It will depend upon the base at which you are stationed.
When I was stationed at MCRD San Diego (Marine Corps boot camp), I lived in La Mesa, my son went to a quiet, cozy, little neighborhood school. I married a woman there who has a daughter.
When I got transferred to MCB Camp Pendleton, it took about a year to get on base housing. We took up residence in a condo near Mission Elementary there in Oceanside. There were all sorts of drug and gang related problems -- in the elementary school! As soon as we moved on base, we moved the kids to the school (North Terrace) that is quite literally on the border of the base. Very few kids from Oceanside attend that school. No drugs, no gangs, lots of learning.
What makes it all the more amazing is that North Terrace is still a part of the San Diego County school system (as is Mission and Northmont (in La Mesa)). Meaning that all three schools get their funding from the same place, they are under the same administration and have the same pool of teachers. Mission and North Terrace both had the same basic socioeconomic make up. It was all a matter of parenting. The primary difference being that the military kids all came from families who bought into the same basic belief system on how to get ahead in life. Those living out in Oceanside and attending Mission believed strongly in individuality and little more. They were unruly and learning did not take place. It was purely a matter of survival. It was quite literally a zoo.
If you can not get stationed at a base that has an on base school, I recommend the following:
-- Scope out the communities near the base , check out the schools and neighborhoods. Generally, the closer you get to the base, the worse the conditions get.
-- Talk to people.
-- Try and move into a neighborhood where you are on the low end of the pay scale as compared to your neighbors. Better schools always follow the money trail.
-- Budget your finances to always keep you in the nicer neighborhoods (until you've been on active duty a while and have achieved sufficient rank that you can afford a better life style. Not all base housing is the same. The "Flint Stones" in Geat Lakes, Ill and Wire Mnt I and III at Camp Pendleton were the pits. They were for the lower enlisted and the mentality there was on par with Mission. Look around, you CAN do better.
-- Always put approximately 10% of your pay into savings
-- Always set the example for your kids and go to school to get a degree while you are in. They will see you doing homework and will get a great mental picture of that and keep it with them the rest of their lives.
