James Young has lived in military towns throughout the country, but one of his favorite has always been Leesville.

Still, he wasn’t surprised to see the Vernon Parish town, home to Fort Polk, listed among the country’s least desirable military postings in a recent blog.

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“As far as when people in the military talk about where they want to go, Fort Polk doesn’t have a great reputation,” said Young, whose father was stationed at Fort Polk in the 1980s and who later served for nearly 20 years in the Marines.

Blogger Bekah DiFelice recently published two articles on Thrillist, one titled “The best military towns in the United States, ranked” and its follow up, “The U.S. military towns you definitely don’t want to be stationed in, ranked.” Both ranked towns 1-10, based on interviews with service members and their families.

Leesville ranked No. 1 on the list you want to avoid, making it, according to that survey, the worst place to be posted in the country. Hot weather, bugs and its remote location were cited as major factors in the ranking.

“It’s not bad, if you like shady bars and strip clubs,” said one soldier, who asked not to be named since he is currently stationed on the post. “What do you do for fun? Go to Wal-Mart.”

“Too hot, too many mosquitoes, too far from everything, nothing to do except hunting and fishing,” said Dan Cole, who spent two years at Fort Polk. “I was happy to spend eight months of my time there on deployment.”

Young bristles at comments like those, but he understands where they come from. The view of Leesville/Fort Polk as “out in middle of nowhere, nothing to do,” he said, is held by many.

His view is that many military towns are not garden spots, and you can either make the best of your situation or be miserable. For him, it’s that Louisiana has friendly people and good food, and the west-central part of the state has all the outdoor fun you could want.

“I liked it, but I’m a country boy,” he said. “I can see where some people don’t want to live there.”

“For a family, it was an OK place to spend a few years,” said June McQuarters, who lived in Leesville while her husband was stationed at Fort Polk. “I liked the people. The food was not as good as other places I have been in Louisiana. I wish there had been more options for housing and things to do. But there are far worse places to live in the military.”

The post and surrounding area have seen quality of life improvements in recent years, including improved on-post housing, a new hospital and commissary and investment in the school system that has produced “absolutely exceptional outcomes,” said Mike Reese of Fort Polk Progress, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for and supporting the installation.

Infrastructure investment on Louisiana Highway 467 leading into the base promises a corridor for future housing and commercial development. And in answer to the familiar refrain “Leesville can’t even get a Chili’s,” ground has been broken on an actual Chili’s.

“It’s a small success for a small town,” Reese said. “But it’s one of those things that shows we have constant forward progress.”

“What drives us each and every day is we want to make Fort Polk a station of choice,” he said. “I personally am very proud of the way communities across Central Louisiana have come together to change any perception of Fort Polk that’s negative. It may take some time, but we’re committed to doing it.”

DiFelice expects natives of places that found their way onto the “worst of” list to “go to bat for their town.” She would do the same for her one-time adopted hometown of Yuma, Arizona,

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DeFelice is married to an active duty Marine. Their first duty station together was in Yuma. She “cried and cried” when she got to the area, which struck her as “middle of nowhere desert.”

“I thought my life was over,” she said. “But then I made lifelong friends. Soon, the eccentricities of that small town became endearing rather than offensive. And by surprise, over three years, I fell in love with the same base town that on paper looked so terrible. To this day, I will defend Yuma, a town that is ironically also featured in many ‘worst of’ military lists. If you ask anyone in the military, they will tell you that sometimes the worst duty stations on paper make the best ones for the arc of your life story.”

DeFelice based the rankings on interviews with active duty service members and their families, with extra weight given to those who have lived in multiple military towns.

“Of course, these answers are never objective and that’s part of the fun,” she said. “No matter how large your polling area is, consensus is generally loose and circumstantial.”

She also pointed out that Thrillist — which focuses on travel, entertainment and lifestyle — is geared towards a younger audience looking for exciting places to go and things to do.

“So naturally this article was filtered through the lens of a specific readership,” she said. “If I were writing an article for, say, Military Spouse or Family Circle magazine, I might discuss the community aspects of a town rather than exclusively focus on the specifics of entertainment and dining.”

Best and worst military postings

The towns military personnel would most and least like to be stationed at, according to surveys published on recent thrillist.com blogs:

Best

10. Pensacola, Florida

9. Virginia Beach, Virginia

8. Washington DC

7. Tacoma, Washington

6. Honolulu, Hawaii

5. Anchorage, Alaska

4. Charleston, South Carolina

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3. Colorado Springs, Colorado

2. San Diego, California

1. Monterey, California

Full list — https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/the-top-10-military-towns-in-the-united-states

Worst

10. Fayetteville, North Carolia

9. Lemoore, California

8. Jacksonville, North Carolina

7. El Paso, Texas

6. Fort Drum, New York

5. Twentynine Palms, California

4. Fort Irwin, California

3. Clovis, New Mexico

2. Minot, North Dakota

1. Leesville, Louisiana

Full list — https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/the-us-military-towns-you-definitely-dont-want-to-be-stationed-in-ranked

Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY