What’s it like being stationed in Hawaii?

Hawaii was my third best assignment behind Germany and Bliss in terms of off duty things to do. If you are adventurous, you can never get bored there. I made almost 400 skydives, started flying lessons, went to two other islands, and off to Asia three times. There was great housing there for enlisted and I recommend it.

Hawaii is pretty expensive but there is a lot to do and see. The community is also very pro military. Like any duty station it is what you make of it.

Hawaii is Heaven on earth.

My first duty assignment as a enlisted soldier was in Hawaii, and my last enlisted assignment was at Fort Carson. I thoroughly enjoyed Hawaii as a station but I've always been a outdoors person and I enjoyed learning to surf, but I think the biggest reason I enjoyed Hawaii so much was I single at the time ;). I did a 90 day ADOS fill for the 25th G2 back in 2018, this time around I brought my wife. While my wife and I enjoyed our time their I was happy to be back in Colorado afterwards. (Currently where I live.)

Expect it to rain at least once a day, but the rain is usually a nice drizzle compared to what we get at Fort Carson. The housing market is on the expensive side, so if your wanting something nicer your probably going to need to spend your whole BAH plus a little extra. On base housing is older but improvement over the years have brought up a more modern feel to what you should expect, but if you are living off post expect to get on the post a hour prior to your formations. Unlike Fort Carson there is no real easy ways to get on the base, traffic stacks quickly at the 2 main entrances and you'll be sitting in traffic for a while before you can get on the base.

Hawaii has a pretty rich culture, while it is the US you feel like your in a different country which is a good thing. There is a small populace of native Hawaiians that do not like the military but they usually keep to themselves but if they are provoked it can be ugly.

A lot of soldiers that get stationed there do develop "island fever" due to basically doing everything on Hawaii in the first couple of weeks and getting super bored, so try to pace yourself. I learned how to open water swim and surf the 6 years I was stationed there, and there is a lot of opportunities to do outdoor stuff. If you are in more for the night scene, Waikiki never sleeps and there is always something going on. MWR has "their" own beach for the military on the marine base if your looking for a more secluded area to hang out at and not worried about getting your stuff stolen if you dip in the water.

Traffic was bad in 2002 when I got stationed there, in 2018 it was MUCH worse. Unless your driving at odd times (11pm-4pm) expect to sit on some sort of traffic at all times.

I hope that answers your questions, if you have anything more to ask please hit me up in pms.

Great for the first couple of months. Boring as hell after that.

On and Off Post depends how you make of it. Off post, there's a lot of activities to do there like hiking, sky diving, zip lining, swimming, site seeing and surfing to name a few. Never a dull moment if you're an active individual.
On post life is pretty silent depending where you're at, except in the morning during PT. There are on-post activities for personnel, family and children.
Weather is awesome though and I'm sure you and you're family will like it. Its all on you on how you take living in the tropics.
Hooah "TROPIC LIGHTNING"

Hawaii is one of the best places to be stationed at, there are so many hiking places, historical places, diverse food and culture, Samoan, Filipino, Korean, Japanese and native Hawaiians. It is expensive but you get COLA, since you are lower enlisted you probably will get base housing, LMR housing area is pretty decent...North shore is amazing! And best of all, it never gets cold!!

There is not such a thing as PFC (p) lol

As an 88N I love working on Fort Shafter alongside the other NCO's I work with especially because I'm from Hawaii. This base is a lot smaller than our other Army base Schofield, but still a good assignment to get. As far as housing I stay in the Honolulu area and it's only maybe a 5-10 min drive to work for me. Fort Shafter is close to downtown Waikiki so there's many activities like surfing the strip also hikes all over the island, Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), Kualoa ranch where Jurassic park was filmed. There's so many activities you could do and even just look up online as well.

What is back acne?