Enjoy the 757. I have spent a little time down there and it was an interesting place. VA Driven has a section for the 757 where they host car meets and what not. When I had friends down there they would all hang out on VA Driven for some reason.

they will ticket you like non other.

+1

Keep your Florida residence and plates. You will get away with a lot more.

Also open carry a pistol and ride the local buses. Hopefully they try to throw you off and you can sue for big money.

my car has gone 10 years with no front plate--in states that require it. no tickets. holla.

I wonder if you'll get to check out the AVET (Aircrew Virtual Environment Trainer) or AGSSII. I got some play time at a tradeshow in that thing and it's badass.

oh yeah you can do that in the navy. Samnavy did that as well.

I lived there for my last couple years of HS, my mom and stepdad were there for a couple of decades. Ghent and West Ghent are where I lived, nice and quiet, "family" neighborhoods, not the cheapest but feels good and homey. There are both houses and brownstone-style apartments all over the neighborhood, Colley Ave (kind of through the center of the 'hoods) has a great independent movie theater (the Naro) and some good restaurants and a great donut joint in a few short blocks. You are about 10-25min south of the base depending on traffic, 5 min from downtown, close to but not affected negatively by major roads so getting around is relatively easy.

Depending on what rank you've achieved, you should receive a per diem for off base housing. Gratz on getting the gig you wanted.

Blew out an eardrum diving yesterday but other than that all is well.

hey handsome, will you ever come back down and see us?

Yup, unless you've got a hard-on for keeping residency in your state of record (only people who are retarded fucking Red Sox fans and insist it's a point of pride keep their Mass residency.) Every other dude I know is either Florida or Texas. The main benefit, besides no state income tax, is that you get to register all your vehicles through the mail... with ZERO smog requirements.

Nubs... your BAH as for E-4 and below is $1359. That'll actually get you into a small house in many parts of Norfolk/Virginia Beach. I don't think you have kids, so here's what I'd do... head out there by yourself for a month and live in the barracks while you do house-hunting. Take some time to explore the town and figure out what's what. After a month, and when you've found a place, THEN move the wife out and do your household goods move.

Take a look at a website called militarybyowner.com.

And I didn't know you were going FTS... it's actually a career move I've been pondering. I may be picking your brain someday.

Stop by my bar sometime. Sam was getting frequent flyers miles here for awhile, till he left! The car scene here is good, lots of shows meets and many different types of racing. Also only 3 hours from VIR!

^No doubt I'll live there again... maybe soon. My board in June gives me about a 20% chance of moving back sometime this summer. I want a ride in the Mustang!

I lived there for a couple of years when I was in high school. We were on one of the smaller bases around the main navy base. Be choosy when it comes to neighborhoods and school districts because there are some really bad 'hoods in parts of Norfolk. Back when, there were a few nice areas near Old Dominion University and in Ghent. And lots of the city of Va. Beach was good but might mean a little longer commute, but nothing as bad as commuting in SFL so it will probably be no big deal. Portsmouth is wall to wall hood. It has been awhile but I remember- don't live anywhere where your commute involves a tunnel because they are always a big traffic bottleneck.

My mother was a teacher there so we got a break on tuition at a small k-12 school called Ryan Academy that was just down Little Creek Rd from the base toward the east. It saved me from going to Maury HS in the hood and I had a few really good teachers there. IIRC, it wasn't particularly expensive anyway. I know you have a kid to worry about so I thought I'd throw that out there.

Good luck, buddy.

We will have another one in October! That is, assuming that late spring = late fall.

Hey now, Maury grad here. It wasn't hoodie when I was there (class of '89), may be now though. When were you in town? My mom and stepfather were teachers there, too, up at Meadowbrook Elementary (I think...been a while).

Yup, makes all the difference in the world. Makes way more sense now to head there yourself for a month or two and do all your homework before bringing the wife/kid out. Schools range from fucking awesome to straight up barbed-wire metal-detectors. If you've never looked, now is the time to investigate private schools or home-schooling.

There are A LOT (you wouldn't believe it) of military that home school... and the kids don't turn out all fucked up with zero social skills like you'd think due to all the support groups. Of course he'll miss out on getting his ass kicked a few times, which is a completely under-rated learning experience, but he'll be Chinese smart. Of course that means the wife won't be able to work any sort of normal job, so kiss a second income goodbye... and you're going to want that second income on Airman salary.

Sending the kid to private school frees up the wife to work a regular job to pay for it. Norfolk Academy if I remember right was like $18k a year. There are lots of other cheaper options that are just as good.

I was there '86-88 and my friends that went there said it was "exciting" at times. A buddy got in hot water with the locals because a black chick with purple hair liked him and some other dude was jealous and tried to pull the race card with his buddies. Did you by chance know a guy named Thad Adams at Maury (Class of '87 or '88 maybe)?

Samnavy,
Yeah, I don't miss a single ass kicking I didn't get anywhere I lived. I had enough of those in 2nd and 3rd grade in Hawaii for being one of the only white kids (haole crap go home!). Aren't these asians cute and peaceful....

Its running great! Made 670whp on the dyno a few weeks back. Got to tell you its a hand full on the street. Great fun tho...