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Area is great if you like picking ticks out of your kids and scary slum lords running around watertown.. yuck they have good food. On post housing is aweful 

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yle="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman''serif';">I been on Fort Drum for 3 years and the place is dismal place. I’ve been station in three different places and there is no consideration for the soldiers and family member here. You must rely on the local hospitals in Watertown or Carthage for medical attention there are none on post. If you are a person or have family members in need of special care prepare to drive to Syracuse 72 miles away for care. Fort Drum civilian are probably by far the worst to deal with it’s disgusting. yle="mso-spacerun: yes;"> There is a lack of concern with how the SM time is handled. Be prepare to be away from your significant other for periods of time all the command seem to care about is when the next deployment is going to happen if you are a spouse that works the economy here is bad there aren’t many jobs here its tough. I am Veteran of 7 years there are many place in the Army that can be of benefit I just recommend that you have a good insight before making the journey it made seem bad where you’re at but really is it? The grass is never greener on the other side. I have 16 months and moving on to the civilian sector as I sit here with a Master Degree I feel that it would benefit me more on the outside but for the one staying in ensure that you understand what is entitled before coming to the “Army’s best kept secret”. The Army is not what it used to be.

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We are at the tail end of my husband's career with 3.5 years to 20 this may be our last duty station....how horrid.  We got here in June.  We HATE it here already and winter is coming.... for senior enlisted there is NO housing on post the wait times are 18-24 months. 

The housing on the economy is disgraceful think ghetto and that would be an improvement.  The entire town of Watertown seems owned by a handful of slum landlords who have bought up giant old houses and converted them to 2-3 duplexes.  The whole town is nasty.  Having lost our arses having to sell our last house in WA in this housing market we don't dare buy another house.  They seem to set the rental rates at the BAH rates because of this the townies hate soldiers and their families because it is an artificial inflation of rental values. 

There is absolutely NO WORK if you have an advanced degree.  I have a  Masters in Organizational Leadership to pay my student loans I am mopping floors at night for $8 an hour.  Its fantastic.

If you have older kids be prepared for the Regence requirements for graduation.  Our son came in as a senior so we actually are paying for online classes to get him the three years of foreign language he needs to graduate.

After surviving 5 deployments as a family Iraq x 4 and Afghanistan x 1...this is the worst amount of stress we have ever been under.  Do anything you can to NOT be stationed here its a hell hole.

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Johnette M. asks: Hello all! Anyone have any good info on Fort Drum? We are thinking of trying for a slot there but were wondering about surrounding areas buying a house schools (we'll have a middle schooler and a high schooler) etc! ANY info would be great! Thanks so much! Happy Holidays! 

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Briana M. says: If you like winter weather try Fort Drum. I love it. The surrounding areas have alot of things to do and they just built all new housing right outside the main gate. Black River outside Drum is very nice. It's a quiet town and beautiful in the summer.

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lynn r says:
June 22, 2011 at 7:38 pm

HI
this will be our first move, and wanted to see if any of you have insight on where good off-post housing is! any advice would be helpful! thanks!


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susanna says:
June 19, 2011 at 9:59 am

Fort Drum is located 30 mins from the border of Canada and roughly 72 miles from Syracuse New York. The town is on the smaller side, but I personally like smaller towns rather than overcrowded cities! Fort Drum is home of the 10th Mountain and at one point was the installation used for Cold Weather Training.


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Jenn says:
May 24, 2011 at 3:40 pm

Fort Drum is really what you make of it. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a small town area surrounded by farm land. Fort Drum isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t all that big but there?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s plenty to do especially if you are an outdoors family. We?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve been here for 3 years and have overall enjoyed our time here.

If you live on post, depending the community you move into you have a possibility of 2 school districts Carthage & Indian River. If you live off post within the immediate surrounding area those are the school districts you will use as well. If you live further into the Watertown area there are other districts such as Watertown, or Sacketts Harbor I believe. There is a community college called Jefferson Community College and it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s about 15 minutes away from post.

As far as Veterinarians go we use North Country Animal Health Center which is out in town. The post Vet is always booked up or you can never get through on their phones to make an appointment. There?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s also Countryside Vet in Carthage. We?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve been very please with NCAHC and haven?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t had a complaint yet. Both those vets also provide boarding.

