I think we're going to Shaw AFB

[poohbear1029]

Okay, typical military disclaimer, its not in writing yet, we are far from orders, but we got verbal that it appears DH will be selected for an assignment at Shaw AFB.

What do you know about the area? Base? Base housing? DH is a Major, we have no kids.

 

[stm61]

I was at McEntire which is just down the rd a bit. It's a guard base so I can't tell you about base housing. I can tell you that it gets HOT and HUMID! I lived in upstate SC and there was quite a difference between the 2 areas. It's close to Columbia which is the state capital so there should be alot of shopping and restaurant choices. Cost of living, if Rutland is close to Boston or another large city, should be cheaper in SC. I think the bx and commissary were about avg and Ft Jackson is in Columbia.

 

[poohbear1029]

Thanks! Rutland is cheaper than Boston, but from what we can tell still more expensive than SC, so we might be able to buy a house there on one income when I leave my job here. Hot & Humid I am not a fan of....but I will take a break from 33 years of New England Winters!

 

[casndan]

me and DH just got PCSd from FtJackson, lemme just say, Columbia is what I Like to call the armpit of the south...and unfortunately Shaw is only a little worse....hopefully they have some good schools there I think that Ft Jackson had some really nice ones...

 

[poohbear1029]

me and DH just got PCSd from FtJackson, lemme just say, Columbia is what I Like to call the armpit of the south...and unfortunately Shaw is only a little worse....hopefully they have some good schools there I think that Ft Jackson had some really nice ones...

Thanks. I have heard that SC are low on the list of schools in the US. At this point, we have not started out family, so we will not need schools while we are there. Few years off from that.

Is crime a problem and how bad is that? I have heard some that because it is a depressed area that crime is high.

 

[stm61]

I didn't mention schools because you mentioned no kids, but SC is usually ranked about 48th out of the 50 states. AL and Miss. are usually lower. That said, I can say from personal experience both as a former spec. ed. teacher and a parent, school districts are very much hit or miss. I taught in an upstate district that I would never, ever, even if I had to remortgage the house to pay for private school, put my kids in. I lived in the very next district and it was much, much better. It all depends on where you buy/rent.

Crime in downtown Columbia is high compared to the surrounding area's. Compared to Newark, Trenton, Asbury Park, etc, here in NJ, it's not so bad. All depends on what you're used to. On base I don't remember it being a big problem but I never lived on base. McEntire is about 40 min away and has no housing. Most people there lived about 20-30 min away, in rural areas, and had no problems that I can recall. If I can get a DSN line in the next few days I'll call down to McENtire and see what they say.

Hope this helps.

 

[poohbear1029]

I didn't mention schools because you mentioned no kids, but SC is usually ranked about 48th out of the 50 states. AL and Miss. are usually lower. That said, I can say from personal experience both as a former spec. ed. teacher and a parent, school districts are very much hit or miss. I taught in an upstate district that I would never, ever, even if I had to remortgage the house to pay for private school, put my kids in. I lived in the very next district and it was much, much better. It all depends on where you buy/rent.

Crime in downtown Columbia is high compared to the surrounding area's. Compared to Newark, Trenton, Asbury Park, etc, here in NJ, it's not so bad. All depends on what you're used to. On base I don't remember it being a big problem but I never lived on base. McEntire is about 40 min away and has no housing. Most people there lived about 20-30 min away, in rural areas, and had no problems that I can recall. If I can get a DSN line in the next few days I'll call down to McENtire and see what they say.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, that would be great! I am trying to look for work in Columbia, and have one lead on the west side....what is a good town between Sumter and Columbia to look for a home?

 

[casndan]

There is not a whole heck of a lot between Columbia and Sumter...but I would say maybe Camden, West Columbia is quite far, Columbia in itself is a rather spread out city, I lived in the North East corner, which is very nice, but a trip to West Columbia would take me probably 30 minutes, IF its not rush hour...are you guys going to get to take any trips out there before the PCS to look for housing? I know that the Army allows 10days TDY before a PCS move to secure housing..I imagine the AF would do the same. Hope that I've helped....any other questions feel free to ask!

 

[stm61]

finally got a chance to call McEntire. They tell me that Shaw is not bad at all in their opinion, they say it all depends on what you consider bad. I translate that to mean the crime rate is not bad and neither is the area overall. I was talking to men if that explains anything! They say onbase housing isn't bad either, especially if dh is a major. The one suggestion they did have is find out the school districts that are rated good and look for housing in those districts if you're off base. They said the better districts tend to have nicer areas. I asked the avg home price and they said for a 3 bedroom, 1700-1800 square ft home about 120-130,000, again depending on what area. Cost of living is still lower there, tho a little higher then the rest of the state in the big city area's like Columbia or Charleston, or especially the tourist area's like Myrtle Beach. You just have to get used to the accent after being in Mass. LOL

 

[poohbear1029]

STM61 -

Thank you so much for doing the homework for me! This is a big help. We are going to look at both off and on base housing when we go next month to get an idea.

Oh, the accent.....I know I will have to get used to the southern accent, although our home office is in Chattanooga so I hear it quite a bit....but I am going to hear about a thousand times, "your from MA, you dont have an accent..." I didnt grow up in Central Mass/Boston area, I grew up in Western Mass and out there we dont Pahk our Cahs! Like my brother always says, we talk like the people on TV, ie newscasters.

 

[stm61]

LOL one of the guys I work with is also from Mass, not sure what part but he doesnt' have the accent either. He constantly gets teased about not having an accent so he retaliates those of us who are from the south but haven't been there lately. He did hear me on the phone yesterday, the accent comes back real quick then, and wanted to know what language I was speaking

 

[poohbear1029]

LOL one of the guys I work with is also from Mass, not sure what part but he doesnt' have the accent either. He constantly gets teased about not having an accent so he retaliates those of us who are from the south but haven't been there lately. He did hear me on the phone yesterday, the accent comes back real quick then, and wanted to know what language I was speaking

Yeah, we all dont talk like "Big Teddy" Kennedy! And those of us that dont take pride in that! But, like a true MA person, I will use the word "wicked" every opportunity I get!

 

[cjckclan]

Just noticed this thread and thought I'd drop a line in case anyone is still watching for info on Shaw AFB, SC. We lived there from Oct '97 to Jun '00. Beginning 2 weeks before we left VA for SC I started hearing negative things about Shaw. When I got there I asked people if they were arriving or leaving and those that were leaving were very happy to be doing so. I asked others how they liked it there and would get the 20 second pause as if they were trying to think of what to say, and then they would say something like, "You get used to it."

Well, that being said, I would say that we enjoyed our time there. We always try moving with the attitude that a place is what you make of it. We had a few rough months in the beginning with bullying neighbor kids and such, but nothing that didn't blow over quickly. We had decided on Thomas Sumter Academy (TSA) for our then kindergartener (DS) since we had heard horrible things about the public school system in general and the K-1 public school that we would have been zoned for in particular. TSA was a good private school but outrageously expensive (I thought). DS went there through 2nd grade. DD did preschool & kindergarten there. I cried when we had to leave. I will say that since we have been gone from there I heard from friends who were there two years past the time we left that some of the teachers had gone to different schools and the head master had left (or maybe been asked to leave). We lived in base housing. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the neighborhood which was rather typical of most of the base housing we've lived in. It was a bit of a pain to have to drive into Sumter (about 10 miles away) for a Wal-Mart, dentist, gymnastics, etc. Columbia was about an hour away, depending on which part of Columbia you were heading to.
Hope that helps.

 

[cjckclan]

Trying to delete a duplicate response. Hope it works.