What bases were you stationed at?

Royal Navy Base ;Gosport Portsmouth..Hampshire
RN base... Devonport, Plymouth Devon

RAF Base ..home of the Queen's olour Squadron, Uxbridge..West London
 

Eupher said:
After retirement from the Army, I lived more than a few years in Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio, and Mississippi, far removed from military installations. In Utah, where I lived for 4 years, I had to drive 40 miles one-way to get to Hill AFB. I didn't find it necessarily advantageous.

Chasing after jobs is the basic reason for moving around like that.

But here in Arkansas, I live about 5 miles from Little Rock AFB -- the home of the C-130 aircraft. LRAFB is small and I do not use the commissary or base exchange that much. Price differential is essentially zero, even when you consider there's no sales tax. But the base pharmacy is a definite advantage -- I pay zero for my meds.
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'' I pay zero for my meds.''

I'm glad as you retired from the Army , you should not pay a penny.

I have to say that I had no idea that if you retired from Army you could use an AFB , vice versa . Just never occurred to me .
 

NotCompSavy said:
'' I pay zero for my meds.''

I'm glad as you retired from the Army , you should not pay a penny.

I have to say that I had no idea that if you retired from Army you could use an AFB , vice versa . Just never occurred to me .
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It helps, though none of my meds are horrifically expensive.

Retiree ID cards are the same, regardless of service (I believe).

Military retirees living overseas don't have it nearly as well. A friend of mine, also retired (we served at Ft. Hood and in Berlin together as bandsmen) and living near Heidelberg has to pay a whopping 17.5% tax on food and products purchased through the American PX system in Germany. He has to buy his gasoline on the economy and his use of the postal system is extremely limited. Of course, the American presence in Germany is a whisper of what it was in the late 80s.
 
Eupher said:
It helps, though none of my meds are horrifically expensive.

Retiree ID cards are the same, regardless of service (I believe).

Military retirees living overseas don't have it nearly as well. A friend of mine, also retired (we served at Ft. Hood and in Berlin together as bandsmen) and living near Heidelberg has to pay a whopping 17.5% tax on food and products purchased through the American PX system in Germany. He has to buy his gasoline on the economy and his use of the postal system is extremely limited. Of course, the American presence in Germany is a whisper of what it was in the late 80s.
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After 80s as you know we pulled out from a lot of areas closed bases .

We get a lot of tourists here in Miami staying at hotels to take cruises and one thing I have learned is NEVER mention to a German MALE tourists you were in the US Army as the conversation ends right there , the women do not care .
 
Eupher said:
It helps, though none of my meds are horrifically expensive.

Retiree ID cards are the same, regardless of service (I believe).

Military retirees living overseas don't have it nearly as well. A friend of mine, also retired (we served at Ft. Hood and in Berlin together as bandsmen) and living near Heidelberg has to pay a whopping 17.5% tax on food and products purchased through the American PX system in Germany. He has to buy his gasoline on the economy and his use of the postal system is extremely limited. Of course, the American presence in Germany is a whisper of what it was in the late 80s.
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TCJA does not apply to US civilians nor do US military services. He is lucky to have px/commissary privileges. It has nothing to do with US group presence.
 
My son, retired, was third generation career Air Force in my family so between me being an Air Force brat and then visiting my son as an adult, I have been to a lot.

This is chronological order for me from birth to high school, when my dad retired. Some of these bases are now decommissioned.
Mildenhall RAF, UK
George AFB, California
Canon AFB, New Mexico
Green Park, Japan
Scott AFB, Illinois

And I bought a house near McClellan AFB, Sacramento, CA, now decommissioned and a private airport. But they still have a commissary and bx.
 
Twostep said:
TCJA does not apply to US civilians nor do US military services. He is lucky to have px/commissary privileges. It has nothing to do with US group presence.
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TCJA - Tax Cuts and Jobs Act? I would agree that that U.S. law - if that is what you're talking about - doesn't apply to retired U.S. servicemen living in a host country (in this case, Germany). I believe the prevailing regulation/law/agreement is the Status of Forces Agreement between Germany and the U.S., but hell, I don't know for sure. All I know is what he told me.

As a military retiree, he isn't "lucky" he has PX and commissary privileges. He earned it, though he told me he rarely uses either of those facilities.
 
NotCompSavy said:
After 80s as you know we pulled out from a lot of areas closed bases .

We get a lot of tourists here in Miami staying at hotels to take cruises and one thing I have learned is NEVER mention to a German MALE tourists you were in the US Army as the conversation ends right there , the women do not care .
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That's odd. I've never run into that sort of thing at all, though I've been to Miami only once. If I run into a German and the opportunity presents itself, I'll speak with them in their own language just to somewhat keep in practice. I've never run into a cold shoulder, especially in the U.S.

BRAC in the mid-to-late 90s did a number on many military installations. Of those I served at (not counting schools), only one - Ft. Hood - is still around. All the others have been shut down.
 
Eupher said:
That's odd. I've never run into that sort of thing at all, though I've been to Miami only once. If I run into a German and the opportunity presents itself, I'll speak with them in their own language just to somewhat keep in practice. I've never run into a cold shoulder, especially in the U.S.

BRAC in the mid-to-late 90s did a number on many military installations. Of those I served at (not counting schools), only one - Ft. Hood - is still around. All the others have been shut down.
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Oh you speak German no wonder .

