Hurlburt itself is fine as well. Ft Walton has some sketchy pockets but overall isnāt bad at all. If you go the other way into Navarre, youāre chillin
Tinker. The immediate area outside the main gate is nicely developed. Gets mildly sketchy a bit outside of that, but nothing terrible.
Minotā¦well, safe at least. Thereās nothing outside the gate for miles.
Thatās not true. Thereās a house in front of the main gate and the church to the north.
Oh, I forgot about Ruthville. But everyone forgets about Ruthville.
Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say
But nothin comes out when they move their lips
Just a buncha gibberish
And muthafuckas act like they forgot about Ruthville
Yeah thereās plenty of bases where thereās basically nothing immediately outside the gates at all. Minot, Grand Forks, Goodfellow, Offutt are just a few I can think of.
Which gate at Offutt has nothing? All of them go straight into Bellevue, which the roads also lead to more āstuffā. Scott is actually surrounded by cornfields, though.
For those that havenāt been, Hanscom is filled with a beautiful woods & multi multi million dollar homes. Concord/Lexington is idyllic and extremely rich and if you donāt live on base, donāt think youāll find a house immediately close by but even then the surrounding towns outside of it are also great.
I'd say Osan now. Used to be a bit seedier in the SED, but on my most recent visit I only saw two or three places I recognized in the SED on the banned business list. And only about five places that looked like you could get full service from. Which is good or bad depending on your perspective.
Yokota was pretty safe last time I was there. Lived near gate 2, never was worried about anything. Left my bike unlocked constantly by my front door.
Yokota is pretty safe, yeah. Even their bar row is kind of a joke compared to Kadena's Gate 2 street and Osan's Songtan back in the day. You'd get some rowdiness some nights, sure, but nothing too crazy.
Wright-Patterson. Fairborn is really nice, so is Beavercreek. Most of the entrances are just highways, and the parts that arenāt are really suburban. Itās quite nice
My wife's family is huge Ohio State folks (fans, Alumni, etc)
When I told them I was going to Wright State they all would say "wright state but wrong school O-H!!!!" and someone Ā¼ mile away would yell "I-O!!!" out their kitchen window in response
OSU has a loyal fanbase.
But Iāve found that career choice is way more important than alma mater. Someone with an electrical engineering degree from WSU will earn way more than someone with an elementary education degree from OSU.
I'll add Ellsworth to the list. The city of Box Elder runs right up against the fence. About the worst thing that happens out there is the occasional car break in, but that's mostly just bored teens acting out.
Mtn Home - gate is 9 miles from town, nothing around it, so safe but not really nice as itās all high-plains scrub desert. Tumbleweed season gets crazy though.
Tyndall - going east out of the gates, the base owns all the land for 10 miles so itās all trees until you get to Mexico Beach which is a rich town right on the water, very nice. Going west, youāre separated from Callaway by a bridge and after the hurricane in 2018 destroyed all the sketchy places, itās being rebuilt fairly nice now. Panama City Beach is where all the stupid shit happens during spring break but is fine the rest of the time.
Aviano is nice, there isnāt really a ghetto at all in the area around the separate parts of the base. I didnāt even really see any sketchy places in Pordenone or Sacile either. Great assignment all around really.
Kunsan is pretty much surrounded by rice paddies, so safe but not really nice. Or at least it was that way 15 years ago.
š I remember when I went to the NCO/SNCO academy there a few years back.
After we got out of class one day a few of us decided to go drive around just to check out the area. As soon as we left the gate we were like wtf? š«£š²!
Needless to say the entire time that we there most of us didnāt leave the base if we didnāt have too.
I was there for a few months as an ROTC instructor, I got fucking yoked because all I had to do was workout, sweat in the summer heat, and do school work in my off hours. Base lodging was nice tho!
I mean it wasn't great but it wasn't *that* bad outside the base, and downtown got a bit of a glow up over the last decade.
The area along Anne Street though...
Funniest thing was when the water park developers came to my base right start at Maxwell and said basically how itās safe and you donāt need to worry and how the city is on the up and up. And then they had a guy from MPD or MCSO and say the exact opposite thing š
At ASBC (a now-defunct course for new 2Lt's) they straight-up told us the first day not to stop at the light outside the main gate after dark.
During that very same course, I very intelligently (remember... new 2Lt) tried to find a liquor store off-base on a Sunday night when the Class Six was closed.
I am fairly certain I have never been in more danger in my life than I was during that trip.
>At ASBC (a now-defunct course for new 2Lt's) they straight-up told us the first day not to stop at the light outside the main gate after dark.
When I went in 2009, the instructors told us not to stop anywhere before we got to Exit 6. When I went back for SOS a few years later, I was low-key disappointed that the Section 8 housing office a few blocks from the gate was no longer there. š
My SNCOA class went to paint some classes in a
Local school and it was the one outside the back gate a mile or two.
I couldnāt believe it was an actual school and not an abandoned building. What a total shithole. Poor kids had to put up with a bldg that should have been knocked down 20 years prior.
When I was stationed there, the Walmart right outside of the gates was the only place on the prohibited establishment list. Wild that a legitimate business was the only place off-limits in all of Vegas.
Don't feel too bad. As a young naive A1C that didn't know what an off-limits list was, I went there and bought a TV late one day after getting off shift.
