Fort Wainwright, Alaska: An Army Wife's Perspective

We woke before the sun rose to make our flight out of Norfolk, Virginia one morning in late 2005. My husband, two children and myself were completely nervous and excited about the day ahead of us. We'd known about the move for a couple of months, and had spent many hours just sitting talking about what it would be like to live in the middle of the great state of Alaska. Even though we'd made plans to do so many things, none of us really knew what to expect once we finally got to our wondrous destination.

With four flights ahead of us, we'd planned ahead of time and packed several things in our luggage to keep the children, ages 4 and 10 months, occupied for those long hours on a crowded airplane. However, with such an exciting event as moving across country, those things only worked for the first two flights. The anticipation grew with every layover on our journey, and the kids became increasingly impatient. On the final flight from Anchorage up to Fairbanks, our 10-month-old had completely given up, and sobbed nearly the whole time. Thank goodness the flight was only around 30 minutes.

We arrived at the airport tired and hungry, but when we looked around at the glass cases enclosing bears, moose, and other native animals, our excitement was restored. We had made it to our new home. Even our youngest stopped crying and stared in awe at the majestic creatures, his blue eyes glistening with wonder. We walked around to take it all in before my husband called Fort Wainwright to let the on-duty soldier know about our arrival. A light rain fell from the night sky as we loaded our kids and luggage into the ARMY van that would take us to a hotel, which would be our haven for the night.

The drive was dark, and we couldn't see anything more than headlights from passing cars and gas station signs. We checked into the hotel and took our tired little ones up to the room for a good night's sleep.

The next morning, I woke up early and anxiously pulled open the curtain on the hotel room's window to look out and see what I could see. It was spectacular. Just across the way was a rolling hillside, covered in beautiful trees, all displaying amazing fall colors like I'd never seen before. I woke up the rest of my family, and we made our plans to pack our things and get onto base.

We got to Fort Wainwright's Northern Lights Inn, which is located directly across the street from the post PX and Commissary, and loaded our things onto a luggage cart to take them up to our room, which would be our home until permanent housing on post could be secured. The hotel itself was beautiful.The lobby had a fireplace and big comfortable couches to sit and watch the flames dance, and there was a playground out back for the kids to play their little hearts out in the fresh Alaskan air. The front desk offered DVD rentals, and we spent many a night curled up with the kids watching their favorite movies.

After about a month of living in a hotel, you better believe we were ecstatic when we got the call telling us some housing had opened up for us to move into. We piled into the car and drove a little ways into the Southern Cross housing area, our faces all pressed against the car windows. The multiplexes themselves were fine accommodations, though not the newer fancy ones that are standing in the area today. We were satisfied with the first one we viewed, and quickly filled out the paperwork that would let us move in.

We didn't have to wait long for the movers to deliver our household goods, and the unpacking was a fast process. The children became more excited with every box that we opened; reuniting with toys they hadn't seen in a while was such a fun thing for them, as it always is when the ARMY moves us somewhere. They were more than helpful when finding the perfect place for each and every one of their things, and my husband quickly designated our new basement as his 'man cave,' setting up his Star Wars collectibles and computer desk.

Our first Halloween in Alaska was a snowy one, and we put several warm layers on the kids under their costumes before heading out for trick-or-treating that night. We strolled around several of the housing areas, and got plenty of candy to keep them happy for some time. We were officially residents of Fort Wainwright. Residents of Alaska. We stayed up late laughing and picking candy from their buckets. A typical Halloween night, but in a new arctic setting.

Months passed, and we became fast friends with our neighbors. It's a nice thing when you're an ARMY family to live on post, because you have families just like yours, in the same situation, living right next door. It's like an instant bond to your neighbors. You understand what the other is going through, and vice-versa. It also helps when the average amount of daylight in December-January is only about 4 hours or so. In fact, the sun never really got all the way up in the sky each day in those months before it began going back down on the horizon. I guess this is why it would be easy for one to become depressed or disillusioned with living there.

The average temperature in January in Fairbanks, Alaska, which is the town surrounding Wainwright, is about -10 degrees F, though we often saw temperatures in the -20 range. It's true what they say, though- Alaska cold is different. When it's that cold, it really doesn't feel as terrible as it sounds in the lower 48 states. Now, when you get to -30 or more, you can bet we'd not be going much of anywhere that day. I guess this all shouldn't be too surprising, seeing as Fort Wainwright is only approximately 188 miles from the Arctic Circle.

Another great thing about the winter in Alaska is the spectacular northern lights. I still remember the first time I saw them- standing outside the hotel in the cold, staring up at the beautiful swirling green lights above me. I could barely breathe. Some nights you would catch just a short glimpse, while others, they could be seen from one end of the sky to the other, dancing so gracefully across the darkness.

The summer on Wainwright is completely opposite of winter. The sun is out for an average of 21 hours a day in July, and it's a good idea to get heavy drapes to block the sunlight at night so that you can sleep. I remember staying up all night a few times, and when the sun would 'set,' the sky would get beautiful pink, slowly fading to almost-darkness before becoming pink again with the sun rising back up to greet us. Average temperatures in the summer range from 55 F to 72 F, which, like the cold, felt completely different there. You would see people running around in tank tops and shorts if the weather was above 60. My first summer there, I don't think I wore anything less than a t-shirt outside, but by the second, I was sweating out there when the temperature got up to 70 degrees.

There's a lot to do in Alaska, in summer and winter alike. In winter, Fort Wainwright has a ski hill, snow machine rental, and lots of trails for you and your family to enjoy together. In the summer, those same trails await, as do playgrounds and those off-post places, such as Denali National Park, which is 125 miles south of Fairbanks. Fort Wainwright is about 358 miles north of Anchorage, which is also a great destination to see should you ever find yourself fortunate enough to be stationed here, or even if you just plan on coming here on vacation.

In just barely over two years on Fort Wainwright, we met some wonderful people, saw some amazing things (seeing a moose mother and calf walking down your street isn't something you'd see every day in the lower 48!), and are extremely grateful we got to have the opportunity to live there. Should your ARMY spouse ever come down on orders to Alaska, rest assured it will be an experience your family won't soon forget! It's like a whole other world up there, and the ones who have the chance to live in it should count themselves lucky.

Sources:
http://www.absak.com/library/average-annual-insolation-alaska
http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/united-states/alaska/fairbanks/