Your Name (if you would like it to appear): Seasoned Army Spouse
Post Name: Fort Huachuca, Arizona
Post Location: Southern Arizona, 1 hour south of Tucson, located outside the towns of Sierra Vista and Huachuca City. The post is at the base of the Huachuca mountains at the 5,000 ft level. Airport is located in Tucson. Phoenix is 3 hours north.
How long have you been here? (give years please, ex. 2003-present) 2001-2003 and 2007-2010
What is housing like? On-post? (waiting list, conditions, etc.) Off-post? Any areas to stay away from? Average price to rent or buy?
Lots of new housing for enlisted soldiers and their families, more being built every day. Top of the line housing, two car garages, granite countertops! There is a waiting list and there are available units in the community. Housing is privatized and run by Michael’s Military Housing, you will have to sign a lease if living on post. They do a great job and have events each month for the families. Fort Huachuca is a historic post and has an Old Post section where the senior officers live. Those houses were built in 1887-1915 and are designated as historic, there are also newer housing built within the last 5 years for officers.
Rate the PX & Commissary.
PX is small but “shopable.” Rumors are a new store will be built in a few years. Lots of sales. Commissary is medium size but carries most everything you need. Commissary is closed on Mondays. What you can’t find on post you can find in the surrounding area. Sierra Vista has a Target, Wal-Mart (a super Wal-Mart will be opening in the fall), Marshalls, Tuesday Morning, Ross, a medium size Shopping Mall with Best Buy, Dillards, JC Penny and many stores. Two movie theaters. Lots of restaurants (local and chain). SAMS Club and COSTCO are located in Tucson.
Activities on base?
Fort Huachuca has many different events each month. MWR hosts wrestling, comedy clubs, Chess/Bunco/trivia tournaments, All Army boxing, musical groups, Missoula Children’s Theater, Carnivals, Rodeos, Volksmarch, they partner with the community and there is always something going on. No on-post library – there is a partnership with Sierra Vista where resources were combined for a wonderful library. Active religious community through Main Post Chapel. Youth Services just opened up a new building, many sports activities for children. Arts and Crafts Center – many classes to sign up for. Bowling Alley (Desert Lanes) is being renovated and will reopen in the fall, they have a good eating place Jeannie’s Diner. Post Movie Theater shows films on Thur, Fri & Sat nights and Sun afternoon. Buffalo Corral offers horseback riding rentals, trail rides, riding lessons and has stables for those who own horses. Two pools – indoor & outdoor, swim lessons. Thunder Mountain Activity Center (TMAC) is the place for large events and offers lunch during the week. They also offer Right Arm night monthly with music, food and prizes. Barnes Field House, Eifler Gym, and a facility for spouses only. The Sportsman’s Center has local hunting information and a paintball course. Outdoor Recreation Center offers lots of stuff for rental and now has tours to local sites. Many hiking trails in the mountains. Lots of wildlife on post to observe (some to stay away from – rattlesnakes and mountain lions). One of the biggest “Bird Watching” areas in the Southwest – over 350 species of birds fly thru the Huachuca mountains.
Active Spouses Club? Yes, the Fort Huachuca Community Spouses Club (FHCSC) meets monthly Sep thru May. Open to all spouses of active duty (officer/enlisted), reserve, National Guard, retired, civilian or community resident. Lots of fun events each month – luncheons with a guest speaker, bunko, bingo, travel advice, trips to local towns, fundraising (a big Holiday bazaar in the fall, golf tournament in the spring), friendships, and networking. Many active FRGs in the units. Murr Community Center has an internet café, ticket office, CYS signup and has bingo weekly.
Things to do in area? This is the Wild West so there are lots of historic sites to visit – ghost towns, OK Corral in Tombstone, quirky town of Bisbee for antiques and hippies, Sonoita for wineries, a lake for fishing nearby, many clubs (hiking, caving, horses, political, you name it, I’m sure there’s a group for it). Small town atmosphere, safe for families. Hiking, bike riding, camping, horseback riding are popular. Kartchner Caverns – a living cave – is 20 miles north. The Cove Aquatic Center in Sierra Vista has swimming classes, exercise classes, a wave pool, swim teams and waterslide. If you need a bigger city, Tucson is about an hour away and Phoenix only 3 hours north.