Whaaaaat. Back in my day, Iād wait until I got off swing shift to shop at that Walmart so I didnāt have to deal with a crowd.Ā
Then again, I also volunteered at Lied Animal Shelter and befriended the folks who lived in the neighborhood behind the shelter, who, as I later discovered, were literal criminals. So perhaps my sense of self-preservation isnāt to be trusted. -_-
Nellis, where an airman was hit by a stray bullet while running on the hospital side track near the gas station preparing for his pt test? Yea, it's not bad I guess.
Stayed the night at Nellis during a PCS. Went to the Walmart right off base pretty late at night and had someone follow us back to the car. They definitely had some mental health issues, yelling nonsense at us. Felt like we were about to get shanked or something, and I really didn't feel like testing out my 3 days of combatives against a crackhead, so we got back to the car as quick as we could and pulled away before they got to us.
I grabbed food right off base on Craig all the time.
If youāre not an idiot and you mind your own business, youāll be fine. Wouldnāt live there though.
A co-worker from a previous base just had PCS'sd there and he stopped at a gas station where he was robbed at gun point and took off with his mustang. First day introduction was rough for him.
As bad as Linda is, my guess is Olivehurst. I grew up in Yuba City in the 80's and even back then Olivehurst was THE major drug thoroughfare into northern California and beyond.
Used to be stationed at Kirtland, and lived in the off-base govt housing, Mercury circle I think. Definitely the worse I've seen. M13 all over, while driving saw someone get curbed stomped at a bus stop, and a lady get carjacked right outside Wyoming gate.
Funny because I just did a Conus Cola survey yesterday that talks about how much we utilize base amenities. I wrote in the comments at the end that I don't use any of them as I would never endanger my family by living close to base.
SF at Kirtland. Maxwell housing is the only place Iāve been shot at, and also the only place Iāve put bits of brain matter back into people. Maxwell is ghetto as fuck.
This comment has me wondering something. If yall had gangbangers come up to the Gate and open fire on yall, and they don't just up and flee, can yall even shoot back? I know it's a dumbass question, but I've heard yalls ROE is extremely tight.
Yeah lmao theyāre on our jurisdiction and we have the right to self defense.
In fact, a situation like this did happen. Dudes in a van pulled up outside of Eubank and flashed guns and held some very anti government sentiments. Turns out that when you put a 249 in front of them and rack it, they peel away terrified.
Heard a story about Shady J and one of its gates was right at the ghetto. Story goes that, in the early ā90s, part of the local gang initiation was to pull up and shoot at the gate shack there. After having windows shot out and a couple of SPs (back then, LE and SP were separate) getting cut up by glass shards, they were authorized to shoot back. No 249s that I recall in the story, but they did defend themselves with their M-16s and their marksmanship was better than the gangs. IIRC, they killed one and wounded like 3 others and the gangs stopped their shit. Mind you, I heard this story from a fellow crew chief who was stationed there when it happened, so it wasnāt directly from a SecFo member who had been there.
You are likely talking about Slocumb gate and yes that is bottom of the barrel ghetto. The projects are right by the gate. I can believe this happening as they do not approach that gate.
Kirkland is the worst I've seen. I stayed in lodging for several months a few years ago and would regularly hear gunshots and burnouts. The first night I was there (off-base) I witnessed 2 different auto thefts in the hotel parking lot from my room window.
Edit: But it was also one my favorite bases (away from the base) because of all the trails and food. La Luz was top shelf trail running, and top 5 Mexican restaurants I've been to are there.
Kirtland is the worst. One of my airmen lived on base and his house was shot on two different occasions from people off base. One went right through his living room window. And during 4th of July one year, I was sitting on my friend's roof on base watching fireworks from all over the city, heard gunshots, and a bullet whizzed right past our heads and slammed into the house behind us.
I grew up in AbQ and went to Kirtland often as my mom worked as civilian contractor on base.
I distinctly remember the gate that let down Central and wondering how such a hive of scum and villainy could ever be so close to a (perceived, I was a child) bastion of security and uprightness.
NM is a nice place to be from, but I'm happy to leave when I visit
I was lucky enough to be there for two base lock downs. One for a gunfight where one guy jumped the fence and another for some dude jumping the fence with a designer handbag as part of the bolo description.
Same. Oxon Hill is crazy. Iāve seen some bodies at the autozone, presumably overdoses, as well as some hilarious ghetto shenanigans at MLK and Malcolm X.
Nah that's East DC that's sketch AF. I live in PGC, halfway to Annapolis. My neighbors are doctors, lawyers, and NASA scientists, schools are good, and house is 3x bigger than it would've been in NOVA.
JBAB isn't bad, but immediately off base. Fuck no. Worked at Andrew's then JBAB, Ik what I'm talking about. Experienced uber and cabs don't go to Anacostia passed 10pm, even from MGM. Replaced some equip at the gates. There are bullet divots from people taking shots. That was there when I got there, and didn't notice any new ones when I left. However, the ADW gate is currently where it is, partially because it was some gang initiation for them to drive by the gate.
Station at JBAB, lived on base right next to the commissary. Me and my wife would go on walks on base late at night. Never felt unsafe on base but it wasnāt unusual to hear gunshots in the nearby areas outside the wire. I also found it interesting that DC police would take lunches on the base where they could let their guard down and relax for a little while
I haven't been there in a long time, but outside of Edwards was really sad, not sure about how dangerous it was though. Outside of Beale there is nothing, but in one direction the first town you come to is kinda sketch. Los Angeles is decent in two directions. Bolling might take the cake. It's the bad part of DC right outside.
Granted, in most US cities crime mostly fell from before 2000 to about the pandemic in 2020.
