I will be reporting to 5-7 ADA, in Baumholder, Germany. What kind of place is it there and what's some advice for when I get there?

2017-01-20T02:33:57-05:00

Response by SGT Michael Hamrac, MBA, MRP, GRI, REALTOR® made Jan 20 at 2017 3:15 AM

2017-01-20T03:15:04-05:00

Been many moons since my Baumholder days. I liked it there. Respect the locals. Get a car and visit every surrounding country. Watch out for black ice! Totaled my BMW on it, but made lots of friends that night though...

Response by SSG Carlos Madden made Jan 20 at 2017 9:23 AM

2017-01-20T09:23:34-05:00

Hello Tony,
You can use the search bar to find specific units and post on those pages. That way everyone in that unit who we have on RP will see it and be able to answer you.
https://www.rallypoint.com/units/5-7-ada-5th-battalion-7th-air-defense-artillery-regiment-kaiserslautern-germany

5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (5-7 ADA), 10th Army Air & Missile Defense...

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Response by SGT Michael Glenn made Jan 21 at 2017 4:36 PM

2017-01-21T16:36:30-05:00

Well unless things have changed (which I hope they have) Baumholder is known for command only thinking and looking out for themselves and ruining the career of soldiers, males thriving on wives for play toys when the the hubby goes to the field, The Rod and Gun Club was the biggest hook up spot on post , to include wives either using mop's hanging off the balconies or colored lights on the balconies to mark they were available.For anyone who calls my post garbage Ill call them on it as I was a NEO warden there and dealt with it daily. The unit I was in did no PT what so ever, NCO's ran around with guts hanging out telling soldiers that they needed to go on a fat boy program, Nco's would disappear during the duty day while soldiers did their work in the motor pools. Was the worst duty station I ever saw. Known as the Rock its quite common to have people laugh at you when they find out your being sent there.There are some good things too though, get out and travel as much as you can.You will have Castles everywhere with Cochum Castle being only roughly an hour away up the Mosel. If you like wine go to Bernkastel Kues for the wine tasting festival in the fall and your only going to be around 4 hours away from Paris. I honestly hope that things have changed since I was there and its a more soldier friendly post.Best of luck to you.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 22 at 2017 11:03 AM

2017-01-22T11:03:51-05:00

I'm at the Rock now, not in 5-7 but in the 16th. Many people said it was gonna be horrible but it's truly what you make it to be. The OPTEMPO is high for us but when off duty, it's been a great jump off point. Within 4 hrs you can drive in any direction and go into a different country, some are only 90min away. France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg. Plus Frankfurt-Hahn airport is less than hour away and you catch Ryanair flights to all of Europe for CHEAP! I booked round trip tickets on a 4-day weekend to London for 3 adults and 3 kids for less than $200!! Next we are going to Ireland. Over the spring break, we drove 9hrs through Germany and Switzerland to arrive at Laga Di Como (Lake Como) in northern Italy. That was an awesome trip too. For Christmas, we drive the 4.5 hours to Paris an spent the day at the Christmas market on the Champs Elyees and visited the Eiffel Tower. Every post is what you make it to be, stay positive and you can have a great time.

Response by SGT A. Camacho made Jan 23 at 2017 7:33 PM

2017-01-23T19:33:02-05:00

Baumholder was my last duty station. My first company formation consisted of the 1sg reading the names of NCO, and soldiers who failed there drug test, and there was a lot of names.Random drug testing was the normal. I had heard of the stories of misbehaving wives that Sgt Glenn writes of, over weight soldiers who should of been chaptered out was a common sight, and so many soldiers going AWOL. Doing anything out on the German economy is expensive on a E-4 pay, cuss there on the euro. It's like $3 to 1 euro when I was there. So expect to be broke ask the time, or become a barracks rat. Truly not what a stateside post is like, but hang tuff maybe it's changed, and make the most of it.

Response by SSG David Kaelin made Jan 25 at 2017 2:49 AM

2017-01-25T02:49:45-05:00

I was there during the Cold War. Had a blast.

We called it The Rock.

You get all four seasons in one day. lol

I wonder if the Metropol is still open.

Euro is now 1USD to 1.15 Euro. Not bad. Always cheaper to shop on post or Amazon.com. We didn't have Amazon back then so everyone dressed alike in AAFES Fashion. HAHAHA Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren.

Frankfurt is a shirt train ride away. Saarbrucken is close by. K-Town is close. France is a short ride away. You can have a lot of fun there. Plan it out and choose your fun.

When I was there, we were in the field about 2/3rd to 3/4ths of the year. If we weren't in the field, we were out partying.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 6 at 2017 5:56 PM

2017-02-06T17:56:45-05:00

The best thing about Baumholder is that it's close to everything. Get your passport before you get there or miss out on a bunch of mwr trips. Passport services there are scarce so it could take months for you to be able to get it.
Be prepared to run hills. Baumholder has all the hills in Germany.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 6 at 2017 5:58 PM

2017-02-06T17:58:39-05:00

Try to save cola for either big trips or general savings.

Response by SPC Terence Q Burns made Nov 14 at 2019 8:24 PM

2019-11-14T20:24:16-05:00

Read a lot of comments about The Rock. It has plenty of things happening. The bowling alley, weight room and the Rod and Gun club when it was slow. Downtown Baumholder offers plenty of other things that you want find up on the hill. I'm a cold war veteran, but in all reality, Baumholder is not only just boring, downtown has plenty of secrets. Point: There's a tunnel in Baumholder downtown.