School System? Fort Huachuca has the best school system in the area – the Fort Huachuca Accommodation School District. There are two elementary schools and one middle school on post. Both elementary schools are in new buildings and the middle school building will be replaced within a year. Sierra Vista has a large district and has the one High School locally. Tombstone also has a High School (about ½ hour northeast). There are four Charter schools and three private religious schools in Sierra Vista.
Any colleges in area? Post Education Center has classes from Wayland Baptist University, University of Phoenix, Cochise College and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. There are more classes available at the Cochise College location in Sierra Vista.
Jobs? (on post and off) There are Non-Appropriated Fund (NAF) jobs available, many defense contractors are looking for qualified people, visit ACS for local jobs. ACS can help you with your resume and they host job fairs from time to time.
Favorite aspect of this base/surrounding city? The post is located in a beautiful part of the state – high desert, mountains surrounding the area. Small hometown atmosphere in a town of 45,000 people. Great relationship between post and local community. Great people. Pro military. Great weather! Beautiful sunsets and rainbows during the summer monsoon season. Temperatures range in the daytime from the 90’s in the summer, to 50’s in the winter. We do get snow in the winter a few times but it is usually melted by the afternoon. Temperature does drop at night, as much as 20’s degrees when the sun goes down.
Least favorite aspect? Illegal aliens coming across the border – especially the drug runners. On post has a Health Center, Sierra Vista has a hospital but lacks specialty doctors – you may have to travel to Tucson.
Local websites? (base, chamber, newspaper, schools, etc.)
https://www.fhasd.org/ Fort Huachuca Accommodation Schools
http://sierravistapublicschools.com/ Sierra Vista Public Schools
www.palominas.com Palominas Public Schools
www.tombstoneschools.org Tombstone Public Schools
www.sierravistaaz.gov City of Sierra Vista website
www.svherald.com Sierra Vista Herald Newspaper
Facebook Pages: U.S. Army Fort Huachuca, Ft. Huachuca Community Thrift Shop, FMWR Fort Huachuca, Huachuca Hospitality House (The Hospitality House is a place for soldiers and their families to get away from post and relax, explore God, play games, eat good food, and have fun! )
Any other tips? You are at a high elevation and in the desert so you will need to drink more water than normal. There is also a low humidity, so you will need more moisturizers. Monsoon Season (rainy season) happens during the July to September timeframe. This area gets 90 percent of their water during this time (8-9 inches of rain). There are usually daily thunderstorms with lightning. Flash floods happen during thunderstorms, don’t cross roads with running water! It may not be deep but can sweep your car off the road. Arizona has the “Stupid Motorist Law” which is motorists can be held liable for the costs of any emergency response to rescue them. If the road is barricaded or has a few inches of running water across the road DO NOT CROSS!! If you are hiking in a dry wash and there is a storm nearby – get out of the wash. Flash floods travel fast and fill up dry washes fast.
I currently live here in Sierra Vista, Az, just outside of Ft. Huachuca with my husband who is here for training. There are some things that soldiers who are PCSing here with family should know, that may not get told until after the fact. They do not house students on post like they were before. If you are PCSing here to train for your new MOS then you will have to find a place off post (if you are single, of course you will be in the barracks). The houses/Apartments off post are expensive! Most are close to $1000, so you will have to search around. We found one place that is on the cheaper side and it is a great place to live, with or without a family (Sterling Pointe Apartments). BAH as of right now is $888.00, so it is not much to pay for the more expensive places.
Melissa –
So glad that you posted what you did, and the main poster provided plenty of awesome information. THANK YOU!
My husband will be going to Huachuca for AIT, and I had been wondering if we were going to be eligible for on post housing. I’m not sure that we would like to live off post, we’ve always lived on post – and especially with the price of housing outside of the base.
I will take a look at the apartment complex you mentioned. Thanks again for your input!