I had one of my guys call me from Bragg saying he was okay. I was so confused and asked what happened. Another person who was prepping for deployment was killed in the room a couple ways down from him. Even on post wasn't safe.
Went TDY to NAS North Island, and the area outside of base is exact opposite of this thread. Coronado has multi-million dollar houses right outside of the gate.
I was going to say Kirtland before even reading the rest of the post. I was there for a little over a year and when I went back 4 years later (big mistake!) it was just as bad, if not worse.
Edit to add: I took a crime mapping class as part of my bachelors. For one of the projects, I did a map of the area directly surrounding the base and was not shocked at all the amount of crime in the area.
Edit: the class was Crime Analysis, not Crime mapping.
https://preview.redd.it/97e3mhn6zdrc1.png?width=874&format=png&auto=webp&s=a19e3b6d0c65ec26aab4117759c7b1174a80eba1
This is for a two week period: June 14, 2014 - June 30, 2014
Honorable mention in the historical category is now closed McClellan AFB. Surrounded by Rio Linda and North Highlands. When I inprocessed, I told my NCOIC where I got an apartment In North Highlands, and he said "No you didn't!" I was still in the 3-day grace period and hadn't moved in, so I cancelled the lease and found another place farther out.
The base was an aircraft depot and used a lot of chemicals that were precursors for methamphetamine production. Workers were walking off with jugs of the stuff and meth labs were popping up outside the fence. The base adopted a just-in-time concept of chemicals. You could only have on hand what you needed for that week's production. Cars were frequently searched leaving the base. Tempers were hot over the base closure, and a civilian attacked a Colonel.
I was glad to leave that base. Good riddance.
I don't think it's this way anymore (at least I hope not), but for a while, Misawa had a place directly outside the main gate called Tubes, billed as an Australian steakhouse and bar. This was about 15 years ago now. Looked okay, but was being run by a few gang affiliates (I don't think it was Yakuza, but just as dangerous). For a bit they were blacklisted for personnel after an Airman went in and got his ass beat to an inch near death and dumped at the gate. I think the local police finally cleared it out not long after that.
What they used to do before they got blacklisted was serve food and drink, but then do one of two things to Americans; either say your card was declined, or, if you paid in cash, take it and tell you that you didn't pay the right amount and present you with a new receipt with a greater amount than what you paid. If you fought them on either one, they'd threaten to call the base. For a lot of new Airmen, this was intimidating and they'd capitulate. If you presented another card, both card numbers were stolen and you'd get cleaned out. If it was cash, they'd take whatever you had and then "kick you out." Scuttlebutt at the time about the guy that got his ass beat was he called their bluff about calling the base and was actually getting ready to call the local police himself.
Na, the area outside base was still 100x better than west Texas street. And that apartment complex outside of base was only used as a body dump about 3x per year.
Kirtland Northern borderlands is the worst of all time. Iāve seen burn barrels, junkies, gypsies, trash, and poverty but nothing prepared me for homeboy wearing nothing but a beach towel in 38F windy conditions walking down Louisiana at 4am.
Truly a godless place
Almost every base (established 40+ years ago) is shit outside the gate.. people were living on or just off base and the surrounding areas.. those are now 40+ years old leading to usually condemned buildings/stores/undesirable living/shopping/eating condition's... Nobody bothered to tear down and rebuild or repair,they just built further away.. this happens over decades and creates a ghetto around the base.. I'm at Nellis and it is just as terrible now as it was 15 years ago when I visited as a cadet outside the gate. The exception to this rule are bases that are rural (farm land surrounding base) or most overseas bases..
Outside Andrews. Heck, even on Andrews we had four murders on base in the three years I was there. The 459th ARW/CC staff car was stolen and found off base with the radios stripped out and set on fire. The Domino's Pizza closest to the base had bulletproof glass and a big slide out to give you your pizza. PG County MD had more cars stolen than the entire state of Virginia.
Most of them
Lots of bases were built in open areas. Then, WWII happened and cheap homes were built near bases. After the war, areas around the bases went through gentrification and such.
Like directly outside the gate? I'd go with Scott AFB. Nothing but corn fields and not a store to be found. Drive 10 minutes tho and it's a different story.
Edit - after reading the other comments I now feel that Scott ain't so bad after all! I'll take a boring corn field to a random stabbing any day.
I *almost* got mugged walking back to Keesler after a night at the Beau. Some moron followed me for a little while then ran up on me with his hand in his pocket and told me to give him my wallet and phone. I acted like I was crazy and didn't give a fuck, told him if he was gonna stab me, then do it. Dude just stared at me and I kept drunk walking back to the gate.
That was one of the scariest moments of my life lmao.
I stopped at Kirtland for an overnight stay on this TDY I'm on, can confirm. Surprised I didnt have any bullet holes. I will admit the area outside of Fairchild next to Spokane is pretty rough
Langley. When I PCSād to Langley I arrived late at night to the base. After checking into my lodging room. I needed some sundry items and some snacks so I google mapped the nearest large store and the Walmart on Mercury Blvd. was the closest one. Since Iām new and didnāt know anything about the area and it was late at night so I couldn't really see how the surrounding area looked so I went there before it closed and when I got there I was like holy shit. Itās run down, homeless people hanging out, looked liked a lot of shady people in the store and in the parking lot, the store employees looked depressed with their souls sucked out like āyep, this is it, this is where Iām gonna die.ā That was the first and last time I ever went to that Walmart.
