Helpful link for what to expect during course training:
This is an outline that my husband found online before going to Ft Lee, VA Phase 1 training. He said it is pretty accurate and gave him a good perspective of what to expect during the course of Phase 2 training. http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/80019858/m/4080079452001/p/1. I hope you find this to be useful before and during the course.
Phase 1 training is about 2 months long. My husband started beginning of April and ended the beginning of June. He was able to call home every night but keep in mind (wives) don't keep him on the phone too long cause he's probably going to be mentally overloaded and stressed and will need all the sleep he can get for the tests that they have so often.
Common questions re-guarding the move:
When should I move to FL? Before, during or after my husband's Phase 1 training? When does my husband get orders to Eglin?
Like I said before, all the information I am giving is based on our experience. We are prior enlisted Army and my husband received orders to Eglin Air Force Base at the same time he received orders to Fort Lee. So we were already in the clear to move whenever we wanted. So it really depends on how you want to do the move and what branch you are in. One thing to keep in mind, that will affect your decision is, in all honesty, your husband may NOT pass Phase 1. This is an important reality to remember when making these big decisions. So if you decide to move before or during his Phase 1 training, you may get to Florida and then have to move again to wherever your branch decides to send your family, if he does not pass.
This is how we did the move:
My husband is prior service (which can also make our experience different than yours) and we were stationed at Ft Bliss, Texas. He left for Phase 1 training at the beginning of April, I stayed in Texas till the beginning of May and then had the Army movers pack our stuff and then hit the road to Florida with my 2 year old daughter and my sister, who was awesome enough to fly from Alaska and help me with the transition! We were able to make a little vacation out of the road trip and visit with family along the way. We got to Florida the end of May and then moved into an apartment. I found our apartment through word of mouth on the "EOD School Wives at Eglin" facebook page. We decided to live in Niceville and I'm so happy we made that choice! I will tell you why a little later in the post. It was a big gamble to move before my husband was finished with Phase 1 but I had faith that he would pass. I figured it would be better for him to come "home" instead of being stressed out about getting his wife and daughter moved into a place before he started Phase 2. There is just so much stress during all the course training and I really wanted to eliminate any stress that I could. Luckily, for us, it worked out great cause he passed Phase 1 and then he was still able to get time off to help us settle in but since I already had everything settled he was able to just relax and recoup before Phase 2 started.
Is training on Eglin?
No. Training is done at the school house off of Range Road in Bluewater Bay (which is really still considered to be Niceville). Army PT is done on Eglin, Monday-Thursday. Not every branch has PT after school though, so keep that in mind.
How far away is Eglin from the EOD school?
The distance between Eglin, starting at the Valparaiso gate, to the school house is about 15 minutes.
Where is the best place to live? How far away is each town from the school house?
Before arriving, I was really confused about how close everything was to each other. I kept hearing about different locations to live in like: Fort Walton, Eglin, Shalimar, Niceville, Destin, Crestview, and Bluewater Bay. Here is a little visual map starting from Eglin to Bluewater Bay (it's one straight road): coming out of the Eglin Valparaiso gate you enter straight into Valparaiso (aka Val-P) on Hwy 20 (aka John Sims Pkwy), driving through Val-P only takes about 5 mins, then you enter into Niceville, drive straight about 10 mins then you will enter Bluewater Bay (Range Road is the first road on the left once entering into BWB), drive about another 5 mins, take left on Hwy 293, drive 2 mins, go over Mid-Bay Bridge, drive about 5 mins and then you will be in Destin (the beach)! So there's a little drive time break down. These 5 locations are pretty close to each other. Here is a link for google map so you can actually see what I'm talking about. HWY 20/John Sims PKWY. Shalimar to school house takes about 20 mins. Fort Walton to school house takes about 25-30 mins. Crestview to school house takes about 25-30 mins. Keep in mind that the drive time estimates listed may differ depending on where your apt/house would be in that area.
In my opinion, the best place to live is Niceville or Bluewater Bay. This is because, both these places are so close to the school house. We lived in Niceville off of Redwood Ave and it only takes my husband 5 minutes to get to Range Road. He woke up at 4:30 every morning so the commute works out great because if we lived further he would have to wake up even earlier! The other plus, is that he was able to come home for a few minutes to change for PT since our apartment was on the way to Eglin. It's also not a far drive to the beach :)! Bluewater Bay, obviously, is the closest place to live but it can also be expensive. I have a friend who lives off of Bay Drive (the next road on the right, after Range Road) in the Royal Oaks apartments and her place is adorable and it only takes her husband a couple minutes to get to the school house.
It really comes down to how much you are willing to pay for rent and how far you are willing to drive. When renting, we kept in mind that Phase 2 training is only 10 months long, that's if he passes the course. It could also be shorter time period if he fails out or it could be longer, like if he has a fail/pass test. Either way, even if you're here for a year that's a short period of time. We decided that we would rather rent a cheap decent place to save money. Like I said, Niceville worked out great for us, it's a short commute to the school house, and our 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment was only $750, and $725 if we paid before the 1st.
Apartments/Houses to rent.
You can always apply for housing on base. Eglin AFB homepage. I don't have tons of information about on base housing since we didn't choose that route. If you would like to rent a house off base, a great resource is AHRN. I have a friend who found an amazing 3 bedroom house to rent in Niceville, by using AHRN. The following apartment suggestions are for people who want to live off base. There are a lot of apartments out there. These are just some I found while driving around the area.
Niceville:
1) College Courtyard Apartments: 850-609-6000. This is close to Northwest Florida State College.