I just wanted to mention that this is not the case for all families with soldiers in training. It depends on rank, and the housing office is usually very willing to work with you. I am not sure how it is with AIT, but if you are here for BOLC or MICC (Captain’s course), then there is a neighborhood specifically for you on post. Sarah is the officer’s housing representative and she is amazing! Very helpful and found us a house on post with a very short waiting list. We called ahead (before we even had orders in hand) and she was able to put us on the waiting list. The day we arrived we were able to move in. Just call the housing office and see what they can do for you! 🙂
I think it is so wrong that posted everywhere on this base talks about how serious second hand smoking is. They even give out pamphlets at the hospital. But when my family and i are subject to “breathing” it on a daily bases because my neighbor smokes like a chimney, Nobody wants to do anything abut it. We pay the same amount in rent as these other people who have full houses to live in. I don’t think that is right. This is not really even about trying to get new housing.. this is about my family and i having to breathe all this smoke every min of the day because the smoke comes through our drain of our duplex and not one person cares. I have had some one here multiple times which just leads to.. “We cant do anything about it” Ive called housing multiple times and even went in and talked to the supervisor, all i got there was ” there is a super long waiting list and your on the bottom of it to move. I cant move off post because that is just frankly stupid for anyone to do when there in the military, we dont have the money to pay all the rent people want for a 4 bedroom house, plus a deposit. And then possibly having to have to move at a drop of a dime.. So i have one option here.. and it is to stay where i am at and subject my whole family to this.. I can not describe to you how bad this smell is. It is like someone smoking a cigg and blowing the smoke right into your face. I had a worker come out (one of the first times i complained) and he said the smell was so bad we needed to continue our conversation outside. As a non smoker this is hell for me! I keep my house very clean and smelling fresh for my kids and then something like this happens. I understand if there are no available houses at the moment to help me, but telling me that there is nothing you can do, and basically if you dont like it, go move off post … is wrong! I expected so much more from housing then this.. So much more from the army. My husband does everything in his power to be a good soldier, and this is how they repay us..
Robin Haney
I have lived here for a year now (April 2010 – present) & I absolutely love it here!
We live on post & the housing is indeed really nice! We don’t have any carpet but with all the dust thats probably a good thing because it would be black or brown all the time! So the Vinyl floors would be my only complaint because I have to clean them a few times a week to keep them clean!
The only other thing I want to add is if you have high schoolers, send them to Tombstone. My daughter attends Buena High in SV & she absolutely hates it, but refuses to switch because its her senior year & she already had a few friends at the school from the end of the previous school year. The high school runs out of lunch food almost daily & my daughter doesn’t get to eat unless she takes food from home! & the drugs in the school are crazy!
Parker Canyon Lake (out the west gate) is really nice & they have canoes & paddle boats for rent & is really reasonable:) & camping!
the Sierra Vista area is great. They have everything you would need and most everything you could want without the big city traffic and congestion. The views are beautiful and the housing is very nice.
I also have a daughter that attend Buena High School and she absolutely loves it. as a school with over 2000 students, they are going to have the same problems as the other schools, but many of the things people were saying about Buena we found out were not true. She said she hears about kids there that do drugs, but it is a small minority. They have a lot to offer with classes, sports, and clubs. Check out their website and see for yourself. She even had friends that transferred to Tombstone only to transfer back after finding out that Buena was not as bad as they thought. I asked her about the cafeteria and she said the only time she did not get what she wanted for lunch (pizza) was when she waited too long to get in line. but, she said the other three lines still had food left.
Anyway, just thought it was only fair to get another perspective…..if you are unsure, just call the school and talk to one of the assistant principals about getting a tour of the school. They are more than happy to set up and give you a personal tour.
There is housing for AIT people as well. I had neighbors who were here for AIT training. But it depends on how long you are here for, not necessarily rank. The specific neighborhood part is a little different actually than the last poster implied. We got a crash course in the transition/housing issue since we initially came here for training and then got PCSd permanent party here. There are TWO main neighborhood that a lot of students are placed in (various ranks are there…we had three neighbors and two officers and one enlisted (E4) so it’s kind of first come first serve). Then when we got perm orders and they moved us (Sarah IS great at putting students in housing…but honestly had a few issues when perm orders came through…kept getting “bumped” by her until someone higher up stepped in and said she was doing it wrong). The neighborhood we are in now is more perm party (high enlisted and lower officer) but still a few students here. Honestly they kind of put them wherever it seems. I have met people in almost every neighborhood who are here for school of some sort.
