Living inside the wire

[WhatWillSantaBring]

Hello again,

I keep coming on this thread with questions - sorry! - but first (SFA to SFA) house move coming up and with a baby on the way, its a lot more stressful than a normal move, particularly as we're going to moving with a 6 week old!

Does anyone know what its like living inside the wire? We've been offered SFA that seems to be inside the wire and so spent last night wide awake with a million and one questions, mostly relating to other people accessing your house - namely family and friends, health visitors, DHL type deliveries and Tesco online home delivery. Can they all come and go freely or do I have to sign them in each time? I can't see how that would be possible with a 6 week old... What about unannounced visitors, or are those a thing of the past? (May not be such a bad thing, thinking about it...)

Any tips and information gratefully recieved, or even does anyone know who gives you the official line on these things? I'm not sure if its an added complication, but DH will not actually be working at the (army) base we're going to be living on.

Oh how I love the armed forces. And he is now hopeful of a promotion in a year's time, which would mean this whole move (structured so that we're somewhere we can both commute back to work easily) will have been for nothing, as we could have stayed where we are. :(

Hello!
Same thing happened to us many years ago and it was fine, visitors just checked in at gatehouse, you get used to a cheery greeting going in and out!
Military life is like that, you learn to be flexible. SFA has its advantages (and I speak with 25 years experience of them!)
Do try to get as much help as possible with the move: when I moved back from Germany with a 5 week old and an 18 month old, my sister in law came over to do the 'march out' for me, and I travelled back to UK with the babies and stayed with my mother. DH was on exercise, if I remember..
Biggest bit of advice? Get onto the housing ladder as soon as possible: rent it out and try to keep up with house prices whilst living in SFA. Its hard to go from a rented Colonel's quarter to an owned 3-bed semi!! All the best with the move and the baby.

Any visitors can be booked on with a simple phone call to the guardroom. If anyone shows up unannounced the guards will not be able to let them on so they will have to call you first.
There are pros and cons to living either side of the wire, nothing to worry about though.

If you have regualr visitors - parents, etc, then after (I think 12 visits, but not sure) they get a social pass. This enables them to go to guardroom, and get booked in easier - they can't just walk in (unless you live here, where the glorified security gurads MPGS just let random people on willy nilly without checking passes or car passes). but having a social pass will eman they will already be "on the system" and should get booked in.
Things like tesco, deliveries etc, jsut ring passes and permits and say "I'm expecting xyz delivery at 10am". In most cases with theses driver, they tend to do teh same routes all the time so can get onto camp unescorted, but be prepared to have to go down to guradroom for first time visitors and escort them on, although your DH can do this

It's fab living behind the wire, security-wise. Not having to worry about burglars, especially!

It's great when DH is away too - you feel safe and with a new baby, that can be really important. Try to get off camp when you can though or you could go mad....depending on where you are. Some are very remote and you have to drive to go anywhere significant and although some camps have Spar, some don't.

It's nice though as there's usually something on in the week (wives coffee etc) and often things like family tea in the Mess on a Friday night - curry/lasagne/stuff for the kids too and yummy puds! Saves you having to cook and you get to catch up with friends.

I currently live off camp and I'm hating it. You'll be able to push the baby out for a walk without worrying about going down lonely paths on your own etc. Take your pass with you (in case anyone asks who you are)and you'll be fine.

Oh and the guys at the gate will call you ma'am which is weird to start with but then you quickly get to like it !

Visitors will love the whole 'new experience' of you living on a camp and you will need to book anyone in that the gate (by phone) unless they have a pass. They then put it in a box as they leave. Oh and you can use the gym/pool if there is one. And they have cool bonfire parties/families days etc, which you might not go to if off camp.

Oh and with a new baby, there'll always be someone who's door you knock on for help/cuppa/chat.

We have tea in the Mess on Fridays too! :) It is handy when you really cannot face cooking on a Friday...

We moved back behind the wire this summer after about 5 years outside of it. I am enjoying not having to lock my doors (although I still do when I go to bed) and not worrying about whether I have locked the car. DS (6) has a bit more freedom and I like being able to the dog on my own in the dark without worrying about being attacked by random strangers...