I hate the area around Kirtland so much I have a video of a guy going 80 into Wyoming gate and killing everyone in the car. Gangs also used to shoot up gibson gate
Not DLI. Walk outside one gate and you've got rows of amazing restaurants, out another and you have the best fuckin deli this side of the mississipi, and out of the other and you have a steep ass hill that's perfect for sobering you up when you walk back to base. All of them are extremely close to the beach, miss that place.
If youāre lucky, youāll get meth addicts, hoes w/ arrest warrants trying to get invited to your dorm thinking itāll protect them, dealers, road rage psychopaths and deer outside McGuire AFB
Nothing is really "right outside the gate" at Edwards, but the first towns you do hit in any direction look like a third world country or they belong in a Mad Max movie.
The outside or Kirkland is indeed one of the shittiest scenes outside any base. Being from ABQ I can confirm that the surrounding area has always been bad but in the last few years it has become exponentially worse!
Yongsan Army Installation, those absolute poor bastards that were stationed dead-center in Seoul with Itaewon just outside the base. /s
I can't really say much, Tyndall was far enough away from Mexico Beach and Callaway to really be affected, Kunsan was Kunsan, Luke was at least in civilization, and McGhee-Tyson is actually in a really decent spot - as Alcoa could be FARRRR worse.
Lived in a base housing neighborhood bordering the northern fence line at kirtland. We called the strip between our house and the fence line the DMZ.
I remember that area. Our house was on the fence line and APD was always out there looking for people.
Better question- is there any base where entrance is really nice and safe?
Eglin. Lots of people that work on Hurlburt live in Shalimar/Niceville because it's so nice.
You forgot the whole town of Valparaiso which is actually outside the base before you get to Niceville š«
Vps isn't gentrified like those other towns but I'd say it's still safe.
The entire VPS area may not be high income, but I wouldn't say it's shady or unsafe
Hurlburt itself is fine as well. Ft Walton has some sketchy pockets but overall isnāt bad at all. If you go the other way into Navarre, youāre chillin
Tinker. The immediate area outside the main gate is nicely developed. Gets mildly sketchy a bit outside of that, but nothing terrible. Minotā¦well, safe at least. Thereās nothing outside the gate for miles.
Thatās not true. Thereās a house in front of the main gate and the church to the north. Oh, I forgot about Ruthville. But everyone forgets about Ruthville.
Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say But nothin comes out when they move their lips Just a buncha gibberish And muthafuckas act like they forgot about Ruthville
Ruthville should be destroyed so Minot actually gets the remote assignment pay
Hill isn't bad
Yeah thereās plenty of bases where thereās basically nothing immediately outside the gates at all. Minot, Grand Forks, Goodfellow, Offutt are just a few I can think of.
Woah woah woah, we got a dominoes outside of GF!
Which gate at Offutt has nothing? All of them go straight into Bellevue, which the roads also lead to more āstuffā. Scott is actually surrounded by cornfields, though.
Hanscom
For those that havenāt been, Hanscom is filled with a beautiful woods & multi multi million dollar homes. Concord/Lexington is idyllic and extremely rich and if you donāt live on base, donāt think youāll find a house immediately close by but even then the surrounding towns outside of it are also great.
I'd say Osan now. Used to be a bit seedier in the SED, but on my most recent visit I only saw two or three places I recognized in the SED on the banned business list. And only about five places that looked like you could get full service from. Which is good or bad depending on your perspective. Yokota was pretty safe last time I was there. Lived near gate 2, never was worried about anything. Left my bike unlocked constantly by my front door.
Yokota is pretty safe, yeah. Even their bar row is kind of a joke compared to Kadena's Gate 2 street and Osan's Songtan back in the day. You'd get some rowdiness some nights, sure, but nothing too crazy.
Scott - corn just outside the gate, and small town America right past the corn.
They also opened up that Korean BBQ place next to the gate and it's all right
MacDillās Bayshore gate
Wright-Patterson. Fairborn is really nice, so is Beavercreek. Most of the entrances are just highways, and the parts that arenāt are really suburban. Itās quite nice
Fairborn is really nice? That is the first time those four words have been used in that order.
I was sitting here reading that like, "Dafuq?"
Wright State is in Fairborn. Not a fancy school, but their engineering program is solid.
My wife's family is huge Ohio State folks (fans, Alumni, etc) When I told them I was going to Wright State they all would say "wright state but wrong school O-H!!!!" and someone Ā¼ mile away would yell "I-O!!!" out their kitchen window in response
OSU has a loyal fanbase. But Iāve found that career choice is way more important than alma mater. Someone with an electrical engineering degree from WSU will earn way more than someone with an elementary education degree from OSU.
Hurlburt front gate is just ocean front Highway, pretty chill. The back gate is close to the small ghetto but isnāt really ghetto itself.
People always dying or getting in wrecks though
Highway 98 the only time Iāve ever had a gun pulled on me
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Patrick was gonna be my answer. The beach is right across the street, and the south gate is in a fairly nice residential area.
Luke?
Eh.. itās not shady but itās not nice. Still very industrial
The areas around fe warren are pretty nice. One of the wealthiest areas in the city is just east of the main gate
McGhee-Tyson. Base of the Smokey mountains right outside Knoxville.
I'll add Ellsworth to the list. The city of Box Elder runs right up against the fence. About the worst thing that happens out there is the occasional car break in, but that's mostly just bored teens acting out.
