Just got orders ill be moving to Hood. Im guessing it has something to do with the troop increase. Anyways im a married 11B how is the housing situation? someone told me its a real dump off post but she was female and they don't know shit. How far from the gulf and any good gunstores ranges etc. Any general info. ?

Quoted: Just got orders ill be moving to Hood. Im guessing it has something to do with the troop increase. Anyways im a married 11B how is the housing situation? someone told me its a real dump off post but she was female and they don't know shit. How far from the gulf and any good gunstores ranges etc.. ?

if you are in ny as your thing says. it maybe a good move for you just because you leave a ban state behind.

for a state that has no such thing whatsoever.

areas in red may interest you.the second set of red lets you know how far from the other cities you are and what not.

ty for serving.

Fort Hood

Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the United States, and is the only post in the United States that is capable of supporting two full armored divisions. In addition to the 1st Cavalry Division and the 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood is also home for the Headquarters Command III Corps, 3d Personnel Group, 3d Signal Brigade, 13th Corps Support Command (COSCOM), 13th Finance Group, 89th Military Police Brigade, 504th Military Intelligence Brigade, the 21st Cavalry Brigade (Air Combat), the Dental Activity (DENTAC), the Medical Support Activity (MEDDAC), Army Operational Test Command (AOTC) formerly TEXCOM, and various other units and tenant organizations.

Fort Hood was named after John Bell Hood. A famous Confederate Army general, during the Civil War he gained recognition as the commander of Hood’s Texas Brigade. In 1861, John Hood resigned his commission in the Union Army to join the Confederate Army, where he started out as a First Lieutenant in the cavalry. He made rapid progress and in May of 1862, he was made a Brigadier General. His men rewrote the song "Yellow Rose of Texas". Part of the new words were "The gallant Hood of Texas played hell in Tennessee." At Chickamauga, Hood lost his right leg. Not one to give up, he had himself strapped in the saddle and continued leading his troops. Lee relieved Hood of his command after Hood refused to turn over ambulances his soldiers captured during the second battle at Manassas, which was called Bull Run by the Union. Hood wanted to keep the ambulances for his soldiers. Hood’s soldiers demonstrated their displeasure over the decision to can the general, and Lee wound up reinstating Hood. However, Lee stipulated that Hood had to apologize. Hood never did. After the war was over, John Hood moved to New Orleans. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful at his business attempts. Sadly he and his wife died of yellow fever in 1879, leaving behind ten children.

The original site of Fort Hood was selected in 1941. The construction of South Camp Hood was started in 1942. North Camp Hood, seventeen miles north of South Camp Hood, was established after the first land acquisition and the founding of the cantonment area.

Exemplifying the Korean buildup and subsequent military preparedness was Fort Hood, Texas, at the time the largest single military installation in the country. This 340-square-mile area of rolling hills and plains had reduced its activity at the end of World War II. But with the outbreak of fighting in 1950 it was reactivated and expanded. South Camp Hood was designated as Fort Hood, a permanent installation, in 1951. North Camp Hood became North Fort Hood. What is now West Fort Hood was formerly a US Air Force Base. Both the airfield and the base were run by the U.S. Air Force from 1947 to 1952.

From 1952 to 1969, the facilities were run by the U.S. Army under the Defense Atomic Support Agency. It became part of Fort Hood in 1969. Not until 1953 did extensive permanent construction begin, in response to the developing Cold War. More than 380 permanent officer and enlisted quarters were built. Some 200 family housing units; an elementary school; a water supply system; a post exchange; and an enlisted club went up.

In 1961 the Southwestern Division and its districts began a comprehensive master-planning program as the basis for developing Army installations in the Southwest. This pace-setting program marked the first time that photogrammetry, large digital computers and composite photographic techniques were combined with then-conventional engineering and planning processes. A small staff, primarily in the Fort Worth District, made in-depth studies of existing and future requirements for land use, buildings, airfields, roads, utilities and drainage systems. The plans that resulted from these studies became the basis for development into the 1980s. Although the Office of the Chief of Engineers considered the growth factors used in the plans overly bold, time has shown they were very conservative.

