What to expect in San Antonio?

[Guest marklyerly]

Well finally got my EAD orders and I'm off to Nav training I have not done NIFT yet and was told I would do that down there. So my question is can anyone give me a little heads up on what to expect when I get there. Give me some pointers or something. I am prior service Army so I know abit but being Air Force and an Officer I feel I'm in a whole diffrent ball game .

Thanks Guys and Girls

[Guest ecutch]

San Antonio is a cool city. Great food! Good apartments and housing developments. It gets pretty dang hot during the summer. More humid than anything. I'm from Phoenix and can't stand humidity, but it's managable. Spring time and fall are pretty nice. I'm not really a partier, so I can't help you there, but there are a lot of great golf courses and really good shopping. Just a disclaimer, I came from training at Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, TX, so I'm just excited to be in a real city. Any specific questions and you can pm me.

[Guest Youngnita]

If you want specific information about nav school and what to expect from the AF way of life type training you can PM me as well.

[M2]

Concur, S.A. is a great place to live, spent three years there before going to Belgium and hope to get back after this assignment, but I would never use to the term "cool" to describe it, unless you are talking about a dip at SeaWorld or Schlitterbahn!

I thought it was relatively dry there, but I moved there from Germany and am originally from Florida so everything is relative. If you are single then I would recommend living near I-35 north so you can make the run to Austin easier on the weekends. It is the place to hang out. There are also some great spots in S.A., see this thread for some ideas.

Lots of outdoorsy things to do as well, mountain biking, river rafting, all sort of stuff. The Hill Country is scenic and Canyon Lake (northeast of the city) or Medina Lake (to the west) are great for water sports. And of course the food in S.A. can't be beat, but remember the best TexMex is the cheap stuff in the bad parts of town. You take your chances but the payoff is worth it!

Be warned not to go around Lackland AFB on Fridays, that is Basic Training graduation day and the place is swamped with ABs and their families, and it is a zoo.

Aclamaciones! M2

[Guest gonads]

Look up these places:

La Fogata

La Tienda

Los Barrios

(All great places to eat some Mexican food)

I am in the senior class in EWO school (my sister flight is the senior class in Nav school) so I have been here for a few weeks shy of a year and I love it down here. Right now its 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky! Not much of a college scene, but there are a few cool bars. The riverwalk is cool but its just expensive to park down there. I would check out Dick's Last Resort and a few of the Irish pubs down there are cool too. Enjoy yourself down here!

[Guest marklyerly]

Thanks for all the Area information it helps alot. Funny thing is I used to attend Randolph elementry when my mom was in hehehe. That was so long ago and I did not get out like I can now.

So I heard the best uniform to sign in is blues with all your ribbions to make a good first impression? What should I expect the first week as being on the Job. I do have a family but they are going to wait till school is finished before moving down. How long does it take to get your pay rolling (i've heard horror stories from others).

So far I already reserved 30 days VOQ they said I could check out early so i wanted to be safe.

[Guest Vistar1]

dwn2low-

We lived in SAT while my husband went through Nav training 4 years ago (we are now in Del Rio at UPT). If you have a family, I would recommend living in the Schertz area north of the base...DO NOT live in Universal City. You may be tempted to just because its like a minute from base, but lots of crime and construction. I'm sure you can either find an apartment or rental house in the Schertz area that is close to a school and within 10-15 minutes of base.

You'll love San Antonio...we didn't realize how much we did until we had to leave. Tons of stuff to do and all-in-all a clean, nice city. Freeway system sucks though...be forewarned!

Have a good time at Nav school...we loved our time there. Randolph is a GREAT base!

Good luck!

V.

[P-3FO]

dwn2low,

I went to Nav school a little over 6 years ago. My wife and I lived in Universal City in an apartment complex on Universal City Blvd, right across the street from the fire dept. We didn't have any problems with construction or crime, but things might have changed since my time there. I liked living in Universal City because it was close to my apartment and after getting out of a 1am sim it was nice to have a short drive home, with a quick stop at Jack-in-the-box for a snack.

As far as the nav training is concerned, my class was the first at Randolph where the AF studs did not have to go through primary flight training at P-cola. It was a tough transition because in previous classes the students coming from P-cola had flight time in a military aircraft and were somewhat proficient on the radios and navigating using a TACAN. The Navy students should be able to help you with the transition.

The only non-fun part was the mandatory PT (don't know if that is still part of the program). Playing softball at 1300 in the middle of August sucks, that kind of heat is just unbearable.

If you have any more questions just pm me.