2) Miranda Apartments: I didn't see a number posted outside the building but here's the address: 708-736 N Palm
3) College Manor Apartments: 850-678-2514. 700 N Palm.
4) College Park Condominium: 850-729-7888. 20 E College Road.
5) College Garden Apartments: 850-499-2513.
6) The Oaks Sales and Rental:
Located off of Partin Drive N. I really like the outside and location of these apartments and probably would have considered renting from them had I known. They are individually owned so I didn't see one specific number. Here is one realtor that was listed: Pamela, 562-987-2484. You can always google to search or if your in the area just drive down there. Take HWY 20, turn on Partin Drive N , go through Palm, and it will be on your right.
7) Redwood Apartments: 850-499-2513. Located off of Redwood Avenue. We live in these apartments. It's a small affordable apartment that works great for 10 months! I feel like the management is pretty easy going and nice. I don't think they have a website set up but if you want to see pics I can email them to you. These are apartments are also walking distance to Wal-Mart.
ValP:
1) Jean Lea Townhomes: 850-830-9800. These look adorable from the outside.
Bluewater Bay:
1) Royal Oaks Villa: 850-240-2683, 850-882-4546. Located off of Bay Drive. My friend lives in one of these apartments and they are adorble and have a great "home" feeling.
2) Cayo Grande at Bluewater Bay: 850-897-5667. 427 Calinda, Niceville, FL 32578.
Things to do in the surrounding areas:
Destin is really close depending on where you live and there is a bunch of fun things to do there! There is a toll bridge to get into Destin and it cost $3 each time you pass but you can get a car pass for cheap at I think either Wal-greens or CVS for like $5 and then you just put a set balance on there. We have one and it's great!
Fun things to do in Destin: Destin Track, Big Kahunas, Gulfarium, Destin Commons Mall, Silver Sands Outlet Mall, Harbor Walk Village (concerts, parades, fireworks, shopping, restaurants), Baytowne Wharf. Oh and how can I forget, the BEACH!!!! Here's a beach I really like, Henderson Beach, because it's close to the Mid Bay Bridge and there is also a little playground. This is another fun beach but it gets super crowded in the summer time, Okaloosa boardwalk. There is also a beach for military: Eglin Beach Park.
Niceville and Valparaiso also have a handful of fun things to do too. There is a dog park that is about 4 acres that my neighbor takes his dogs there all the time. Niceville Dog Park.
There is an amazing kids park in Niceville, Children's Park. My daughter loves it there! They also have a splash park in the park and it's really cute! I bet your kids will love it there too!
Also right next to the Niceville park is the Library. So you could take the kids to the park and then to the library! They have special reading times for different ages groups there and I hear it's great. I take my daughter to the Library reading times at the Valparaiso Library because they offer it 3 times a week whereas the other library is only like once a week.
Another fun thing for the kids is the Youth Center.
Turkey Creek is a fun place to go where you can take a stroll on the boardwalk or float the creek. Turkey Creek. My daughter always loved running up and down the boardwalk and seeing all the turtles.
You should check out some of the parks in the area too: ValP list of parks (my daughters favorite is Lincoln Park).
If you are here in October, you have to go to this! Boggy Bayou Mullet Festival. Great local food, concerts and venders.
Do you like to camp and fish? You should check out Blackwater River. We just went camping there a couple weeks ago (check out my previous blog) and we had a lot of fun! It's about 45 mins away from Niceville.
There are so many other things to do here, you just have to research and explore. But hopefully the list I gave will give you a jump start of fun things to do here and get you excited about coming to the beach!
Churches, CDC, MOPS:
There are also a bunch of great churches to pick from. It seriously feels like there is a church on every corner :). We go to First Baptist Church of Niceville. There is a lot of military that attend, they have a great children/teen program and it's right on the bay.Here are some of the ministries they offer (including ones of military). The church has a Child Development Center which is wonderful. My daughter attended the Wee School Toddler program and I loved the program and the teachers. They also have MOPS, which is for mothers of preschoolers(or younger). I have been going this last year and love it and I would say about 1/2 the people that go are military. There are actually two military wife instructors that attend there too. But there are lots of places that offer MOPS, here's the Main MOPS website. This church was a great pick for us!
PCS Orders:
My husband received his PCS orders during IEDs. We found that the officers got their orders sooner than the enlisted guys. We got orders to Ft Polk, LA. Yay....
We have also been stationed at Ft Wainwright, AK and Ft Bliss, TX. So if you happen to get any of those Posts, feel free to email me about any questions you may have about the area. I also have friends, at other stations, who would love to help you get info if you get these Army locations: Ft Lewis, WA; Ft Carson, CO; Ft Drum, NY; Ft Belvoir, VA; Ft Campbell, TN/KY; Ft Riley, KS; and Ft Benning, GA.
Helpful Contact info:
Nikoya Reiswig: Nikoya is the Commands Ombudsman and works to serve EOD families. If you have questions about anything then she is your go to gal, who will get you the answers you need. NAVSCOLEODombudsman@yahoo.com, Cell: (850) 499-6695
EOD FRG (Family Readiness Group): The FRG is a great way to get involved and meet other EOD wives in training. They collaborate to plan special events for families and soldiers. They can be contacted through email: NAVSCOLEODfrg@yahoo.com.
Eglin AFB really is a great place to be stationed. The key to having a good time at any station is to accept where you are at, explore, make the most of it, get involved and make an effort to meet friends, even if you're only stationed there for under a year!
Would you mind sending me an email I have a few questions for you!
ReplyDeleterkheadrick00@gmail.com
ReplyDelete