Do you sit in the barracks, house or do you explore everything around where your stationed?

Anytime I go anywhere new, I go out one night and drive around aimlessly until I get lost.  It's just my thing.  I feel like I get to know the place better that way.  Getting lost in a new place orients me if that makes ANY sense at all....probably doesn't, but I'm a weirdo.

I have never been able to get my mind around the barracks rat mentality. How you join any of the branches and hide out in a barracks room playing video games, or whatever?

My first duty station was Mannheim Germany. We got up in the morning and headed off to whatever volksmarch we could find. It did not matter how late the night before ran. My wife and I were on a mission to see everything that could be seen on Okinawa, above and below water. Even here at Fort Sill we get out to the wildlife preserve as often as we can.

In my mind you have to take advantage of where they send you while you can. When your time comes to an end, you have to have a great bank of stories to pull from when you are entertaining the grandchildren

While stationed in South Korea, almost every second or third weekend, I'd go to a random train station and roam outside.  I've found many great restaurants and clothing stores in that short year while many others simply wanted to drink the weekends away.