At Fort Hood, the master plan called for 1,000 housing units, a theater, library, field house, barracks and officers quarters, a dental clinic and tactical equipment shops. Construction started in 1961. In 1963 ground-breaking ceremonies were held for the installation's Darnall Army Hospital which opened in April 1965.

The work continued into the 1970s as the post's population increased and the Army established a policy of modernizing living and recreation facilities for its soldiers. These projects have not been spectacular for the Southwestern Division, but they have made Fort Hood its single largest continuing military effort. Similar work on a smaller scale took place at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and a number of air force bases in the region.

The first train steamed into town in May 1882, giving birth to the city of Killeen. The railroad positioned Killeen as the central shipping point for the surrounding agricultural area. Throughout the late 1800s up to 1942, Killeen remained a small but bustling rural community of less than 2,000 residents. When the Army came to Killeen, it was a small, sleepy cotton farming community of twelve thousand. Much has changed since then. In 1951, Killeen's future was secured when Congress designated Camp Hood as Fort Hood, a permanent installation. Killeen offers top notch dining and shopping. There are many first-class hotel accommodations. Stillhouse Hollow Lake and Belton Lake are both a short drive from the city, Both lakes offer a wide variety of recreational activities.

Today Fort Hood is a three hundred and forty square mile installation. The cantonment area of Fort Hood is adjacent to Killeen, Texas in the beautiful "Hill and Lake" country of the Great State of Texas. The post stretches 26 miles from east to west and 24 miles from north to south. Fort Hood location: approximately 60 miles north of the capital city of Austin and 50 miles south of Waco. The city of Killeen borders Fort Hood to the east and Copperas Cove borders Fort Hood to the west. Access to the post is from IH-35 to U.S.Highway 190 West, at Belton, toward Killeen.

Fort Hood is located approximately: - 50 miles Southwest of Waco, Texas - 60 miles Northeast of Austin, Texas - 150 miles Northeast of San Antonio, Texas - 160 miles South of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas - 180 miles Southeast of Abilene, Texas - 180 miles Northwest of Houston, Texas - 230 miles South of Wichita Falls,Texas/Oklahoma border - 245 miles Southwest of Marshall,Texas/Louisiana border - 275 miles Northeast of Del Rio, Texas/Mexico border - 280 miles Southwest of Texarkana, Texas/Arkansas border - 280 miles Northeast of Laredo, Texas/Mexico border - 290 miles West of Orange, Texas/Louisiana border - 315 miles East of the Midland-Odessa, Texas - 340 miles Southeast of Lubbock, Texas - 385 miles North of Brownsville, Texas/Mexico border - 425 miles Southeast of Amarillo, Texas - 575 miles East of El Paso, Texas/New Mexico border

Old has given way to new as Fort Hood facilities undergo a major upgrade. Throughout post, the original World War II-era wooden buildings have been mostly torn down to make room for modern brick and stone buildings. On an annual basis, Congress funds millions of dollars of construction programs on Fort Hood. Programs in progress include the Soldier Development Center, an improved rail loading area, a vehicle maintenance facility at West Fort Hood, additional family housing at West Fort Hood and barracks rebuilding.

There are more than 5,000 sets of quarters for enlisted soldiers and their families, and an additional 634 quarters are set aside for officers and their family members. During the next five years, more than $200 million will be spent renovating and replacing the post’s family housing as part of the Residen-tial Communities Initiative. The post also has nearly 100 barracks for enlisted soldiers, 75 guest quarters and more than 340 transient quarters.

In its arsenal, the post has an array of modernized warfighting equipment. There are more than 500 tanks, including the most modern — the M1A2 System Enhancement Program Abrams tank — almost 500 Bradley fighting vehicles, about 1,600 other tracked vehicles, almost 10,000 wheeled vehicles and close to 200 fixed and rotary-winged aircraft includ-ing the high-tech AH-64D Longbow Apache.

