What is life like as an infantry platoon leader (or any infantry position) at Fort Irwin in the 11th ACR?

Good Morning. I have received my orders and it appears that I will be joining 1st Squadron, 11th Cav once I complete IBOLC and my additional follow on schools. My RFO also reflects that I will be attending the Bradley Leadership course. Although I was hoping to get sent to the 82nd, 101st, 173rd, or 10th mountain, everyone that I have talked to have said that the 11th ACR will be far better to hone my craft as an infantryman and that how sparse deployments are that I'm not missing much. I am extremely excited about being able to train as much as the 11th ACR does. Although being out in the field a lot can be rough, I think that playing OPFOR will be an amazing experience and maybe even a bit fun or at least as much fun as Army training can be!

Overall, I am looking forward to going to the 11th ACR but cannot find much consistent information other than "It's hot." Other responses run the gamut from "11th Armored Cavalry Regiment is probably one of the best trained and cohesive units in the Army," to " You will be in a cavalry unit that does not give two shits about it's infantryman and will give cooks awards for mixing eggs with water but not our infantryman who kill multiple bradleys with a vietnam era m113 with a vismod on it." I am very interested in what the unit is like and what my experience will be.

I did do some research for housing. It seems like my only options are to use all of my BAH for on post housing at The Villages of Irwin or to commute for an hour from Barstow or for 90 minutes from Victorville. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Everyone mentions about how it's 3 hours from LA and Las Vegas. I am a pretty boring guy. I am from California and am definitely not a fan of LA and I don't really care much about being able to visit Las Vegas as I don't even drink. As long as I can find a place to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, and MMA I'll be happy. If anyone has experience with the Fort Irwin Fight Team (facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/FortIrwinBrazilianJiuJitsuClub/) and could tell me about it that would be great!

I know this is a long post and your responses are much appreciated.

Bonus: Did anyone apply for their CCW in San Bernardino? It seems like San Bernardino is a "Will approve" county and the only major downside is that it will take about 6 months.