Joint Base Andrews

Joint Base Andrews is home to Air Force One and the 89th Airlift Wing, which means security is tighter than a drum, the mission is prestigious, and the DC-area BAH still doesn't cover your rent in a way that should count as a recruitment fraud. You'll tell everyone at your next base that you saw the President's plane, and it'll be your personality for two full assignments — 'Yeah, I was at Andrews' delivered with a pause that implies you can't say more, even though you absolutely can, you just like the mystique. The Beltway traffic turns a 10-mile commute into a spiritual journey through five lanes of Maryland drivers who treat turn signals as optional and lane changes as an act of war. The Smithsonian museums are free, which is good because everything else in the DMV costs your whole paycheck — DC rent, DC parking, DC bar tabs that make you question whether the bartender is running a fraud or you just ordered a $19 cocktail (you did). The base sits in Prince George's County, which has a completely different vibe from the Northern Virginia military crowd, and the PG County locals will keep you humble. Georgetown, Capitol Hill, DuPont Circle — the entire capital is your playground if you can survive the Metro's weekend maintenance schedule. The mission of flying the Commander-in-Chief is as serious as it gets, and the Airmen here carry it with appropriate gravity and inappropriate amounts of Andrews swag.