Being the first in the digitized warfare arena and having the most modern equipment, Fort Hood soldiers also use state-of-the art training facilities. Housed in the Close Combat Tactical Trainer are exact replicas of tank and Bradley fighting vehicle crew compart-ments, which allow troops to play realistic video-game type scenarios to familiarize them-selves with the equipment and how to interact as a unit before taking the high-dollar equip-ment to the field.

Once in the field, soldiers find themselves in a semi-arid terrain that has 413 miles of paved roads and 449 miles of dirt roads. Live-fire exercises take place on 50 ranges and two scaled-down ranges located throughout the post’s maneuver area.

The overall post population is estimated at about 71,000, of which are almost 42,000 soldiers. The rest are family members living on post, employees of the Army Air Force Exchange Service, volunteers and other employees. The 1st Cavalry Division is staffed with more than 17,000 soldiers, while the 4th Infantry Division has more than 11,000. The 13th Corps Support Com-mand has about 5,600, the 3rd Signal Brigade has 1,600 and the 89th Military Police Brigade has almost 1,000. Also: the Headquarters Command has about 850 soldiers; the 3rd Personnel Group with almost 800; the 21st Cavalry Brigade with more than 300; the 21st Replacement Company with more than 150; and other units at Fort Hood have about 1,200 soldiers. There are more than 37,000 enlisted soldiers and more than 3,700 officers. In addition, more than 300 Air Force airmen pull duty at the post.

Darnall Army Community Hospital officially received U.S. Army medical center status during a rededication ceremony on May 1, 2006. As a consequence, it was renamed the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center. The name change was meant to signify the facility's ability plan for expanded new facility requirements, specialty care services and vital training programs in the future. In addition, medical centers generally provide a greater depth of clinical support, particularly with respect to specialty care services, and also normally host a broader range of graduate medical education programs. As of April 2006, the hospital had approximately 2,500 military, civilian and contracted personnel supporting more than 150,000 TRICARE beneficiaries living within the hospital’s catchment area. On an average day, there were 3,867 outpatient visits, 26 surgeries, seven newborn deliveries, 170 visits to the emergency department and nearly 5,000 prescriptions filled.

you leave a ban state behind.

Oh hell yea! I wanted out of NY once i caught a taste of the south last year. Finally made it happen.

Warm weather and CCW !

ETA: knew that place was huge but DAMN!

I left Ft Hood when my enlistment ended in 1996 and I've missed it ever since.  I had a really good time down there.  You may have to drive alittle bit but Austin is a great city to visit on the weekends.  I lived in Temple for awhile and it was a nice little area at that time and just far enough away from Ft Hood that I could forget about being a soldier when I went home.

If you fish & hunt you'll love it there.  Seemed like there was never a span of more than a week when something wasn't either biting or in season.  The deer on Hood are little bitty buggers but they sport some truly impressive racks.  It's not too difficult to find feral hog hunting closeby and there was no closed season on them when I was there.  Nothin wrong with almost free bacon & pork chops!  

There was some excellent fishing for largemouth, crappie, white bass, wipers  & stipers down there all within a 30 minute drive.  Ft Hood had a facility on Belton Reservoir where you could rent fishing boats, pontoon boats, ski boats and jet ski's.  It wasn't terribly expensive and was a great source of entertainment on the weekends.

I would start looking for a place to live just outside of where most of the GI's are.  It tends to be a little nicer if you're willing to drive a bit farther to work.  The on base housing was nice back then though, I just didn't want the hassle and liked escaping to the "real" world when I was off.

Good luck to you down there, I still miss it.

Thanks for your service and take care!  

