Base Name:
United States Military Academy at West Point
Base Location:
New York
How long have you been here?
Summer 2001 – Summer 2005
What is housing like? On-post?
Instructors are required to live on post and the majority of the enlisted population elect to live there due to a very high cost of living off post. That being said, West Point has a fairly cut-throat housing assignment system based on a formula of bedroom requirements, date of rank and (for Academy grads) class rank that only the housing office truly understands. Every incoming Instructor is assigned housing at the draw and stories of people popping up to dispute a persons bedroom requirement are legendary. There is currently a housing shortage due to renovations that are due to be completed by winter. We lived on-post for 3 of our 4 years at West Point and thought it was pretty good. There are 2 main housing areas, “the hill”and “the plain.” Both areas have their good points. As of our departure this summer only the Stony I quarters for Company grade officers had yet to be renovated and rumor had it that they would be starting with those renovations as soon as they finished with New Brick.
Off-post?
Off post is horrible. Highland Falls (the town right outside the gate) has a rental market that seems to cater to groups of single soldiers willing to live in complete dumps. A few of our fiends that were dual military andtherefore had a double housing allowance rented decent housing, but thosewere few and far between and they all said that if they had school-aged kidsthey wouldn’t have done it because the Highland Falls schools are horrific. We bought an 1100 square foot house “over the mountain” in New Windsor pre-9/11 (an event which shot area housing prices through the roof) for $136,000 and sold it 9 months later for $164,000.
Any areas to stay away from?
Highland Falls is a dump. Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, New Windsor and Washingtonville are all nicer, but when it snows getting to post can be an issue as you have to go over Storm King Mountain.
Average price to rent or buy?
Decent house rentals with 2 bedrooms or more are going to run you $1200 or more a month. And the thing to watch out for is heating, many houses are oil heat which is VERY expensive (can run upwards of $300 a month in the winter) and looks to get even more expensive in the future. Buying a house in the area is an average of $160,000 for a 2-3 bedroom. Housing allowance is high, but being only an hour from NYC means housing prices are eve higher.
Rate the PX & Commissary.
The PX and Commissary are pretty good. Commissary is closed on Mondays and Highland Falls has only one (very small, very expensive) grocery store and one small “market.” However there are larger grocery stores over the mountain in Vail’s Gate that are great and a Super Wal-Mart in Central Valley that is open 24 hours.
Activities on base?
Lots! The main attraction being West Point sports, particularly football but hockey is also well attended. Many adult social activities are dependent on what academic department you are affiliated with and how social they are. Youth Services has soccer programs beginning at 4 years-old as well as hockey and ice skating, martial arts and youth t-ball/baseball as well as a GREAT Kindergym program for the 2-4 year old set. They have had a great dance program that starts at 3 years-old, however the past instructor PCS’ed so I’m not sure who they may have now. The only complaint people seem to have is that the year-round pools are off limits to anyone other than cadets and instructors and the “Pond” for summer swimming is pretty gross.
Active Spouses Club?
Very! Even if you have been turned off by spouses clubs in the past (I was) you have to give it a try! They have a wide variety of programs, I highly recommend the “Lunch Bunch” that meets once a month at a different area restaurant.
Things to do in area?
You are only an hour’s drive from Times Square so you have all of New York City at your disposal. In Central Valley (a 10 – 15 minute drive) there is a FANTASTIC outlet mall. Just over the Bear Mountain Bridge there is the village of Cold Springs which is totally cute and has some really darling boutiques, restaurants and antique stores. Boscobel is a restored mansion that has an outdoor Shakespeare festival in the summer. Bear Mountain State Park has great hiking and a very nice small zoo just right for the under 4 set. The options for activities are too numerous to list here, but if you can’t find something to do you just aren’t looking.
School System?
On post – it’s great. However the DOD commission just recommended that they merge with the Highland Falls school district which is, in the words of someone who student taught there, abominable. If the merger does go through I would seriously think about private school.
Any colleges in area?
Not as many as you would think. There are a number of colleges that have affiliation with the Continuing Ed department, but you have to be really pro-active about finding out about them because the information is not readily available.
Jobs? (on post and off)
Not great. Most spouses are stay-at-home moms but there is a booming “home party” (Longaberger, Southern Living, Tastefully Simple, Pampered Chef, etc.) industry.
Favorite aspect of this base/surrounding city?
