So.. I just got my orders and..

[Komenko]

the Bars in TJ close at 3am now due to a couple of murders 6 months ago. no telling when that will be lifted. I've been working on Pendleton since 2004 and its not so bad. I was the same way when i was in MOS school and got orders to Okinawa instead of Pendleton and i had a blast for the year i was on the rock. also there is lots to do in socal. as many have said there isn't anything you can't set your mind too here. as for the girls, go to LA or San Diego. the locals that live around the bases know better than to date a Marine, but unlike locals the college girls they don't know no better lol.

[usmchauer]

the Bars in TJ close at 3am now due to a couple of murders 6 months ago. no telling when that will be lifted. I've been working on Pendleton since 2004 and its not so bad. I was the same way when i was in MOS school and got orders to Okinawa instead of Pendleton and i had a blast for the year i was on the rock. also there is lots to do in socal. as many have said there isn't anything you can't set your mind too here. as for the girls, go to LA or San Diego. the locals that live around the bases know better than to date a Marine, but unlike locals the college girls they don't know no better lol.

You're right on all counts! As a Marine I never ventured south of the border to TJ. As a civilian living just over an hour away I STILL wouldn't go there.

[sscjoe]

I spent 3 of my 4 yrs in SoCal. North from Pendleton you have Laquna Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach to name a few. South you have Torrey Pines( Blacks Beach), La Jolla. SoCal offers some of the best surfing and young blond girls this country has to offer.
Horn Dog Alert---Damn Kim was that you at El Toro

[Hamelink83]

Oki has it's advantages and disadvantages.

Pros:
Another country
Beautiful place
Good food
Slutty Air Force chicks

Cons:
Red/Gold card
Have to at least be an NCO to drive
Language barrier
Miss a lot of things that go on in the states
Lack of non-military/non-dependent American women

Getting So Cal as a first duty station isn't all that bad. I can imagine that if your in a non-deployable unit that this place go start to suck after 2 years. Thank God I'm Division.

[SlingerDun]

I know why many people move to socal: climate and topography. Jobs, maybe?! congestion and crowds?? probably not.

I enjoyed Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores with it's rolling hills and sea breezes bending the sage, hot in summer chilly in winter. Watching bison graze late spring fescue tall enough to tickle flies off a range horses belly. The occasional bivouac under the shade of a live oak. Just like them old time vaquero's

The entire area from El Centro to San Bernardino and points beyond has just gotten too freakin crowded. When a Marine finds the only place he can enjoy a little solitude is while standing night watch on field op's or weekend liberty in the Panamint Range of Death Valley NP, it's too crowded.

--->Dave

[echo3oscar1833]

I know why many people move to socal: climate and topography. Jobs, maybe?! congestion and crowds?? probably not.

I enjoyed Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores with it's rolling hills and sea breezes bending the sage, hot in summer chilly in winter. Watching bison graze late spring fescue tall enough to tickle flies off a range horses belly. The occasional bivouac under the shade of a live oak. Just like them old time vaquero's

The entire area from El Centro to San Bernardino and points beyond has just gotten too freakin crowded. When a Marine finds the only place he can enjoy a little solitude is while standing night watch on field op's or weekend liberty in the Panamint Range of Death Valley NP, it's too crowded.

--->Dave

Agree I used to go down to the beach at night on Camp Delmar for some quite time. That was until the Area Guard ordered me to stop one night with a M-16 pointed at my grape. It was kinda funny, some PFC jumps out behind a car with an M-16, tells me to halt and identify myself. I did, then got down on the deck, presented ID, etc, etc. Didn't realize I couldn't be down there late at night. Did it for about a month before getting stopped by the Area Guard.

[Komenko]

Agree I used to go down to the beach at night on Camp Delmar for some quite time. That was until the Area Guard ordered me to stop one night with a M-16 pointed at my grape. It was kinda funny, some PFC jumps out behind a car with an M-16, tells me to halt and identify myself. I did, then got down on the deck, presented ID, etc, etc. Didn't realize I couldn't be down there late at night. Did it for about a month before getting stopped by the Area Guard.

You should have been able to go to Del Mar beach at night! MCCS runs the Grounds there and there is fire Pits there for peats sake! Power trippin PFC needs to be put in his place!

[echo3oscar1833]

You should have been able to go to Del Mar beach at night! MCCS runs the Grounds there and there is fire Pits there for peats sake! Power trippin PFC needs to be put in his place!

Thats what I thought, but I didn't want to press the issue. I was a boot then myself, in MOS School.

[Komenko]

Thats what I thought, but I didn't want to press the issue. I was a boot then myself, in MOS School.

lol oh so you might have been breaking some battalion orders then.

[echo3oscar1833]

lol oh so you might have been breaking some battalion orders then.

Maybe lol, i dunno they never said don't go haha

[Komenko]

Maybe lol, i dunno they never said don't go haha

Student curfew?

[echo3oscar1833]

Student curfew?

I don't remember, probably was though

[zx6rdr]

Yeah, If you are perm personnel out in the fleet, you can be out there all night! hell, they even have those cabins that you can rent out for the weekend..... mmmmmmm fun all night drinking parties on that beach!!!!!

[TJR1070]

I think I have yall beat, Upstate NY. Next to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.... Don't really think I should have to say much more than that... haha

STW, was in Rochester for my wife's baby shower in Jan., cold enough in Brockport but not that much snow. Irondequoit had some lake effect snow but it didn't seem as much as other years, just glad I don't have to put up with it all the time like you do. Going back in May for turkey season hopefully it will be all melted by then.

[LetUsNvr4Get]

Let me get this straight you WANT to come to the Rock ? HAHA. Well I didn't 4 years at Pendleton, granted 3 of those i was deployed but still, thats where i met my wife and all my friends are and now i got stationed over here, not on the "Rock", i'm actually on mainland at a Naval Base but still, I'd give anything to get back stateside brother, so count your blessings believe me.