My son will be graduating from basic training and AIT at Fort Sill in OK. I will be taking my family out to see his graduation but the graduation is only for one day. I will be there from Sunday Oct. 31 until Friday Nov. 5th. Is there anything special I should see while the family and I are out west?


AKASL
LIVE FREE OR DIE
WHITE MOUNTAINS
NEW HAMPSHIRE

oklahoma? shit no

There should be some decent Western museums right around Fort Sill.  Learn a bit about the U.S. Government's push Westward.  

guess there isn't too much to see

AKASL

Quoted: guess there isn't too much to see AKASL

well, it is the land where people were forced to go because the us gov't didnt even want it....wtf were you expecting?

Lawton, OK? It'd be best to keep you wife and kids inside the hotel until graduation.  And tell your son to stay away from any of the nail salons, beauty parlors, or the like.

Say Hi to Bigfoot for me

Well if you had time you could go to Tulsa for the Gun Show Oct. 23-24 over 3800 tables.  

Oklahoma is not 'out west'.  It is an even more god forsaken portion of Texas, one that even the Mexicans wouldn't claim and the current Texans ignore like a gay cousin.  The Founding Fathers tried to give Oklahoma to the Indians, but eventually it got overran by refugees from Arkansas.    There ain't much to see there.  Lawton Oklahoma is an unusually blighted portion of that state.

Fort Sill has Geronimo's grave and I believe the FA museum is there.

Take some rash medicine.  A lot of people at Fort Sill get afflicted by a condition called 'red leg' and he might need some help to clear it up.



On a serious note, there really isn't much to see except the different things associated with the Field Artillery.  Tell your boy congratulations from ARFCOM, maybe someday he can aspire to be a 13F FISTer in our beloved Army.

HooAh!  Artillery, King of Battle!

Quoted: oklahoma? shit no

As a Nebraskan that sums up what I was thinking.

Go to the museum at Ft.Sill and check the cell where Gerinimo was kept. The circle path in the floor of the cell where he walked is still visible.  Wichita Mountains is kind of neat.

If you have time to travel to Oklahoma City check out the Cowboy Hall of Fame.. fullclip

If you're going to have a rental car and don't mind taking a little drive, you might want to go to Oklahoma City and see the OKC Bombing Memorial...pretty sobering.

Just a thought...

Too bad you're not here this upcoming weekend...you could make it up to Tulsa for the Wanenmacher's Gun Show...over 11 acres of gun stuff under one roof. Click the link below:

CLICK HERE...

Quoted: Go to the museum at Ft.Sill and check the cell where Gerinimo was kept. The circle path in the floor of the cell where he walked is still visible.  Wichita Mountains is kind of neat. If you have time to travel to Oklahoma City check out the Cowboy Hall of Fame.. fullclip

+1

I went to Basic there in 96, but after AIT had a chance to look around.  There is an FA museum, Geronimo's grave, the original Ft. Sill is a museum, and... um, that's about all I can remember unless Lawton is having a rodeo.

The Wichita Mountains, and Mount Scott.  Ft Sill Has some cool museums on post.
On the east side of the 4 lane is the airstrip, and hopefully the old balloon hanger where I was based in the 4th/507th Medevac in 1977... Thats about it...Lawton pretty much sucked in the 1970's, and probably still does today.
But you have plenty of time to go to Dallas/Ft Worth, or OKC.

the mountains around Ft Sill will be a nice visit..
awesome country.

the museum of natural history in Norman is pretty neat..as is the historical part of the capitol- in OKC, also the national cowboy hall of fame is in OKC as well.

if you can go to Bartlesville- WOOLOROC is probably the coolest thing in the state.. its the OLD PHILLIPS cowboy ranch- museum..there is also the TALL GRASS PRAIRIE.

Quoted: Take some rash medicine.  A lot of people at Fort Sill get afflicted by a condition called 'red leg' and he might need some help to clear it up.

       

Quoted: Thats about it...Lawton pretty much sucked in the 1970's, and probably still does today.

The whole town of Lawton sucks.........for twenty bucks.

National Cowboy Hall of Fame & Oklahoma City Bombing Museum, both located in OKC.

Dallas and Fort Worth are also within driving distances of Ft. Sill.

I've never been there, but I understand the Okies left during the Dustbowl and went to California.

They weren't very well received.

The Murrah building memorial is definately worth seeing.   I've never been to the Cowboy Hall of Fame but have heard good things about it.   The 45th infantry museum is awesome and it's free!!  

If you have younger children the Omniplex is a decent hands-on science museum that often has other exhibits displayed.   The zoo is next door to the Omniplex and Remingtom Park (horse racing) is right down the street although I have no idea if they are racing at this time of year.  

Norman (OU) has a brand-new natural science/history museum.  Haven't visited it since it was finished so can't vouch for it.

There are various other minor attractions in OKC but I think the memorial would be the only must-see with the 45th infantry museum being a great way to burn a few hours.  LOT's of weapons from modern back to early colonial America.   Somewhere around 20 static displays of tanks (including 2 Shermans....my fave), artillery, aircraft, etc.....   Their WWII displays are really good with quite a bit of Hitler's personal effects such as china, silverware, mirrors, etc....

The Field Artillery museum has a lot of cool vintage artillery. Geronimo's Guard House is worth a visit. Witchita Mountain Wildlife Preserve is a great place to spend a couple of hours; lots of prairie dogs, buffalo, long horn steer, and various other species are on hand. You can meander right up next to the buffalo; they are accustomed to having humans approach them for close up shots (camera). If I'm not mistaken, they conduct controlled hunts there once a year to cull the herd.

Lawton looks like a town out of a 1930's gangster movie; very depressing place.

Went to basic and AIT there in 1976. The wife and I attended my son's graduation there in 2001 (MLRS).

Don't know if this place is still around, but ask for directions to a restaurant called Meers, north of Lawton.  Looks like the worst dump you've ever seen, but you can order burgers made of buffalo meat (heavenly!!) and they offer tenderloin served by the ounce -- they bring it out on a platter, you mark off how much you want, they weigh it, cook it, serve it.

When the "Okies" left for California, it raised the average intelligence levels of both States. I'm a 4th generation "Okie", and you can't be many more than that, unless you're an Indian. There are lots of things to do in Oklahoma, though not many around Lawton. Go to OKC and visit the National Western and Cowboy Heritage Museum (formerly known as the Cowboy Hall of Fame). It's a neat museum with lots of stuff to see. Then go North to Perry, Oklahoma, the best place on the Planet to live. We have a Cherokee Strip Museum, commemorating the settlers of the run of 1893 (the opening of the "Cherokee Strip for you history challenged folks), the Charles Machine Works plant, and a new Budweiser distribution center. We have a really neat downtown area, built around a square with the beautiful courthouse in the center. But the best thing about Perry is the people. The most friendly in the country.

Perry is also known throughout the universe as the "Wrestling Capitol of the World" boasting 33 High School State Championships (a national record) and 135 individual state champions (another national record), plus several Olympians, NCAA champtions and legends including the great Danny Hodge.

So, come on up here, look me up and I will give you a tour. You won't want to leave.

There is a reason that there is a wagon wheel in front of a lot of the farms there.  They didn't mean to stay, THE WAGON BROKE!  

Check out Woolaroc outside Bartlesville which is north of Tulsa. It is the old Frank Phillips ranch. Has some exotic animals and a great Indian museum. Huge gun collection there. Really neat place.

www.woolaroc.org/