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FT WAINWRIGHT
Your Name (if you would like it to appear): Holly McTeer
Base Name: Fort Wainwright
Base Location: Alaska
How long have you been here? (give years please, ex. 2003-present) November 18,2006-present
What is housing like? On-post? (waiting list, conditions, etc.) Off-post? Any areas to stay away from? Average price to rent or buy? Housing seems pretty nice. The waiting list is long and the expected wait is from 6 months up to 12 months. They are renovating the old housing and building new housing. From what I hear and can see, housing is nice. There don't really seem to be bad areas of town. North Pole has only well water which is gross for the common city girl, but you get used to it (especially if you know it is temporary and you will eventually get city water on-post). The average price to rent is about $1,000 for a two bedroom. A 3 bedroom 2 bath house can go for around $250,000 and not always look very nice.
Rate the PX & Commissary. The PX is pretty nice. Not the biggest that I have seen, but it is enough to satisfy your shopping needs. The commissary is really nice.
Activities on base? There is so much to do. There is the Birch Hill ski and snowboard hill, where children 5 and up can ski, snowboard and ride snowtubes. They have an Ice Rink in the fitness center. The Fitness Center is filled with a basketball gym, racquetball courts, weight-lifting equipment, treadmills etc. It even has 2 stand-up tanning booths. Everything in the fitness center looks new and it is really nice. There are all sorts of year round activities for kids and adults. There are even dog sledding seminars for the kids and ice fishing lessons for adults. Another great thing is the Last Frontier Community Center, which has a play area that is awesome for the kids. The play area is an indoor park with tubes and a slide. There is a puppet area, and flat-screens on the wall for kids to play playstation2. There is also another room with more toys and a big blow-up bounce thing for the kids and workout equipment for adults, so you can workout and watch the kids play. It is really nice.
Active Spouses Club? Not aware of one. There is a new parent support group that holds playgroup on two mornings throughout the week at the Last Frontier Community Center. I haven't tried it, since the age limit is 6 weeks to 3 years, but it seems great for that new parent (my kids are 5 and 2, so the 5 year old wouldn't fit)
Things to do in area? There is a big movie theatre with 16 screens. Also a place called Pioneer Park that I hear is really good in the summer. I guess it has train rides and boat rides or something, not really sure. I also heard that there is going to be a new park somewhere in town with ice slides and ice sculptures, so I will have to check that out. Also, for the shopping-lover, there is a store called Fred Meyers that has almost everything you could want from clothing to jewelry to food to furniture and they have a nice free childcare area in the front of the store. Nice for those times when you want to shop in peace. (the childcare is really nice, they are organized and have wristbands on you and your child - the age group is 2 to about 5 and it is open between 11am and 7pm.) We have also enjoyed driving down Holmes road (which is off the back gate) and looking for moose, which is exciting because you can't find moose just anywhere. :) Also, visit Santa Clause's house in North Pole.
School System? Our son goes to Badger Road Elementary and we are not impressed. Arctic light elementary is the school on post and I tried to get him in there, but they were too full to accept someone out of the school zone. I was so impressed by everyone I met at Arctic Light, so I can't wait until we live on post and they have to accept him into the school.
Any colleges in area? University of Alaska-fairbanks.
Jobs? (on post and off) I have seen help wanted signs everywhere. On-post it seems that they are always hiring at the PX.
Favorite aspect of this base/surrounding city? The fact that there are other Army personnel around, which helps you feel at home. Also, the snow is beautiful. The Northern Lights are beautiful. It is just interesting living in such a different place. Knowing we will always have a white Christmas here :) (it also helps to know that Santa lives down the street)
Least favorite aspect? Being so far away from family and friends. And it is really, really cold at times.
Local websites? (base, chamber, newspaper, schools, etc.) Fort Wainwright home page: http://www.wainwright.army.mil/sites/local/ Fort Wainwright MWR home page: Any other tips? Get an L.L. Bean credit card-they give free shipping and handling when you pay with your credit card, and you are going to need lots of warm clothing. I recommend the coats that withstand up to -55F. Also, keep a lighter on hand in case you can't get your key in the door on a cold night, use your lighter to warm your key. There is so much available on post for families. Even single soldiers have the BOSS program. This is our first duty station, so I am not used to the Army life and how other places are, but Ft.Wainwright really cares about their soldiers. So far, this has been a great place to live.
You can email me at hollmct@regent.edu if you have any questions! |
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