HVs and so on ususally have their own pass, anyone else you are expecting you just call the guard room and let them know. They will soon get to know you and regular visitors.

Its getting down to the guardroom to escort visitors that's my biggest concern, particularly in the first few weeks when I'll be at home with a very tiny baby and DH is working 30 miles away!

Thanks for all the info so far - I'm really hoping that the SFA is outside the wire. Its in the middle of nowhere anyway so I don't see the additional security as a big selling point - more a PITA! Though I would very much hope to have the lowest insurance premiums in the country...

wiltsmum thanks for the tips - DSis has offered to be a "live in nanny" for the first few weeks (she's just been made redundant and is looking for a "project ), and will def be using the full pack and unpack service from the movers. Luckily DH and I both got on the housing ladder before we met, so we're already a two property family. Doubt we'll ever get to enjoy Lt Col size quarters though - DH definitely not a career type military man and is counting the days till he escapes!

Unless you were top brass and therefore a very high security risk, it strikes me as being very archaic to live inside the wire these days. Though looking at google satellite images, our next door neighbours could be pretty senior (there even appears to be a tennis court in the grounds of one of the houses on the street!). [ironing best tennis whites and practising manners emoticon]

Any further tips and info gratefully received so that I can stop worrying about things!

Bad news about car insurance premiums - we've yet to find a company who make a difference when it comes to car insurance.

we told them last time we on camp that we were behind the wire and that any car thieves would have to get through men with rifles in order to steal our car that was kept in a locked garage and they just said (in a really boring car insurance way) "sorry, they're the rules". Not even a hint of acknowledgement!

In fact, the premium was higher from where we moved from outside the wire!

*If it's tricky for you to get down to escort visitors, ask a guard to escort them or you can just give them directions. As long as you've booked them in, you don't have to go meet them.

We live behind the wire in a camp in the north and haven't had any problems getting deliveries or visitors - I think DH wishes it was more of a challenge when the Ocado van or my mother appears on the street again!
It takes a bit of getting used to but its fine. Visitors, even unexpected ones, book in at the pass office next to the guardroom and get their temporary pass - just make sure they know your address and DHs name etc.

whatwillsantabring Oh you sound like me, in the past! Do not be too enthusiastic about your DH putting in his papers. I whinged on about the 'joys' of Army life for..well, 26 years (I am THAT old!) but can honestly say the last 5 years have been 'the wilderness years' with job losses, house moves, loss of social life and the future...well, unsure. Our Army life was fun, challenging, enfuriating, happy, emotionally draining, scary, never boring. Enjoy it while you can, and all the best to you both.

BOOsilla - you don't really leave your door unlocked do you? I live behind the wire and always lock the doors and the garage door and the back gate when we go out

Saltire's right - there are always delivery men on camps and workmen for MHS etc.

If you do it by accident then the risk is less than not behind the wire but to do it all the time sounds risky.

Saltire - really? I have only lived on 2 camps where the quarters are beind the wire, but honestly don't know anyone who locks doors! When we moved here this summer I thought things might have changed in the last 5 years, but it seems not! The only person I know who locks his doors does so because he has a shotgun in the house (in a locked cabinet obv, but the licence says the house must be locked as well).

i never lock my doors, even when we go on holiday for weeks... i don't even know where my house keys are. i'm going to have to find them in the next six months or so before we move out...

i do lock the car sometimes. i'm not sure why. clearly i'm happy for the tv to be nicked, but not my, um, sunglasses?

I am shocked that people think it's acceptable not to lock their doors, even behind the wire. If you get robbed, then you'll have no claim on your house insurance as the claim will be invalidated because you left the door unlocked

Lol at madwoman, everyone I know is exactly the same! Although I realize you are all right about house insurance etc (it's boosilla, have namechanged)

but you shouldn't all be the same with regards to locking your door. There have been cases where teenagers have been going into peoples unlocked houses and garages.