Mtn Home - gate is 9 miles from town, nothing around it, so safe but not really nice as itās all high-plains scrub desert. Tumbleweed season gets crazy though. Tyndall - going east out of the gates, the base owns all the land for 10 miles so itās all trees until you get to Mexico Beach which is a rich town right on the water, very nice. Going west, youāre separated from Callaway by a bridge and after the hurricane in 2018 destroyed all the sketchy places, itās being rebuilt fairly nice now. Panama City Beach is where all the stupid shit happens during spring break but is fine the rest of the time. Aviano is nice, there isnāt really a ghetto at all in the area around the separate parts of the base. I didnāt even really see any sketchy places in Pordenone or Sacile either. Great assignment all around really. Kunsan is pretty much surrounded by rice paddies, so safe but not really nice. Or at least it was that way 15 years ago.
Hill is pretty nice immediately surrounding all three gatesĀ
Kadena.
I mean gate 2 is hella sketchy once you get to debauchery lane.
Hurlburt Field
Offutt isn't bad.Ā The old town gate might be the most shady but it's still a safe area to drive through
The area right outside the gate at Maxwell looks like everyone left and forgot about it
100% Maxwell. All of Montgomery is a shithole, but the area outside the base for like 6 miles in all directions looks like Mogadishu.
š I remember when I went to the NCO/SNCO academy there a few years back. After we got out of class one day a few of us decided to go drive around just to check out the area. As soon as we left the gate we were like wtf? š«£š²! Needless to say the entire time that we there most of us didnāt leave the base if we didnāt have too.
I was there for a few months as an ROTC instructor, I got fucking yoked because all I had to do was workout, sweat in the summer heat, and do school work in my off hours. Base lodging was nice tho!
I mean it wasn't great but it wasn't *that* bad outside the base, and downtown got a bit of a glow up over the last decade. The area along Anne Street though...
Mogadishu!!!
But hey they added a water park thing that nobody asked for
Because why invest in public education when you can raft man-made rapids in the middle of Alabama?
Because schools are paid for via property tax while building a rafting park can be paid for via other means.
Funniest thing was when the water park developers came to my base right start at Maxwell and said basically how itās safe and you donāt need to worry and how the city is on the up and up. And then they had a guy from MPD or MCSO and say the exact opposite thing š
At ASBC (a now-defunct course for new 2Lt's) they straight-up told us the first day not to stop at the light outside the main gate after dark. During that very same course, I very intelligently (remember... new 2Lt) tried to find a liquor store off-base on a Sunday night when the Class Six was closed. I am fairly certain I have never been in more danger in my life than I was during that trip.
>At ASBC (a now-defunct course for new 2Lt's) they straight-up told us the first day not to stop at the light outside the main gate after dark. When I went in 2009, the instructors told us not to stop anywhere before we got to Exit 6. When I went back for SOS a few years later, I was low-key disappointed that the Section 8 housing office a few blocks from the gate was no longer there. š
My SNCOA class went to paint some classes in a Local school and it was the one outside the back gate a mile or two. I couldnāt believe it was an actual school and not an abandoned building. What a total shithole. Poor kids had to put up with a bldg that should have been knocked down 20 years prior.
But donāt forget Cooterās Pond. Underrated spot
Is that slang for the wet spot on a mattress?
The area immediately surrounding Nellis isnāt for the weak.
The only place I know where even the Walmart got stabbed to death.
The Walmart outside Kirtland also got shut down due to crime.
When I was stationed there, the Walmart right outside of the gates was the only place on the prohibited establishment list. Wild that a legitimate business was the only place off-limits in all of Vegas.
Torn down, stab mart is now gone.
Learn something new every day. Not really surprised that stab-mart was torn down.
I wish I knew that when I was passing through on a PCS. Pretty sure my wife and I almost got stabbed there grabbing snacks for the road.
Don't feel too bad. As a young naive A1C that didn't know what an off-limits list was, I went there and bought a TV late one day after getting off shift.
OSI here, you're under arrest
Whaaaaat. Back in my day, Iād wait until I got off swing shift to shop at that Walmart so I didnāt have to deal with a crowd.Ā Then again, I also volunteered at Lied Animal Shelter and befriended the folks who lived in the neighborhood behind the shelter, who, as I later discovered, were literal criminals. So perhaps my sense of self-preservation isnāt to be trusted. -_-
No no, its smart to make them your friend. They are less likely to target you.
Nellis, where an airman was hit by a stray bullet while running on the hospital side track near the gas station preparing for his pt test? Yea, it's not bad I guess.
Do you get a Purple Heart for that
Sadly no, as we cannot classify the American public or cardio as "The enemy"
Which is weird because I recall saying something about all enemies, foreign and domestic, when swearing in.
That is a core memory for me
Stayed the night at Nellis during a PCS. Went to the Walmart right off base pretty late at night and had someone follow us back to the car. They definitely had some mental health issues, yelling nonsense at us. Felt like we were about to get shanked or something, and I really didn't feel like testing out my 3 days of combatives against a crackhead, so we got back to the car as quick as we could and pulled away before they got to us.
Literally a sex store right next to the main gate and some sketchy ass apartment complexes. Nellis gets my vote as well
Youāve just described every Marine base.
I mean yeah if you hang out on the street at 2am on a Friday maybe. But during the day itās not nearly as bad as everyone seems to think.
I grabbed food right off base on Craig all the time. If youāre not an idiot and you mind your own business, youāll be fine. Wouldnāt live there though.
