What insight do you have on how work and life are in the 86th ESB at Fort Bliss?

Many people complain about the heat in El Paso, but it is a dry heat. That does sound corny, almost like saying, “the sun is hot, but it’s a dry heat.” It does get up to – and over – 100 degrees in the summertime, but the humidity is seldom much higher than 60%. That’s primarily because the summer is also “monsoon” season; other than that, humidity is 40% and lower. Winters are usually in the 40s, and occasionally get down to the 20s. The elevation is around 4000 feet, but that’s in the mountains; Ft Bliss and downtown El Paso are about 3200 feet. The city itself is about 30 miles wide (along the I-10 freeway), and about 10 or so miles deep. We are on the Rio Grande with Juarez, Mexico to our south and New Mexico to our west and north.

Unfortunately, we are so far from other cities that we don’t have many places to go for weekend trips. I don’t know how the Single Soldier organization is on post now because of covid; they used to have bus trips to Dallas and LA. There are plenty of activities in El Paso, but you have to look for them. We have a LOT of history (over 400 years, including the first Thanksgiving in 1598); Ft Bliss is about 25 miles from the only jail that Billy the Kid ever broke INTO; his old stomping grounds are about 130 miles away. It is a heavily bi-culture city, with about 80% Mexican, as well as the usual military cultures. Many of them have cultural festivals throughout the year. There are several hiking clubs, as well as biking, running, and general nature, if you are so inclined. There is a free monthly paper called “El Paso Scene” that gives a lot of information about what is happening. You can pick one up at many stores, such as bookstores and Walgreens; you can also read it online at http://www.epscene.com/.

I was a “barracks rat” when I was first stationed here, and I didn’t enjoy my time. After I got out, I looked around and realized there is so much to do here that it is your own fault if you get bored.

Hope you like the heat as summer starts in April here and Ft. Bliss is around 4,000 feet above sea level so expect to be sucking air if you come from a near sea level installation. A new hospital will be opening sometime this year. If you like hiking then there are a lot of trails just outside of post in the Mountains. Be careful out in the field as there are critters like rattlesnakes and scorpions everywhere. In fact the rule of thumb is not to mess with the critters and definitely avoid the Oryx if you are in the field. If you like to hunt this is also a good place to be as the mountains are full of dear and mountain lions. There is a public gun range on post. As to what its like on Post I couldn't tell you as I haven't been on Post for a very long time.