Any experiences with Camp Lejeune?

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I'm looking at my possible assignments for next year, potentially 2-3 year orders. I'm sure there are guys here who have been through CL - any experiences, positive/negative? Places to shoot?
 
All I know if that they use to have an active post and station rifle team that would come up and shoot interservice rifle matches at Quantico.

B
 
All I know if that they use to have an active post and station rifle team that would come up and shoot interservice rifle matches at Quantico.

B

That avatar is priceless, do you know what movie that is from? Getting pelted with hot cases, can't get much funnier than that!

Charles.
 
Spent a couple weeks on the Courthouse Bay side at SMTC or JMTC or whatever they're calling it nowadays.

Wasn't impressed with the area. Strip joints and trailer parks as far as the eye can see. Wasn't too impressed with the base itself either, but in all fairness, most of the time I was on base was either in the classroom or underway, or in the Courthouse Bay area.
 
I stopped by C.L. on my way back from my first visit to P.I. In 30 years. Jville was junk when I was at C.L. but I noticed that they completely closed off the downtown area. What's with that? Was the reputation so bad that it got shut down?
 
I remember the first time I got to Boston in 1969.

I ended up in a part of town called the "Combat Zone."

But the bars were all filled with drunken Sailors and Marines, and they were fighting over the ugliest, skanky whores I ever saw![smile]

I would imagine anywhere near a Marine base would be just as bad.....pretty low standards as fas as the chicks go!

Kind of like Fayateville, NC...and the home of the 82nd![rofl][rofl][rofl][rofl][rofl][rofl]
 
I spent 16 years at Lejeune.

About half of that as a single guy living on base in the barracks and the other half as a "brown bagger" living out in town.

There are definitely some seedier parts of town, but I think we lived in a nice neighborhood.

In the last several years a good portion of the base housing (not the BEQs) have been rebuilt and there is a lot of new construction out in town.

The base beaches are nice. The pavilions and rental bungalows have been redone recently. The beach areas are largely undeveloped and uncrowded when compared to Topsail Island, Myrtle Beach, and Virginia Beach.

If you are into wreck diving, there are a number of sites just off the coast. The water can be murky and the currents swift, but some people enjoy that challenge.

For recreational shooting there is Sportsman's Lodge and Flatwoods Outfitters, each just a few miles from the base.

The Jacksonville / Onslow County area is referred to as the "Coastal Plain" - and plain it is - flat, sandy and mostly scrub pine.

I've been told that the offshore fishing is good, but I never participated in that activity.

In the summer the heat index can reach 105-110, which is one thing if you are just walking outside to check the mail and completely different if you are on a ten-day patrolling exercise.

Lejeune is along the hurricane coast, and in the mid to late 1990's they got hit with a couple right in a row.

Deploying out of Lejeune gets you to different parts of the world than deploying from Pendleton does. (Not sure if that is part of your decision making criteria or not?)

Camp Lejeune has the largest concentration of Marines in the world. It is extremely rare to fine a single (as in unmarried) service-member who liked the area, but for many of the married service members (such as my self), the area allowed us to transfer between operational and training assignments without tearing the families away from work, school, and friends every four years.

YMMV.
 
Jville was junk when I was at C.L. but I noticed that they completely closed off the downtown area. What's with that? Was the reputation so bad that it got shut down?

You might be referring to the area known as "Court Street". At my first liberty brief after checking in, the NCOs told us to stay away from Court Street (hookers, drugs, "buy me drinkie" girls, getting "rolled", fights, etc.) - which is the first place we went!

The city tried to clean up the area, buy turning the roads into pedestrian walkways and shutting down many of the bars.

Also gone now to make room for a highway interchange is "The Second Front", a strip of bars across from Camp Geiger.

Ya know - the one thing Jville didn't have was a soft serve ice cream joint - that should tell you something!
 
Yup it's one world for the single types, a totally different world for the married-with-family types either on-base or off-base.

Any way you cut it, it stinks for single types and you get real familiar, real fast, with "the swoop." You live for 72's and 96's and get out of Dodge as fast as you can. Most guys headed for Norfolk, DC, or Raleigh/Durham. Some even set out for NYC.

Floats and deployments can be interesting but never something to bet on.

If you are married it seemed like most families thought it was fine except for July and August, when the weather is pretty bad -- hot, humid, still (except for right on the coast).
 
I was there with a friend back in 95 or 96. We went out to one of the titty bars and a cute girl convinced him to exchange some money for her services. She was cute and he was drunk so he paid up and she took him into the back room, where she introduced him to some old hag and left. He already paid so.....

First time I ever heard of a bait and switch BJ. [grin]

I've been back 2 or 3 times since and while it's been polished on the outside, it's still Jacksonville underneath.
 
Yup it's one world for the single types, a totally different world for the married-with-family types either on-base or off-base.

Any way you cut it, it stinks for single types and you get real familiar, real fast, with "the swoop." You live for 72's and 96's and get out of Dodge as fast as you can. Most guys headed for Norfolk, DC, or Raleigh/Durham. Some even set out for NYC.