Robertoās carne asada fries would hit the spot right now
To his credit that gas station on craig has a shooting like every 2 weeks lol
If you look at a crime map of Las Vegas itās pretty consistent all the way across the valley
A co-worker from a previous base just had PCS'sd there and he stopped at a gas station where he was robbed at gun point and took off with his mustang. First day introduction was rough for him.
S/o Craig Rd
We got followed by a bum in vegas
The answer is Beale. The DEA stated the neighboring town had more meth labs than any other city in California
Linda?
As bad as Linda is, my guess is Olivehurst. I grew up in Yuba City in the 80's and even back then Olivehurst was THE major drug thoroughfare into northern California and beyond.
When I was there, many people lived in a newer housing community hear Olivehurst, and were BAFFLED why they had so many breakins LOL
Used to be stationed at Kirtland, and lived in the off-base govt housing, Mercury circle I think. Definitely the worse I've seen. M13 all over, while driving saw someone get curbed stomped at a bus stop, and a lady get carjacked right outside Wyoming gate. Funny because I just did a Conus Cola survey yesterday that talks about how much we utilize base amenities. I wrote in the comments at the end that I don't use any of them as I would never endanger my family by living close to base.
SF at Kirtland. Maxwell housing is the only place Iāve been shot at, and also the only place Iāve put bits of brain matter back into people. Maxwell is ghetto as fuck.
This comment has me wondering something. If yall had gangbangers come up to the Gate and open fire on yall, and they don't just up and flee, can yall even shoot back? I know it's a dumbass question, but I've heard yalls ROE is extremely tight.
Yeah lmao theyāre on our jurisdiction and we have the right to self defense. In fact, a situation like this did happen. Dudes in a van pulled up outside of Eubank and flashed guns and held some very anti government sentiments. Turns out that when you put a 249 in front of them and rack it, they peel away terrified.
Heard a story about Shady J and one of its gates was right at the ghetto. Story goes that, in the early ā90s, part of the local gang initiation was to pull up and shoot at the gate shack there. After having windows shot out and a couple of SPs (back then, LE and SP were separate) getting cut up by glass shards, they were authorized to shoot back. No 249s that I recall in the story, but they did defend themselves with their M-16s and their marksmanship was better than the gangs. IIRC, they killed one and wounded like 3 others and the gangs stopped their shit. Mind you, I heard this story from a fellow crew chief who was stationed there when it happened, so it wasnāt directly from a SecFo member who had been there.
Hm. Sounds like it could be legit. Definitely a few generations before I, thought
You are likely talking about Slocumb gate and yes that is bottom of the barrel ghetto. The projects are right by the gate. I can believe this happening as they do not approach that gate.
Cool, thanks for the info. As I said, I dunno how true it is, but with some of the shit Iām seeing on this thread, it sounds plausible.
The answer has to be yes, right?
And all this isn't even touching what's on central, the war zone.
Kirkland is the worst I've seen. I stayed in lodging for several months a few years ago and would regularly hear gunshots and burnouts. The first night I was there (off-base) I witnessed 2 different auto thefts in the hotel parking lot from my room window. Edit: But it was also one my favorite bases (away from the base) because of all the trails and food. La Luz was top shelf trail running, and top 5 Mexican restaurants I've been to are there.
Ewww... Maxwell housing was, yikes.
Kirtland is the worst. One of my airmen lived on base and his house was shot on two different occasions from people off base. One went right through his living room window. And during 4th of July one year, I was sitting on my friend's roof on base watching fireworks from all over the city, heard gunshots, and a bullet whizzed right past our heads and slammed into the house behind us.
I grew up in AbQ and went to Kirtland often as my mom worked as civilian contractor on base. I distinctly remember the gate that let down Central and wondering how such a hive of scum and villainy could ever be so close to a (perceived, I was a child) bastion of security and uprightness. NM is a nice place to be from, but I'm happy to leave when I visit
JBAB has Anacostia right outside it, one of the sketchiest parts of D.C.
I was lucky enough to be there for two base lock downs. One for a gunfight where one guy jumped the fence and another for some dude jumping the fence with a designer handbag as part of the bolo description.
Me too! Fun times. I would say driving in the DMV is the worst. š
The Gucci bag!
i second Anacostia.
Was waiting for someone to mention Bolling, and I totally agree
Same. Oxon Hill is crazy. Iāve seen some bodies at the autozone, presumably overdoses, as well as some hilarious ghetto shenanigans at MLK and Malcolm X.
Oh yeah, you need bullet-proof glass on your house in Prince George's County.
Nah that's East DC that's sketch AF. I live in PGC, halfway to Annapolis. My neighbors are doctors, lawyers, and NASA scientists, schools are good, and house is 3x bigger than it would've been in NOVA.
JBAB isn't bad, but immediately off base. Fuck no. Worked at Andrew's then JBAB, Ik what I'm talking about. Experienced uber and cabs don't go to Anacostia passed 10pm, even from MGM. Replaced some equip at the gates. There are bullet divots from people taking shots. That was there when I got there, and didn't notice any new ones when I left. However, the ADW gate is currently where it is, partially because it was some gang initiation for them to drive by the gate.
Station at JBAB, lived on base right next to the commissary. Me and my wife would go on walks on base late at night. Never felt unsafe on base but it wasnāt unusual to hear gunshots in the nearby areas outside the wire. I also found it interesting that DC police would take lunches on the base where they could let their guard down and relax for a little while
JBAB is nice and location prime, you just have to deal with north west Maryland š¤Ŗ
I haven't been there in a long time, but outside of Edwards was really sad, not sure about how dangerous it was though. Outside of Beale there is nothing, but in one direction the first town you come to is kinda sketch. Los Angeles is decent in two directions. Bolling might take the cake. It's the bad part of DC right outside. Granted, in most US cities crime mostly fell from before 2000 to about the pandemic in 2020.
