About

If you have not, then you might be in for a culture shock. If you have been here before, you know that there’s not a lot here. No professional sports teams, no Apple store or Chick-Fil-A…just a high school and junior college and a SUPER Wal-Mart. Anyway…while you are TDY here, you will have the option to stay on base (provided there are rooms in billeting) or they will give you a Non-Availability slip to stay at a specific hotel off base. You DO NOT have to do either. In the finance regulations, as long as you stay at or below the on-base rate or at or below the Non-A rate, you are permitted to go anywhere in the local area.

• Billeting: It is easiest in that you have to go there first no matter what to check in and you are on base (close to the gym, simulators, and flying squadrons). Negatives are billeting just sucks. You are on base without your family, it’s a small room that smells sometimes, A/C goes out in the summer sporadically (not cool after a flight), there are always bugs infesting alot of the lower rooms, noisier near the flight line, tiny kitchen with no dishwasher or oven, uncomfortable bed, slow & inconsistent internet, and only a few channels on the old tube TV. That’s just the big ones.

• Hotel: You can only go to a hotel if you get a Non-A slip, otherwise you pay out-of-pocket. So IF you get a Non-A, there are a few choices…Microtel, Hampton Inn, Best Western, Holiday Inn, America’s Best Value Inn, and sometimes Quartz Mtn. These options have gotten better over the years, however they have drawbacks. They are off base (like my house). They are just like billeting in that you get a standard small room, no kitchen, small fridge, decent internet usually, but no covered parking. To account for the inability to cook meals, you do get a little more per diem, but the eating establishments are not necessarily anything to rave about after 3-5 months here with no way to cook a meal. So I feel hotels are nicer, make a little more per diem but only slightly above billeting accommodations.

• House: Crash pads are the way to go. The only real negative compared to billeting is that a house is off-base…but Altus is not big and there are never any traffic jams. Furnished houses cost you nothing more out-of-pocket and you get way more lodging amenities than a hotel or billeting. Plus we want your business…billeting never seems to care much about you.

Kelby and Becca were stationed in Altus for seven years. Before that, Kelby went TDY to Altus 5 times …so we feel your pain. We only wish we had a CrashPad to stay in when we were there!

I want to help you. HELP ME, HELP YOU! If you need supplies, help when a utility is broken, or anything with the house, all you have to do is call or text Becca. We have a dedicated property manager, Arcelia Puga, that lives in Altus and is available to help you with your housing needs. Beyond that, our rates are comparable and I offer a very similar setup to the other guys.