What’s it like in Vilseck? How is life there for a mechanic?

I am currently assigned to 2CR. Been here 2yrs and 9months. About to be done and it’ll be good to move on. All comments and horror stories aside, you will enjoy yourself here if you stay active in traveling. RyanAir is a flight line that offers cheap prices at times. I flew to Rome for 5 Euro and London for 10 Euro each way. There are all kinds of hidden jems outside the area of Vilseck about 2-3 hours away.

Not going to lie, you will be busy. Equipment is frequently used very often and lacks proper maintenance and recovery. You will be tested here. Be strong! When you get those 4 day weekends, you’ll probably want to just sit at home because your burnt out from long hours. I caution you though...don’t do it! My wife forced me to get off my butt! Little trick...look up multiple day trips for the weekends and write them on a piece of paper. Saturday morning, pull one out the hat and go for it.

You will go to one of the FST’s or RSS. Have fun and hold on to your seat. It’s a 3 year stint. Housing is okay and facilities are decent. You can tell it’s older. Make the best of it and you will be successful. Good luck and have fun!!

I was there from 2010-2013. Expect to be in the field 3-4 months a year if you end up in one of the support companies attached to 2CR, but also expect a three or four day weekend every month, and GET OFF POST on those weekends. If your POV is in great shape, take it, but if it's old, plan on buying a new car when you get there because the German inspection process is onerous and the local mechanics know they have you over a barrel so their rates are insanely high. Good used cars cost as much as new. As for 2CR, it's supposed to be "Cavalry Regiment", but it's nicknamed "Criminal Regiment" for all the shenanigans. I dealt with a lot of it on Staff Duty, but was blessed to be there when we could still live off post in a private rental and managed to avoid most of the stupid. Because of the drawdown in 2013 there was enough government owned housing, although some of it is off post, and if you are offered any of that off post housing, take it! You'll experience a lot more of the local culture, and that's what makes a tour in Germany special. Nuremberg is an hour away, Amberg is 20 minutes away, Munich is 2 hours away, Edleweise in Garmish is government owned and really neat, and the list could go on for hours of all the things to do.

As for mechanic's life, I was infantry, so all I dealt with where wheeled mechanics and their opinion of -10 and mine differed greatly, so it was my opinion that I did their job and they just supplied parts. Not knocking you if you aren't the lazy sort, but the ones attached to my unit were. Therefore, I didn't spend a lot of time with them as I was under the truck in the snow while they hung out in their heated spaces.

Try to spend your time that you get out and about. Unless much has changed in two years, you should be looking at roughly a 4 day weekend every month (training rotations aside), so barring the shenanigans of 2nd on Vilseck and the 173d boys on Graf, you should have plenty of time to travel. Get out and see the area with those. Czech is real close, so is Poland and Austria. I would definitely suggest a trip down to Garmisch to the Edelweiss resort they have a good amount of things to do there. Also, unless prices have gone up, for 25 euro you can get a Bavarian pass thats good for 24 hours and up to 5 people. This works on any of the regional trains (red in color). Pick one up, set a random number, get on a train and get off after random number stops.
Vilseck/Graf have pretty decent ranges and training areas, and depending on which unit you actually get you might see more than you want of them. Your wife might see this happen more as a 88m but route planning for 2nd for some reason is a mystery and they kept running (during my time in that area) giant vehicles through arches and roads they shouldn't have been on.
Graf has the better PX/Food court of the two, and a good sized commissary. Graf also has your closest next level MEDAC, and if you need higher care than that, you are looking at roughly 6 hours one way without traffic to Landstuhl/Ramstein.
Nuremberg isn't to far away and offers your closest airport (you can get cheap tickets through SATO), and a good deal of entertainment and spending opportunities. It also has one of the better christmas markets.
Enjoy it, you might not get another go. But as SFC Hasbun mentioned, you may be at the mercy of the drunken 2SCR.