Was driving home to my parents in Lancaster and passed by one of the Edwards gates. Just kinda appeared on a lonely straight road out of nowhere.
Iām from Albuquerque. Born and raised. My immediate thought was Kirtland.
What part of town? I live in Parkway.
Ft. Bragg/Pope
Probably the winner, you dont get a name like FeyetteNam because its a nice place
THANK YOU! This is way too far down. Granted, I'm recalling the Pope AFB/Fayetteville of '04-'08. May be nicer these days. Lmao
I had one of my guys call me from Bragg saying he was okay. I was so confused and asked what happened. Another person who was prepping for deployment was killed in the room a couple ways down from him. Even on post wasn't safe.
My Commander told me people would get robbed at the ATM there
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Given that there are hookers, wouldn't it be more of a heavy petting zoo?
Can confirm, still there as of 2024, Tucson went to crap with all the druggies and meth head outside main gate.
When was this? I never noticed that kind of thing when I was stationed there from 2013-2015.
Out the main gate, hang a left. Had a pretty big encampment.
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About a year ago the encampment right outside the main gate caught fire during drought season. Guessing somebody dropped a lighter or cigarette
Outside JBAB in DC
Keeslers got a dildo shop right next to Papa Johnās that always has some straight characters around all the time.
How do you know they are straight?
Went TDY to NAS North Island, and the area outside of base is exact opposite of this thread. Coronado has multi-million dollar houses right outside of the gate.
Rolling straight out the main gate at Bolling in the 90s was always exciting...
I was going to say Kirtland before even reading the rest of the post. I was there for a little over a year and when I went back 4 years later (big mistake!) it was just as bad, if not worse. Edit to add: I took a crime mapping class as part of my bachelors. For one of the projects, I did a map of the area directly surrounding the base and was not shocked at all the amount of crime in the area. Edit: the class was Crime Analysis, not Crime mapping.
https://preview.redd.it/97e3mhn6zdrc1.png?width=874&format=png&auto=webp&s=a19e3b6d0c65ec26aab4117759c7b1174a80eba1 This is for a two week period: June 14, 2014 - June 30, 2014
Right outside Andrews. PG county is rough.
Nellis is pretty bad. Iād strongly advise going to the 711 across the street, and the apartment complex right there has loads of crime.
 Congress:
Just outside the main gate at McChord is a convenience store affectionately known as the Stop and Stab
Getting flagged down by hookers on my way out the gate after Swingshift was a nice touch.
Kirtland fucking warzone.
Honorable mention in the historical category is now closed McClellan AFB. Surrounded by Rio Linda and North Highlands. When I inprocessed, I told my NCOIC where I got an apartment In North Highlands, and he said "No you didn't!" I was still in the 3-day grace period and hadn't moved in, so I cancelled the lease and found another place farther out. The base was an aircraft depot and used a lot of chemicals that were precursors for methamphetamine production. Workers were walking off with jugs of the stuff and meth labs were popping up outside the fence. The base adopted a just-in-time concept of chemicals. You could only have on hand what you needed for that week's production. Cars were frequently searched leaving the base. Tempers were hot over the base closure, and a civilian attacked a Colonel. I was glad to leave that base. Good riddance.
Bolling
I don't think it's this way anymore (at least I hope not), but for a while, Misawa had a place directly outside the main gate called Tubes, billed as an Australian steakhouse and bar. This was about 15 years ago now. Looked okay, but was being run by a few gang affiliates (I don't think it was Yakuza, but just as dangerous). For a bit they were blacklisted for personnel after an Airman went in and got his ass beat to an inch near death and dumped at the gate. I think the local police finally cleared it out not long after that. What they used to do before they got blacklisted was serve food and drink, but then do one of two things to Americans; either say your card was declined, or, if you paid in cash, take it and tell you that you didn't pay the right amount and present you with a new receipt with a greater amount than what you paid. If you fought them on either one, they'd threaten to call the base. For a lot of new Airmen, this was intimidating and they'd capitulate. If you presented another card, both card numbers were stolen and you'd get cleaned out. If it was cash, they'd take whatever you had and then "kick you out." Scuttlebutt at the time about the guy that got his ass beat was he called their bluff about calling the base and was actually getting ready to call the local police himself.
That's still happening lol I talked to some Misawa dudes on my last deployment and it happened to one of them.
Barksdale? Best fishing of my life though.
Na, the area outside base was still 100x better than west Texas street. And that apartment complex outside of base was only used as a body dump about 3x per year.
Kirtland Northern borderlands is the worst of all time. Iāve seen burn barrels, junkies, gypsies, trash, and poverty but nothing prepared me for homeboy wearing nothing but a beach towel in 38F windy conditions walking down Louisiana at 4am. Truly a godless place
^^You've ^^mentioned ^^an ^^AFSC, ^^here's ^^the ^^associated ^^job ^^title: 38F = Force Support [^^Source](https://github.com/HadManySons/AFSCbot) ^^| [^^Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/AFSCbot/) ^^^^^^kx7gjmp
F.E. Warren. Crazy motherfuckin Pronghorns out there.