West Point is a very tight community and interacting with the cadets (most people choose to “sponsor” a cadet or group of cadets, I recommend doing this your first year) is great. You are only an hour from all the “culture” you could possibly want, yet it’s a very suburban feel.
Least favorite aspect?
West Point has been described as Stepford more than once and can feel a bit like a fishbowl. Gossip is rampant. There seems to be a very vocal minority within the CWOC (Christian Women of the Chapel) that go out of their way to make those that do not belong to a bible study uncomfortable, they also seem to be the biggest gossips.
Local websites? (base, chamber, newspaper, schools, etc.)
http://www.usma.edu
There seems to be a very vocal minority within the CWOC (Christian Women of the Chapel) that go out of their way to make those that do not belong to a bible study uncomfortable, they also seem to be the biggest gossips.
While I am sure you meant no harm by the above remark.. it reeked of bitterness and seemed to be totally uncalled for..
This was one person’s experience with the CWOC. It wasn’t reflective of my experience with that group at Hunter either but to each their own.
We bought in Fort Montgomery due to the housing shortage. DH is an instructor and was told by department head we had a slim to none chance of getting on post. Loads of junk in the Highland Falls/Fort Montgomery real estate market. Be patient looking and be prepared to do a bit of redecorating. Prices are on their way down, even more so than when we bought last year. Our neighborhood is quiet. If you come from southern posts, the price shock will send you into apoplexy. The BAH covers our mortgage, insurance, taxes and leaves a bit over for utilities. Taxes everywhere in this area are ridiculous and Highland Falls is lower than all other surrounding areas. We preferred the Cornwall area, but found it cost prohibitive for anything decent. The market ebbs and flows so it’s still worth a look.
The on post housing ranges from crap to Oh My Goodness fabulous. Just b/c you hit field grade means nothing at USMA. Almost everyone is field grade, so nice quarters are luck of the draw or job position specific. The new construction looks very nice on the outside, I have not seen the inside. The majority of quarters appear too small. I prefer at least 1800 sq ft for my family of six, just to give an idea of my standard. That said, in order to get DOD schools and the USMA community experience, I would have sucked it up. So take the quarters if they are available!
The housing situation is going to be painful for the next few years until construction/housing rehab levels out. Very sad for those of us showing up now. It has been very lonely off post and while we are close, it is natural for those living on post to develop relationships with those they see daily. I plan on attending more on post activities this coming year.
On the upside, DH is not being deployed, so I have no complaints overall.
Schools: We also bought in Fort Montgomery, so our eldest could attend high school with the USMA kids. (On post high school age attend off post.) The SAT scores at O’Neill are the highest in the county and some surrounding counties also. The school district is extremely small. While Monroe/Woodbury are rated slightly better overall (K-12), that district is massive. I like being able to know all of the teachers and most of the students. Would have truly loved my kids to be in West Point schools, but the housing situation prohibited that. The HF/FM (local) schools run on the NY State schedule and West Point schools run on the USMA schedule. Really anywhere you live off post will be a problem there. Your husband will have leave and kids will still be in school. Same goes if you are lucky enough to get on post and have a child in high school. Vacations will never match.
In no way would I rate the schools as abominable. We have traveled through the gamut of crappy schools over our years in the Army. Most all are ‘worksheet factories’. If you are active with the kids’ teachers/classes, then you can mitigate most problems. The schools are much less challenging if you have a gifted child, but once they get to High School, the pace picks up considerably. Very pleased with the High School program. Budgets are an issue as with all schools these days.
Shopping is less fun, b/c there is nothing in town. 20 minutes give or take to Target or Wal-Mart. Commissary is tiny, but does the job for us. Good selection at the outlet mall in Monroe.
Culture: Coming from operational posts, the culture is VERY different at USMA. So many here have been stationed here repeat times or have been here non-stop. Because, in general, it’s a non-deployable post, the urgent feeling of the train-up/deploy cycle is not there. More like what I imagine civilian life to be like and, of course, loads of cadet focused things. Great sports watching opportunities, parades, concerts etc….The cadets are super funny. It is interesting to watch them mature.
Really wish there was an indoor pool for swim lessons on post, but that has fallen victim to needing repairs also. I’m sure that will be fixed right about the time we PCS.
Does anyone have any insight on the pet policy, more specific to the dog breed restrictions on post at West Point? We have a dog with mixed breeds, one of which is a “restricted breed” and have never lived on post before. Are they willing to meet our dog before automatically restricting him? TIA