Post housing is okay, it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s not horrible, but not the greatest. The wait really depends on the time that you arrive. Sometimes you wait a few days, weeks or you may get a house right away. Contact Mountain Community Homes and fill out the application before you arrive to post. Recently there was an article in the The Stars and Stripes talking about the shortage of housing here on Drum saying there was a shortage of 1,700 homes http://www.stripes.com/mobile/news/housing-shortages-rise-at-many-stateside-bases-steps-eyed-to-improve-bah-program-1.143966 You have to call housing and request the floor plans and info, the Mountain Community Homes website does contain some photos and info but not much at all. As far as areas in the surrounding area to live or find an apartment I recommend using ahrn.com. There?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Eagle Ridge, LeRay Heights(?), Starwood townhomes in Watertown, and Summit Wood are pretty good places to look into.

The weather varies day to day really. Winter is anywhere from Mid to Late October to Early to Late April. It can snow til June but they call that ?¢‚Ǩ?ìsugar snow?¢‚Ǩ¬ù during the maple syrup season. Spring and Summer are perfect temps but we can get a lot of rain during these seasons. I recommend investing in a snow blower/thrower. Fall is beautiful with the foliage and apple season. Tons of stuff to do anything from fishing/ice fishing, canoeing, white water rafting, hiking, visiting Thompson Park and the zoo, Sackets Harbor and the battle grounds (re-enactments from the war of 1812 and 4th of July fire works), Alexandria Bay and the Castles & boat tours, Burrville Cider Mill, Behling Orchards, and Remington Park. NYC is 6 hours away, Boston a short distance further, Niagara Falls about 3.5 hours, Lake Placid/White Face Mountain 3-4 hours, and our closest ?¢‚Ǩ?ìCity?¢‚Ǩ¬ù is Syracuse at about 75 miles away.

Medical if you ever need to go to the ER skip Samaritan in Watertown and go to the Carthage ER. They get you in and out quickly and you get better overall care. On post we have a clinic it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s pretty busy and the pharmacy is always busy and you can wait quite awhile. We do not have a hospital on post and the closest ones are about 15-20 mins away. The post clinic Guthrie does have an after hours Urgent care and it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s open on weekends for a few hours.


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Lynn says:
May 24, 2011 at 9:00 am

Hi everyone, I love the idea of information for other mil-spouses, but Ft. Drum is seriously lacking in info! For weeks now I have been combing the websites, and googling images and calling housing and community housing, etc., and looking for schools, veterinarians, and all of that!

There appears to be a shortage of housing on post for all the rotations, troops and families, and the communities are taking advantage of that fact. However, it may be the only money that is flowing freely in their areas. Rent and heating are incredibly expensive, and I hope if anyone has any advice on particular areas, apartments, services, or schools, that they will post some reviews.

?¢‚Ǩ?ìSteering?¢‚Ǩ¬ù is not okay around Ft. Drum; they must have had lots of trouble, but for most military, esp. those with pets, staying in TLE is not an option for 2 mos. while they look for a place. I will post more when I get there. The abyss of information is terrible. Any one want to input before I get there?


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Christina D says:
April 7, 2011 at 6:49 am

worse is the winter weather best is that is is so pretty here during the summer and fall and there is a wonderful apple cider mill here at is amazing.


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Candace N says:
April 7, 2011 at 6:46 am

We are currently stationed at Fort Drum, NY, USA. Fort Drum is home to the 10th Mountain Division and is a rapid deployment post. We have been here for almost 5 years. This is our first duty station so I can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t really compare it to anything. The post is a pretty big post. This is the perfect place for anyone that enjoys the outdoors. With only about 3 mths max of warm weather, there is always a time and place for skiing, snowboarding etc. There are several places nearby to visit and enjoy with the family. We are not too far from the Adirondack Mountains as well. Watertown, is the closest actual city. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a decent place, with a mall and movies. Syracuse is the closest ?¢‚Ǩ?ìbig?¢‚Ǩ¬ù town with an airport and a 3 story mall. Overall, I can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t really complain. There?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s always things to do and places to go here. I have 5 children and we stay busy.


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Heidi A. says:
April 7, 2011 at 6:09 am

Fort Drum is located 30 mins from the border of Canada and roughly 72 miles from Syracuse New York. The town is on the smaller side, but I personally like smaller towns rather than overcrowded cities! Fort Drum is home of the 10th Mountain and at one point was the installation used for Cold Weather Training.