Last 2 German couples I ran into once I mentioned Army the men became silent , no longer friendly while before mentioning it we were all laughing at my jokes directed at the Yanks .

I no longer mention it and only did as it came up in something .
 
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Eupher said:
TCJA - Tax Cuts and Jobs Act? I would agree that that U.S. law - if that is what you're talking about - doesn't apply to retired U.S. servicemen living in a host country (in this case, Germany). I believe the prevailing regulation/law/agreement is the Status of Forces Agreement between Germany and the U.S., but hell, I don't know for sure. All I know is what he told me.

As a military retiree, he isn't "lucky" he has PX and commissary privileges. He earned it, though he told me he rarely uses either of those facilities.
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I run into a lot of SouthCom since here in Miami , it is incredibly guarded .

I was there during COVID to see if could use their gym since lots of it outside under canopy but only for retired personel and those stationed there .

They were very nice and I certainly understood . A Second Lt came out spoke to me and for laughs I asked him if I could then get a hair cut there ( I'm bald ) we laughed .
 
NotCompSavy said:
After 80s as you know we pulled out from a lot of areas closed bases .

We get a lot of tourists here in Miami staying at hotels to take cruises and one thing I have learned is NEVER mention to a German MALE tourists you were in the US Army as the conversation ends right there , the women do not care .
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Makes no
Eupher said:
TCJA - Tax Cuts and Jobs Act? I would agree that that U.S. law - if that is what you're talking about - doesn't apply to retired U.S. servicemen living in a host country (in this case, Germany). I believe the prevailing regulation/law/agreement is the Status of Forces Agreement between Germany and the U.S., but hell, I don't know for sure. All I know is what he told me
As a military retiree, he isn't "lucky" he has PX and commissary privileges. He earned it, though he told me he rarely uses either of those facilities.
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He is not eligible for the tax exemption. That has nothing to do with his usage privileges.
 
NotCompSavy said:
Oh you speak German no wonder .

Last 2 German couples I ran into once I mentioned Army the men became silent , no longer friendly while before mentioning it we were all laughing at my jokes directed at the Yanks .

I no longer mention it and only did as it came up in something .
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Never happens to us. A German group repeatedly requested SO at international play dates as he is bilingual and not just speaks German.
 
NotCompSavy said:
Last 2 German couples I ran into once I mentioned Army the men became silent , no longer friendly .
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I was at a gallery in Germany once. There was an American family looking around like everyone else. The man wore a cowboy hat. A German woman (about 40-ish) went up close behind him and placed some small trash (I think it was a chocolate wrapper) on his hat and then looked at her friends with a smirk like she had done something funny. She definitely wouldn't have done something like that to a German wearing traditional Bavarian costume, for example. I don't care if she doesn't like Americans but what she did was really disgusting. I hope she stepped in dog crap on her way home.
 
Twostep said:
Makes no

He is not eligible for the tax exemption. That has nothing to do with his usage privileges.
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I never said a word (and neither did he) about a tax exemption. What I did say is he pays 17.5% tax to the German government for buying products in AAFES and commissary facilities -- therefore, there is little to no financial incentive for him to frequent those facilities. He does on occasion, obviously, for American products he can't get on the economy. And he couples those trips with visits to his APO mail box.
 
Inept said:
I was at a gallery in Germany once. There was an American family looking around like everyone else. The man wore a cowboy hat. A German woman (about 40-ish) went up close behind him and placed some small trash (I think it was a chocolate wrapper) on his hat and then looked at her friends with a smirk like she had done something funny. She definitely wouldn't have done something like that to a German wearing traditional Bavarian costume, for example. I don't care if she doesn't like Americans but what she did was really disgusting. I hope she stepped in dog crap on her way home.
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There are idiots everywhere on this planet. I make no excuses for her behavior. I have never seen anything remotely like that, however, in my 15 years of living in Germany.

HOWEVER, I will mention this true story. When marching a Fasching parade, I think in Bad Hersfeld in the mid-80s, some drunk a@@hole tossed an ear of corn down the bell of my instrument -- while I was playing it. Pissed me off because I could've chipped a tooth, or worse.

I racked that up to it being Fasching and the perp being drunk.
 
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Eupher said:
There are idiots everywhere on this planet. I make no excuses for her behavior. I have never seen anything remotely like that, however, in my 15 years of living in Germany.

HOWEVER, I will mention this true story. When marching a Fasching parade, I think in Bad Hersfeld in the mid-80s, some drunk a@@hole tossed an ear of corn down the bell of my instrument -- while I was playing it. Pissed me off because I could've chipped a tooth, or worse.

I racked that up to it being Fasching and the perp being drunk.
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Ah yes, Fasching. At least they haven't started plowing into Fasching merry-makers with cars.
 
Eupher said:
That's odd. I've never run into that sort of thing at all, though I've been to Miami only once. If I run into a German and the opportunity presents itself, I'll speak with them in their own language just to somewhat keep in practice. I've never run into a cold shoulder, especially in the U.S.

BRAC in the mid-to-late 90s did a number on many military installations. Of those I served at (not counting schools), only one - Ft. Hood - is still around. All the others have been shut down.
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And it is not Ft. Hood anymore.
https://home.army.mil/cavazos/about...ly redesignated,published the below photo Feb.
 
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