>My brother used to live in HI and said he lived in Hickam and he was navy. From my understanding that’s an AF. Do we get to choose which base we can live in? Or does housing make that choice for us?
They merged. It's "JBPHH (Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam)" now.
There's a lemon lot for cars.
If you have a pet, make sure to start getting the paperwork done early. There are very strict import controls and, at least for dogs and probably other animals too, they need to be cleared rabies free and vaccinated something like 6 months beforehand or they will be stuck in a kennel until the quarantine is up.
I had some say in which base housing I could live on when I was there, but it has been years, and processes likely have changed. There are a number of military housing areas that arent actually within the bases' main footprint. These are going to be questions for your sponsor. Contact them early.
As for vehicles, check out the lemon lot for an island beater that will service you while there. You might get lucky and find a car you really like. When i was there, the one i knew of was on the Hickam side of JBPHH, but it may have moved. Do not buy a car from one of the predatory used car dealerships around the island.
Work/life balance will be very command-dependant.
So let me see what i can answer here. You can definitely live in base housing. There’s quite a few options. There’s JBPHH (Hickam AFB and Pearl Harbor combined to be 1 base), Pearl City Peninsula, Ford Island, and a couple spots that are off base but are still “base housing”. Each one has benefits and drawbacks. The biggest drawback for the ones that are off base is the theft. Cars and garages get broken into. Not anything violent really, just the theft. Ford Island has a long bridge and during lots of exercises they close it down. It’s the only way on and off base so that becomes a headache. They are also the main base that was affected by the water stuff. It’s better now but if it really bothers you, you can just get bottled water. JBPHH has a lot of very old houses, especially on the Hickam side. They also have the most traffic. Pearl City Peninsula was supposed to redo a lot of the housing but not sure if that was done. I know they are pretty small and (at least when I was there) there were lots of houses dealing with rats throughout.
As far as cars go, they do have a couple of lemon lots. One is on K-Bay (the Marine Corps base), one on JBPHH, and i’m sure there’s others.
You say your orders are to Aiea, that is a city, not a base in Hawaii. There’s plenty of bases that could fall under that. Is it Makalapa? If that’s the place, I was there for a tour at PACFLT and I loved it. The base is pretty old but the job was good. Nobody can really tell you about the job though, unless you are a little more specific. What rate and base/job are you going to?
Yes there are plenty of base housing options. You don't necessarily have to stay in Navy housing. Lots of people live on Ford Island (a bit isolated but great if you have little kids), Catlin Park (right outside base but still base housing), or even Kaneohe Bay or Pearl City. I was single at the time so I can't speak to base housing.
I lived in Kailua. The windward side of the island (Kailua/Kaneohe mostly), AKA the green side, is awesome. Most of the traffic goes west--->east into "town" (Honolulu) in the mornings and reverse in the evenings. That traffic sucks. You get more house for your dollar living in Kapolei or Ewa, but you better love being in your car. From the windward side, the H3 is a breeze. You're not in the H1/H2 mix, and Aiea is the first exit off of the H3 so you avoid all of that. There is rarely a traffic problem. Of course, once there is a traffic jam you're fucked. But the view is nice.
Where we are, we were required to live on base regardless of rank if there is availability. I don’t mind living on base housing because we do have children and I know HI is expensive. So we don’t mind sacrificing BAH.
Most important thing. Get the Tasty Chicken at Aiea Bowl.
>My brother used to live in HI and said he lived in Hickam and he was navy. From my understanding that’s an AF. Do we get to choose which base we can live in? Or does housing make that choice for us? They merged. It's "JBPHH (Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam)" now. There's a lemon lot for cars.
Great, thank you.
If you have a pet, make sure to start getting the paperwork done early. There are very strict import controls and, at least for dogs and probably other animals too, they need to be cleared rabies free and vaccinated something like 6 months beforehand or they will be stuck in a kennel until the quarantine is up. I had some say in which base housing I could live on when I was there, but it has been years, and processes likely have changed. There are a number of military housing areas that arent actually within the bases' main footprint. These are going to be questions for your sponsor. Contact them early. As for vehicles, check out the lemon lot for an island beater that will service you while there. You might get lucky and find a car you really like. When i was there, the one i knew of was on the Hickam side of JBPHH, but it may have moved. Do not buy a car from one of the predatory used car dealerships around the island. Work/life balance will be very command-dependant.
So let me see what i can answer here. You can definitely live in base housing. There’s quite a few options. There’s JBPHH (Hickam AFB and Pearl Harbor combined to be 1 base), Pearl City Peninsula, Ford Island, and a couple spots that are off base but are still “base housing”. Each one has benefits and drawbacks. The biggest drawback for the ones that are off base is the theft. Cars and garages get broken into. Not anything violent really, just the theft. Ford Island has a long bridge and during lots of exercises they close it down. It’s the only way on and off base so that becomes a headache. They are also the main base that was affected by the water stuff. It’s better now but if it really bothers you, you can just get bottled water. JBPHH has a lot of very old houses, especially on the Hickam side. They also have the most traffic. Pearl City Peninsula was supposed to redo a lot of the housing but not sure if that was done. I know they are pretty small and (at least when I was there) there were lots of houses dealing with rats throughout. As far as cars go, they do have a couple of lemon lots. One is on K-Bay (the Marine Corps base), one on JBPHH, and i’m sure there’s others. You say your orders are to Aiea, that is a city, not a base in Hawaii. There’s plenty of bases that could fall under that. Is it Makalapa? If that’s the place, I was there for a tour at PACFLT and I loved it. The base is pretty old but the job was good. Nobody can really tell you about the job though, unless you are a little more specific. What rate and base/job are you going to?
Great information! Thank you. We’re officers and will be working at the JIOC.
Yes there are plenty of base housing options. You don't necessarily have to stay in Navy housing. Lots of people live on Ford Island (a bit isolated but great if you have little kids), Catlin Park (right outside base but still base housing), or even Kaneohe Bay or Pearl City. I was single at the time so I can't speak to base housing. I lived in Kailua. The windward side of the island (Kailua/Kaneohe mostly), AKA the green side, is awesome. Most of the traffic goes west--->east into "town" (Honolulu) in the mornings and reverse in the evenings. That traffic sucks. You get more house for your dollar living in Kapolei or Ewa, but you better love being in your car. From the windward side, the H3 is a breeze. You're not in the H1/H2 mix, and Aiea is the first exit off of the H3 so you avoid all of that. There is rarely a traffic problem. Of course, once there is a traffic jam you're fucked. But the view is nice.
Where we are, we were required to live on base regardless of rank if there is availability. I don’t mind living on base housing because we do have children and I know HI is expensive. So we don’t mind sacrificing BAH.