Apparently the wait list for housing has gotten REALLY backed up because the arrival date and start date of some of the schools has gotten longer so folks are sitting around longer. We got housing in a few weeks (Dec 2009) and now people are just going off post b/c the wait is 4-6 months long (as of 2010/2011).
If you get a house in one of the newer areas though, they are AWESOME for the price!!
Hello, I know this post is pretty old… My husband is already stationed in Sierra Vista and I am moving there from Ohio, but is there any cheap housing or studio rentals there that would take us? I checked out Sterling Pointe Apartments but is it walking distance to the post? We both don’t have transportation and I wasn’t planning on bringing my car there… We were only planning on getting a place that we could both stay in until he deploys but we don’t know where to look… Any suggestions?
My husband is going to Ft. Huachuca in Jan for AIT right after he gets out of basic. Does anyone know if he gets to live with me or if he has to stay in the barracks? Also if he don’t get to live with me will I get a housing pay?
I have the same exact question as Cassy. My husband is an E4 and he will be going to Ft. Huachuca in Dec. for AIT right after he gets out of basic training. Does he get to live with me or is he required to stay in barracks? Also if he does not get to live with me will I get a housing pay?
Married soldiers can choose to live on post or off post.
AIT students may live with their spouse depending on their MOS. Normally if their MOS is 21 weeks or more they will be allowed to live with their spouse. However; they will have to live in the barracks until they become phase 5, which usually happens after 4 weeks of AIT and passing a PT test/chain of command questions and ASU inspection.
I’m currently here for AIT as a 15E, if you have any questions feel free to email me justin187@gmail.com
Thanks for responding, Justin!
My husband graduates from basic in 3 weeks and will be going to ft. Hauchuca for AIT for 23weeks. We have a baby on the way and I was wondering if I will be able to live on post with him. I was also looking at apartments off post.
My husband, our 2 daughters and i are going to be staying there for 17 weeks while he has BOLC. Would we have to stay off base, or do they put you up on base? Also, do they put you in an apartment type of house or an actual house. Im assuming we will be staying somewhere that is furnished because we will only be there for a short time. if anyone has had to stay here for BOLC and has advice that would be very helpful! Thanks!
Hi Lauren,
We came here for BOLC also and if housing is available you can stay on base. We were placed in a house (it was attached on one side to another house, but we had our own yard, etc). As for availability, it seems to depend on the waitlist and when you arrive. However, to my knowledge there is nothing furnished except for lodging (similar to a hotel) for short term stays. If he is authorized to bring his family (this would show on his orders) then you would most likely PCS here meaning the Army will pay to ship your furniture and other household goods to Huachuca. Several of the soldiers arriving here have spent longer than the actual class time because of their report date being a few weeks before the actual course starts.
We just were notified that our house on post is going to be ready and we are trying to make preparations. I am going to come move us in and then I have to travel for a few weeks. I was wondering if we are required to mow our own lawns or if the company who does the housing does it. Thanks for any information!
You will need to check with the housing office on post.
We live on post and some of the houses don’t actually have grass. (Some of them have a type of rock AZ type lawn). We actually moved from one home to another on post and both of them required us to maintain the backyard. Only one had grass in the front and MVC (the community that runs housing here) does the front yard and common areas. I have heard (but can’t confirm) that if you pay them they will do your back for you as well.
My friend is currently in BCT at Fort Sill but will be going to AIT at Fort Huachuca. He wants me to come out sometime to visit him but how long into AIT will he be able to have any visitors? And would he be able to have any visitors come out and visit before AIT begins?
that pretty much depends on what mos he is here for, different battalions have different rules for weekend passes. i may be able to provide you with more information if you can tell me what his mos is?