NSA Hampton Roads

NSA Hampton Roads is the base that supports the bases, which is the Navy's most Navy sentence ever written — a support command for a support region for the support of the fleet. You're in the Norfolk orbit, which means you get all the traffic (the HRBT will take years off your life), all the military density (every fourth person you meet is military or married to military), and all the tunnel anxiety without any of the 'I'm on a carrier' bragging rights that the waterfront sailors get to throw around at bars. On the bright side, you're shore duty, you're stable, your schedule is predictable, and you can actually plan a life like a normal human being for the first time since boot camp. Virginia Beach is right there with a boardwalk, actual restaurants, and the kind of beach town energy that almost makes you forget you're in the most heavily militarized metro area in America. Your car insurance is subsidizing every 19-year-old E-2 with a Mustang at 29% APR within a 50-mile radius, and USAA is making bank off this zip code. The Hampton Roads economy runs on BAH, and landlords have calibrated their pricing accordingly.