Floats and deployments can be interesting but never something to bet on.

If you are married it seemed like most families thought it was fine except for July and August, when the weather is pretty bad -- hot, humid, still (except for right on the coast).


And I wonder if "Swoop Circle" is still located in the same spot!!
 
I can't comment from the point of view of a Marine but my son who is a Marine stationed there so I've been there many of times. Have stayed both on base and off. Didn't think Jacksonville was that bad, but then again I'm originaly from Jersey, if that says anything, yeah bring on the jokes. Huge base and have to agree with "Andy in NH", there's alot of new construction, summers are brutal and night and day difference experience as far as being single or married serviceman.
 
Deploying out of Lejeune gets you to different parts of the world than deploying from Pendleton does. (Not sure if that is part of your decision making criteria or not?)

Camp Lejeune has the largest concentration of Marines in the world. It is extremely rare to fine a single (as in unmarried) service-member who liked the area, but for many of the married service members (such as my self), the area allowed us to transfer between operational and training assignments without tearing the families away from work, school, and friends every four years.

YMMV.

I'm Navy, not concerned about deploying, this would be a shore tour for me. I figured it would suck as a single officer but I can't imagine P.I. being any better. Still praying that something opens up anywhere else on the Eastern seaboard.
 
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I'm Navy, not concerned about deploying, this would be a shore tour for me. I figured it would suck as a single officer but I can't imagine P.I. being any better. Still praying that something opens up anywhere else on the Eastern seaboard.


The area around PI is actually really nice. Not sure about on-base housing or any of that stuff (I was there as a recruit,) but if you could get BAH (or whatever the equivalent is for an officer) and live in Hilton Head you'd be living the good life.

The vast majority of Marines on PI don't get liberty, so for the most part they're not out in town going to titty bars and getting into bar fights.
 
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The Beaufort area is awesome. My dad actually just moved there a couple weeks ago from Holyoke to enjoy his retirement.
 
Still praying that something opens up anywhere else on the Eastern seaboard.

MCAS Beaufort is close to Parris Island. You may want to check that out.

Not sure if it has the same "big base" problems as does Lejeune or if the surrounding area has an unbalanced male to female ratio.
 
Jacksonville is a dump.- THIS!
Also Camp Lejeune sucks.

Beaufort, SC with PI & MCAS Beaufort is the nicest place the MC ever stationed me.
Every day that goes by, I miss The Lowcountry of South Carolina.

smitty
 
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I'm Navy, not concerned about deploying, this would be a shore tour for me. I figured it would suck as a single officer but I can't imagine P.I. being any better. Still praying that something opens up anywhere else on the Eastern seaboard.


I went back to Parris Island in 1977 for some schooling at H&S Bn. I much preferred PI to MCB CL. I had a car and was within striking distance of a lot of nice places. I preferred Savannah, Ga and Hilton Head. I went back to PI for a reunion in the spring of 2008 and found Beaufort to have grown significantly since the 70's, but still pleasant. If given a choice, I'd select PI/MCAS Beaufort.
 
Spent a brief ammount of time in both PI and Lejuene. Jacksonville is a garbage pit, covered in #### and set on fire. Stay away. I know all Marine Corps towns are garbage but Jacksonville made Oceanslime (outside Pendleton) seem like heaven on earth. If you do end up down there, whatever you do, avoid the women unless you like filthy, thieving, morally inept whores. You would not believe the stories my friends have had the misfortune of living. I didn't believe it until I saw it over and over and over again. Watch married mothers take off their wedding rings, hide pictures of deployed husbands, tell you they are just the baby sitter and that its their friends house. Honestly these women have made a profession out of being scum. You seriously won't believe it unless you had a really bad childhood. But I digress...

On Parris Island I was a miserable recruit, but one thing I will say is it was very pretty. A lot of hot vacation spots are near by. I'm still waiting on a friend to grow a pair and join so I'll have an excuse to visit. I'd definitely go with PI.

Mike

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Back in the 60's during my USMC days we spent most of liberty in Wilmington, NC becaus "J" Ville even sucked back then. Weekends was Myrtle Beach in the summer and DC and NYC in the winter. Tnanks to Viet Nam, Cuba and Santa Domingo back then I didnt spend much time State Side in my 4 years with the Corps.
 
Thanks for all the input thus far - please keep it coming.

I know that Jacksonville/CL will suck ass - but I figure that there are more escapes (3 hours to VA Beach/Norfolk, 2 hours to Raleigh, 1 hour to Wilmington, easy access to the NC beaches). I know that Parris Island is only an hour or so from Savannah, though. CL also has a skeet range, while I'm not sure what PI has.
 
PI itself is pretty beautiful as far as military bases go, and the DIs should provide for some entertainment. You have hilton head and other nice Islands right there. I'm sure their are plenty of shooting ranges in both areas.

Mike

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