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Amanda Sparks says:
January 26, 2011 at 1:13 pm

Fort Drum is a very spaced out place. The post is large and most of the outlying space is farm land. Our main ?¢‚Ǩ?ìcity?¢‚Ǩ¬ù Watertown can be about 15-20 minutes out depending on which route you take. Aside from the small zoo and large park located on the hill in Watertown there isnt a whole lot to do. In the summer Ft. Drum has a lake that is open to service members and their families with a slide, sand beach, canoe rentals and catch & release fishing. There are 2 indoor pools although I would only recomend the one at Monti Fitness Center as the other gym is used for training and the bottom of the pool is not the cleanest. The comissary and px were reciently updated and expanded but sometimes I still request certian items.


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Lucinda says:
November 23, 2010 at 6:29 am

Ft. Drum does get cold in the winter. We saw -24 in 2010. We only had at most 2 1/2 feet of snow accumulated. Most days the cold really isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t all that bad b/c there is hardly any wind at all. Summer is absolutely beautiful. You don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t even need a/c except for a handful of days. Even then if you spend it outside you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve got a nice breeze. I did most of my shopping online. Watertown has a mall, but the stores are small. There are plenty of chain restaurants. Watertown has a farmers marker every Wednesday that is wonderful! I went almost every week to buy veggies. Watertown has an AWESOME park for kids. I think it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s modeled after a giant ship. You have to see it to understand. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s no ordinary park. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s at the top of the hill by the zoo (not really much to see there. We walked the entire zoo in 30 min.) The Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence river are beautiful. You can take a boat ride and tour Bolt and Singer Castles. We took a weekend trip to Boston and Toured the city, saw the old North Church, Paul Revere?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s house, went whale watching and caught a Celtics game it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s also home to the Red Sox of course. We also drove to D.C. stopping in Hershey, Pennsylvania of course! The Commissary and Px were fine. Not too big, but they had what I needed. Watertown is a 20 min drive. Sackets Harbor is 30-40. Black river is 15 min. Evans Mills is 10-25- depending on what part you are coming from. Housing is OK, they have laminate covered cabinets, square by square carpet is replacing traditional. Not too soft, but if you stain it you only have to pay to replace the square you stain not the whole room.


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ArmyWife says:
November 9, 2010 at 4:57 pm

Everyone complains about the snow here. It depends on the year how much snow we actually get. The good thing about the lake effect snow is that it tends to be lighter than snow from other sections of the country. The towns are really great about plowing the roads and its fairly easy to drive in without a 4?É‚Äî4 car/truck as long as your car is not really low to the ground. Plowing on the base is usually awful and I avoid driving on post when the weather is bad.

The base is small. There is no hospital on post although they have a urgent care clinic that you can see a doctor at. We use off post doctors and have no issues?¢‚Ǩ‚Äúexcept for the inital enrollment appointment that took forever. Housing is sketchy everything seems to be outdated. If you rent off post be careful because it can cost alot to heat a house in the winter. You can easily expect to spend anywhere from $150-300 a month just on heat in the winter. The plus side is your bills in the spring-summer-fall are low because you never need ac. If you buy off post, the property taxes can easily be 2-4K a year so make sure to factor that in when you are looking at homes. Watertown varies on good spots to buy a home. Its almost block to block for good/bad sections. Sacketts Harbor is great for the younger crowd to rent/buy. Carthage is great for the families with school ages kids. The shopping is ok. The Target and Kohls seem to be smaller than in other cities. The mall has been improving but is still on the smaller side. Theres a lot of smaller local resturants and our main chains are Applebees, roadhouse, red lobster. tgif. ruby tuesdays, buffalo wild wings, and we are getting an olive garden.

Syracuse is an hour away and has a great mall (Carousel Center) but not much else to do.

All in all Fort Drum is not as awful as a lot of people make it out to be. If you are up for traveling you can see a lot of places from Drum: NYC, Rochestor, Buffalo, Niagra Falls, Ottawa, Toronoto, Montreal.


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Leeann says:
June 15, 2010 at 10:29 am

It was the first base I was at so I have no comparison to date. The area around base was pretty boring. There was the Salmon Run Mall in Watertown for shopping, but the stores were small and it was hard to find anything in them that you were looking for. Things seemed more expensive up there, so when we made trips home to NH we would do a lot of our big shopping at the same time or we would order everything online. The best restaurants we found were Texas Road House, TGI Fridays, and Panera Bread. DO NOT EAT CHINESE UP THERE. We got food poisoning almost every time we tried a chinese restaurant.


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