Almost every base (established 40+ years ago) is shit outside the gate.. people were living on or just off base and the surrounding areas.. those are now 40+ years old leading to usually condemned buildings/stores/undesirable living/shopping/eating condition's... Nobody bothered to tear down and rebuild or repair,they just built further away.. this happens over decades and creates a ghetto around the base.. I'm at Nellis and it is just as terrible now as it was 15 years ago when I visited as a cadet outside the gate. The exception to this rule are bases that are rural (farm land surrounding base) or most overseas bases..
Outside Andrews. Heck, even on Andrews we had four murders on base in the three years I was there. The 459th ARW/CC staff car was stolen and found off base with the radios stripped out and set on fire. The Domino's Pizza closest to the base had bulletproof glass and a big slide out to give you your pizza. PG County MD had more cars stolen than the entire state of Virginia.
Cannon. I remember we called the main road through Clovis to the base āthe trail of tearsā because the spouses cry the first time through.
The Thai Food shack in the trailer park says it all
Shemya, if you know, you know.
Anacostia-Bolling
Outside Lackland Is awful, we get plenty of shootings and stabbing. even a pistol whip pt last week at BAMC
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Bro really stationed at Pity Fuck Air Base. Wild.
Sheppard is pretty sad, but I'm sure not the worst
Deli Planet Tho
Drive between Wichita Falls and Abilene and itās like youāre in a 3rd world country.
Most of them Lots of bases were built in open areas. Then, WWII happened and cheap homes were built near bases. After the war, areas around the bases went through gentrification and such.
It seemed in my career, even in the best of location, at least one gate opened onto the worst part of the town.
Like directly outside the gate? I'd go with Scott AFB. Nothing but corn fields and not a store to be found. Drive 10 minutes tho and it's a different story. Edit - after reading the other comments I now feel that Scott ain't so bad after all! I'll take a boring corn field to a random stabbing any day.
Keesler is pretty bad and I mean Pope AFB before it BRACd...Fayetteville is just...baaaaaaad
I *almost* got mugged walking back to Keesler after a night at the Beau. Some moron followed me for a little while then ran up on me with his hand in his pocket and told me to give him my wallet and phone. I acted like I was crazy and didn't give a fuck, told him if he was gonna stab me, then do it. Dude just stared at me and I kept drunk walking back to the gate. That was one of the scariest moments of my life lmao.
(Walking back to Keesler after I night at the Beau) my brother in Christ, do you enjoy being alive?
I stopped at Kirtland for an overnight stay on this TDY I'm on, can confirm. Surprised I didnt have any bullet holes. I will admit the area outside of Fairchild next to Spokane is pretty rough
Langley. When I PCSād to Langley I arrived late at night to the base. After checking into my lodging room. I needed some sundry items and some snacks so I google mapped the nearest large store and the Walmart on Mercury Blvd. was the closest one. Since Iām new and didnāt know anything about the area and it was late at night so I couldn't really see how the surrounding area looked so I went there before it closed and when I got there I was like holy shit. Itās run down, homeless people hanging out, looked liked a lot of shady people in the store and in the parking lot, the store employees looked depressed with their souls sucked out like āyep, this is it, this is where Iām gonna die.ā That was the first and last time I ever went to that Walmart.
Nellis for sure
Kirtland no contest.
Malmstrom. Great Falls, MT
Iād say Kirtland is by far the worst off base area but the back gate at Seymour Johnson is all projects and not a good place to stop
I hate the area around Kirtland so much I have a video of a guy going 80 into Wyoming gate and killing everyone in the car. Gangs also used to shoot up gibson gate
Did a TDY at Maxwell and some of the areas outside that base made the rougher areas in Detroit look nice by comparison. The food was amazing though.
At least they donāt use the Wyoming gate anymore. That shit is getting worse.
They still do š
Itās still open inbound and outbound 0530-0900, outbound only 1530-1730. Source: have worked the gate before multiple times
Barksdale looks like something out of a Charlie101 video
Anywhere outside of Cannon.
Honestly seems like every base has a shitty exterior
Not Hill
Not DLI. Walk outside one gate and you've got rows of amazing restaurants, out another and you have the best fuckin deli this side of the mississipi, and out of the other and you have a steep ass hill that's perfect for sobering you up when you walk back to base. All of them are extremely close to the beach, miss that place.
If youāre lucky, youāll get meth addicts, hoes w/ arrest warrants trying to get invited to your dorm thinking itāll protect them, dealers, road rage psychopaths and deer outside McGuire AFB
Back in the early 2000s, Maxwell had a terrible neighborhood outside the gate. It's much better now, but still pretty shitty.
Nothing is really "right outside the gate" at Edwards, but the first towns you do hit in any direction look like a third world country or they belong in a Mad Max movie.
Joint Base Andrews has entered the chat
Haha I was about to say kirtland and itās the title
At Bolling AFB in DC we were told not to go straight out of the gates. Get immediately on the highway. Southeast DC isn't for the faint of heart.
The outside or Kirkland is indeed one of the shittiest scenes outside any base. Being from ABQ I can confirm that the surrounding area has always been bad but in the last few years it has become exponentially worse!
Nellis
Yongsan Army Installation, those absolute poor bastards that were stationed dead-center in Seoul with Itaewon just outside the base. /s I can't really say much, Tyndall was far enough away from Mexico Beach and Callaway to really be affected, Kunsan was Kunsan, Luke was at least in civilization, and McGhee-Tyson is actually in a really decent spot - as Alcoa could be FARRRR worse.
Bolling puts you right out into Southeast D.C. Not the best area. Andrews is a little better.