I actually had a pleasant enough experience when I was forced to live on base. Close to work, great neighbors/neighborhood, I personally didn't have to worry about the yard police since I kept my lawn appearance up and I knew it was temporary. My biggest gripe was getting shoehorned into a 1260 sq ft 4 bedroom 50 year old house (field grade housing) after having lived in a minimum of 2300 sq ft for the past 10 years. Holy storage batman! Had to put a my night stand in storage because the master bedroom was too small to fit a queen bed and a night stand on each side of the bed. Only 1 person at a time in the master bath because that's all that would fit. Also hated having to put in my own carpet only to have to rip it out and sell it when I left. If you paint your walls anything other than the original off white, YOU had to paint it back before you left so CE could come in and repaint it anyway. That 1260 sq ft house may have cost $300K in CA but it was less than I could rent in MS for half my BAQ. Way too much "rent" for a 1940s built shoebox. I could go on, but you get the point. I think it would be a good deal if one was already living there and wanted to rent after retiring while waiting to move on, but for the money, I think in most base communities (CA being a likely exception) anyone retiring from the military that has a job can do way better for the money. YMMV.