Quoted: I left Ft Hood when my enlistment ended in 1996 and I've missed it ever since.  I had a really good time down there.  You may have to drive alittle bit but Austin is a great city to visit on the weekends.  I lived in Temple for awhile and it was a nice little area at that time and just far enough away from Ft Hood that I could forget about being a soldier when I went home. If you fish & hunt you'll love it there.  Seemed like there was never a span of more than a week when something wasn't either biting or in season.  The deer on Hood are little bitty buggers but they sport some truly impressive racks.  It's not too difficult to find feral hog hunting closeby and there was no closed season on them when I was there.  Nothin wrong with almost free bacon & pork chops!   There was some excellent fishing for largemouth, crappie, white bass, wipers  & stipers down there all within a 30 minute drive.  Ft Hood had a facility on Belton Reservoir where you could rent fishing boats, pontoon boats, ski boats and jet ski's.  It wasn't terribly expensive and was a great source of entertainment on the weekends. I would start looking for a place to live just outside of where most of the GI's are.  It tends to be a little nicer if you're willing to drive a bit farther to work.  The on base housing was nice back then though, I just didn't want the hassle and liked escaping to the "real" world when I was off. Good luck to you down there, I still miss it. Thanks for your service and take care!

Sounds great. Yea im with ya on the off post housing feels great to get away.

height=8

Quoted: Sounds great. Yea im with ya on the off post housing feels great to get away.

You might want to rethink living on post.  The houses are probably nicer than you think...

Traffic on Ft Hood is HORRIBLE during peak times. Living on post makes for a lot less SITTING in traffic...

The only ranges I've been to is the Privately Owned Weapons range on post and www.stans-range.com/range.html

There are some good gun shops around, but most are fairly expensive.  The following are places I've purchased firearms from locally:
www.gtdist.com
www.justglocks.com
mooneysfirearms.com/
www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/stores/tx/round_rock.htm

Welcome to Ft Hood.

Don't drive on Battalion AVE during PT hours...

I left in 2000 and went back around 2003 on TDY.  The traffic was 50 times worse with all the new security measures.  Not sure how it is now.
I lived on base over near the airfield, it wasn't that bad, but it was the older housing.  PT traffic is crazy, do a few recons before you report on your first day, seriously!
Lots to do, Austin is cool, plus you could (not sure if u still can) have open containers in the car so everyone but your DD can drink on the way down.
Good luck,, in fact my cousin is there now in the Cav as a medic now that I think about it....

Glad to hear it got better, it had to, nowhere to go from rock bottom. It sucked so bad 25 years ago. Possibly the worst AD post the Army had.


It was so bad, the only way you could get off Ft Hood was to sign a bar to reenlistment, which a shit pile of people did. Everyone who rotated back from Germany & Korea went there, a pile of the tankers from my old unit came into my new unit. That was probably the only good thing. That and the specialty mess halls.

Dry county. Harker Heights. Killen. Flying mutant cockroaches that crunched when you smacked them with a shoe, only to fly off when you picked it up again.


I am truly glad it got better, you guys have no clue how bad it sucked.

Thnaks for the heads up ! Mooneys has an upper i was looking at not too shabby

Spent a couple months training on N Ft Hood and that sucked ass.  Ft Hood seemed nice though except for the traffic as stated above.

North Fort sucks ass, but they do have a giant PX.

All kinds of hot nasty dirty places for 11B to get hot nasty and dirty in.

you might want to live in harker heights.
Fort Hood isn't the "Great Place"

you 1stCav or 3ACR? or 4ID getting ready to be 1stCav?

I would try to help you, but I'm a female and don't know shit.

But welcome to Texas!

*Update*
This place is great. Nice gyms ,busy towns, good chow ! Im in the 1st Cav.  Looks like its gonna get hot real soon but not here . Found a real nice place in cove the wife should be a bit more comfortable there while im gone. Thanks for the advise folks !

Pt. traffic is insane.

Quoted: *Update* This place is great. Nice gyms ,busy towns, good chow ! Im in the 1st Cav.  Looks like its gonna get hot real soon but not here . Found a real nice place in cove the wife should be a bit more comfortable there while im gone. Thanks for the advise folks !

give it some time, you will grow to dislike it.