How bad is the work, op-tempo, housing, etc., at Fort Wainwright?

Current 1SG for C Co, 1-24 at Fort Wainwright. You are correct the winters are pretty bad up here about 7-8 months out of the year, but we do a lot of arctic training to prepare you and we also send NCOs to the Cold Weather Leader Course and the Northern Warfare Training Center to learn how to safely operate. Spring/Summer is awesome and the weather is great. Expect nearly zero daylight for about 3 months in the winter and zero darkness for about 3 months in the summer.

It is an austere assignment with minimal amenities both on post and in Fairbanks. Fairbanks is a relatively small town with the basic box stores; i.e. Wal-Mart, Fred Meyers, Lowes, Sportsmans Warehouse, but no Target. Restaurant options are minimal and only have basic fast food and a lot of small "mom and pop" establishments. Big Army has recently started dumping money into the base and are currently working on a lot of projects to improve the installation and living conditions. We have two small older gyms currently, with nearly brand new equipment. New temporary facilities will be constructed in the coming months for additional gym options until the hard structures can be built in the future. On post housing is pretty nice and I haven't received much complaint about them. Typical barracks. If you are an outdoor person who enjoys hiking, hunting, fishing or even just sight seeing you will love it up here. Overall it is not a terrible place, but it does need some improvements and I am glad the Army is working towards making things better here for the Soldiers and families.

You will receive COLA, and if married, a hefty BAH if you live off post. You will need to have your POVs winterized and I recommend getting a really good set of winter tires such as Bridgestone Blizzaks.

Expect to be in the field quite a bit, especially for the next year or so as the Brigade is currently deployed and returning back shortly. We train quite a bit up here and are slated for an NTC rotation in the summer of 2021 so we will be building up to execute that mission.

Just like any installation it is what you make of it and how much you are willing to get out of the barracks and try new things. Both professionally and personally you will learn a lot of new things as this environment is very challenging. One thing is for sure, is that you will always remember your time at Fort Wainwright!

Winter majority of the year there. I honestly loved my experience there. A lot of sight seeing and nature is just beautiful.

Alaska is beautiful. I lived in Fairbanks and housing is fairly cheap compared to Anchorage (JBER). Summer is short but beautiful. Winter is brutal, get yourself a healthy hobby to occupy your down time.