and you'll get a sense of what I'm talking about. If you've never been on active duty before, it's another factor to consider.

That said, Caverject is correct; FSH isn't an operational post in the same way that Hood is, for example. And the medical corps remains largely immune from the expectations that the rest of the Army places on families (wives, in particular).

 

[Doctor Bob]

I moved here in August and looked at on-base housing. I got the same "maybe in 6 months" spiel. So we ended up buying a house out in the community. My BAH covers my mortgage payment with ~$500 left over. Everyone in my neighborhood is either active duty or retired military (we bought a house between SAMMC and Randolph AFB). My commute is 15 minutes regardless of time of day and the road I take is a straight shot to the hospital.

So why not live on base. Well... I guess there really isn't any strong reason not to, but for many people (us included), the reasons to live on base became irrelevant as we could find all the same benefits off base. Then it became a matter of convenience; we could find a place we wanted to live rather than be assigned to something that might not be ideal for us, and we could move in right away rather than having to wait.