I am being assigned to Fort Huachuca later this year. What is family life like there? What could I expect from my time in Fort Huachuca?

I helped move the school house from Sevens to Huachuca. My family of five, and six when we left, loved it. There are so many outdoor opportunities for family activities. My, now adult children, still share memories from southern Arizona.

Do you know what position you are filling when you arrive? I just left there last summer after 2.5 years of 1SG time. I worked with IET students and at the NCOA so I can speak about the OPTEMPO of those two environments as well as the areas surrounding the post.

Ft Huachuca/ Sierra Vista AZ- the town and the Fort are very dependent on each other.
The town is a mid size town of about 35k+ not including the Fort. The town does have most of everything but smaller, Small mall, Walmart, target, kmart. 3 off base food stores (Fry's, Food City, Safeway) home depot and lowes. Lots of parks (veterans memorial park center of town has something going every weekend from April to October) Outdoorsie- Kartchner Caverns, Ramsey Canyon, San Padro riparian area.
The Ft Huachuca is at the base of the Huachuca mountains (elv 5500+ ft) SV is 4200 to 4800 ft (with that being said PT is a lil tuff so get a good PT test before you get here).
Animals- We got them (mountain) Lions, Bears, Deer, havalina's (wild boars) these will be seen on base but wont be a problem. Coyotes, road runners in town and tumble weeds. Yes it is the west but only semi wild.
Tucson 1 hour, Tombstone ($$$) 45 min, Bisby (copper tours antiques, art) 40 min
Back to the Base- mid size commissary, mid size PX, Large gym, outdoor pool, (indoor pool was under repair last I heard) 2 C6/ gas stations, full serve uniform store and 1 C6 is a troop store. theatre (multiplex also at mall) bowling alley, art/crafts......basically a mid size student base. Fort also home to DHS/CBP (border patrol). North border of post is Libby army airfield/ Sierra Vista Airport. Base is an open post with ID check (CaC or State/ Gov ID) Fire arms must be registered for on base (NO STUDENT FIREARMS)
Community- Mixed military/ military retired/ snow bird........ plenty of sports on post and off for the kids. Education- Cochise Community college and ASU off post. Education office has them also and many more. Services- Full time fire dept for SV, Law enforcement by SV pd AND Cochise county sheriff dept . NO 7-11, Rite Aid, AM/PM, Dunkin Dohnuts. We do have Giant, velairo, circle k, .........
It boils down to a quiet cowboy hat and boots town, its Arizona so some like to take a gun to Walmart (so what) with plenty to do, Oh did I mention its ARIZONA, you'll need a winter coat in winter (mid 20s) an umbrella in your car (May to September for monsoons) 90's in summer but itsa dry heat......

I'm a DA Civ currently assigned to B Co, 309th MI and work with quite a few of our PLT SGT's here when they rotate through the course to instruct. If you ever swing by the Mike Course, stop in and say "Hi"! We hope to see you around and congrats on your assignment here!

Fort Huachuca was my first assignment after AIT. The program I was assigned to was dissolved before I arrived so I wound up doing 'make work' tasks until I could be reassigned. For the six months or so that I was there I enjoyed my stay so much that I would even consider moving to the area someday. The history of the area alone is a draw and the climate is much more livable than the crazy New England weather I grew up with. Sierra Vista has everything one needs. All in all I would say Ft. Huachuca is a great place to be!

I was stationed here at Fort Hauchuca back in 2010 as a Squad Leader at the WTU that isn't here anymore and myWife and I are still here. There is plenty of history around here. Tombstone (gun fight at the OK corral is re-enacted daily) Bisbee ( cooper mining, Queens Cooper mine is open for tours) numerous new homes, new community center, post has gone green, solar, water reclamation. Sierra Vista is an Army town/Retirement community. Roughly any one living here is or has been on active duty at one time or had something to do with one of the Branches of service. Veterans park has skateboard/BMX RAMP and Trick course, Indoor pool w/ slide plus Tucson is only 90 minutes away.

I was stationed and lived at Ft Huachuca/Sierra Vista about 13 years at various times throughout my career (most recently 2006-2008, so it has been a few years).

Sierra Vista is a relatively small city, about 40,000 people including the base. It is very dependent on the base, and many of the people are vets, retirees, and their family members so they are very military-friendly.

That means the schools (if you live off-post or if you have middle- or high-school age children) are good about integrating new military children. There is a VERY robust sports program for youth (in addition to school sports they have great little league and soccer, junior rodeo to some degree, maybe others sports as well.)

There are other small towns with cool quirky things to see and do nearby (Bisbee, Tombstone, Sonoita, were my favorites) and Mexico is 15 miles south, but a 45 minute drive. If you want the big city - Tucson (75 miles) and Phoenix (150 miles) are an easy day trip. You will want to be sure to see the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and the Meteorite Crater, the Red Rocks at Sedona, the Painted Desert, and the Anasazi ruins (the Homolovi Ruins are right there in Winslow) while you are there.

If you like to hike, hunt, fish, or just get out in nature, you are going to LOVE this tour of duty! While the landscape may seem barren at first, the high desert is full of life and the green is just a different shade. ;-) A trip to the desert museum in Sonora near Phoenix will help you understand the flora and fauna and feel more at home in there. There are many canyons, trails, and recreation areas right on the post as well as nearby. A word of caution, make sure you let someone know before you leave where you plan to go and when you plan to return, then check in when you get back. People have gotten lost, trapped, or stranded in the canyons. (Usually falls by inexperienced climbers or people going off trails.) And if you just say "I'm going hiking in the canyons" it does no good, if you ask someone to point to where they would start looking every person you ask would point a different direction. Every canyon has a name, you will need a map so you can learn them and be more specific if you want to be safe and proactive, and do a proper risk assessment.

I hope you enjoy your time there as much as my family and I did! You will have long hours at work, I am sure, but you couldn't do it in a more beautiful location. And if your Soldiers grouse about land nav, remind them they have it lucky. They can sight on mountains, which don't move. In Georgia and North Carolina they have to sight on trees, which jump around all over the place. ;-)

I love the time I spent at Ft Huachuca, There my not be much to do in Sierra Vista but there is a lot of family time to go other places. You only about 8 hours from the Grand Canyon. I think you will enjoy it, well at least I did.

I was there from 2006 - 2008 but some of that time was spent in Iraq. Ft We-got-cha, was an interesting post. Sierra Vista is an interesting little town. There wasn't much to do around the town but Tombstone was cool and of course you could travel to larger cities in 45 - 60 minutes. Be ready for AIT Students to be all over the place. I remember having to call their CQ a few times after running into AIT Students downtown in uniform acting the fool. It was also interesting to go through the gates and see illegals lined up and handcuffed after being found in the PX and clubs.

I was there from 1991-1995 and I loved it there