I got my first ever real-world job offer working for the Department of Defense at Warner-Robins AF Base in Macon once I graduate and was wondering if anyone could tell me about the place and what it is like to live there? What is there to do and what is the lifestyle like for someone fresh out of college?

12/8/2006 4:52:37 PM

Have Fun

12/8/2006 4:57:55 PM

I want to say i had a uncle that worked in the commercial airline business some where near Macon, GA.

If I remember correctly, it was a nice place.

12/8/2006 5:02:37 PM

they have a minor league hockey team called the whoopie

12/8/2006 5:06:14 PM

I was born in Macon, GA, but barely live there 1.5 yrs. I go back occasionally to visit family. Overall I am sad to say that the town is a piece of shit. It may have improved in the past couple of years, but the last time I was there, I was like "I can't believe I was born in this shithole".

Mercer University is there, college wise. My dad was in the AF and liked working at Warner Robins so atleast you'll probably enjoy your job.

You should definitely visit before accepting.

12/8/2006 5:17:34 PM

Have Mercer

12/8/2006 5:38:22 PM

Quote :

" Warner-Robins AF"

aka, in warner robins, not macon. macon is like 30-40 minutes away. my grandparents (both sets) live there and man is it bleh. alright if you are old, but there is nothing but gas stations and restaurants there. oh and the one, very shitty, mall. macon is more populated, but not by much.

not a bad place to visit but there is ZERO to do there really. about 2 hrs drive from ATL.

on a second note, i met a guy that worked at the base while interviewing for my current job. he said he was desperate to get any other job cuz it sucked living there and the beurocracy was painful.

[Edited on December 8, 2006 at 5:54 PM. Reason : he did make a decent bit of cash though, but he said promotions capped off very quickly]

12/8/2006 5:52:08 PM

How is the cost of living? They are offering me $41k starting salary + $11k signup bonus, which from what I understand is a little low for my major (aerospace engineering), but it is a government position meaning good job security and benefits.

12/8/2006 6:05:50 PM

I cannot remember exactly where Macon is, always the place you drive through but don't actually stop in. However, I do know that Mercer University is sure as hell not 2 hours from Atlanta.

12/8/2006 9:32:33 PM

it is in the dead center of GA on the map pretty much. cost of living isnt bad to my knowledge, but is rising as the area fills up.

^ mapquest says 1.5 hours. warner robbins is 30 minutes from macon, so you do the math on what i said eh.

12/8/2006 10:04:38 PM

I think Gulfstream jets are built near there.

12/8/2006 10:44:08 PM

^^All I know is that it didn't take 2 hours to drive to Mercer from my house.

12/9/2006 10:39:16 AM

well mapquest is a bit of an overestimater (though not by much on short trips) and i usually drive with my grandparents. im sure it depends where in atlanta you are located.

12/9/2006 11:23:38 AM

its between savannah and atlanta....sort of

there's not much there

you should be able to live fairly well on 41k

probably even buy a house depending on your other liabilities and debts

12/9/2006 1:12:45 PM

I am going to say its just 20 minutes from Macon to Warner Robins AFB, cause it takes 30 minutes to get to Bryon (past the base). My grandfather and uncle both work on base. My entire family lives in Macon and I think its a lot bigger than WR, which i have not been to in ages. Its an hour and a half tops to Atlanta. There are a lot of fire ants and cherry blossom trees.

Macon has its nice areas, but it has a big gang problem and ghetto areas. My grandparents live in an old neighborhood off Riverside Drive kinda near Vineville Ave. Its a cute area to buy a house and a lot of young professionals are moving into the area.

You just have to find a nice area to live in. There are also more private schools in Macon than most major cities. I do not think a single person in my family has gone to a Macon Public School.

I think the mall in Warner Robins is supposed to be like Crabtree now. The mall in macon is ok, but its carpeted and that creeps me out. I have been to a few bars in Downtown Macon and they were like Raleigh bars. There has been a lot of growth in the last few years and a move to revitalize the downtown area (Mercer is downtown).

12/9/2006 5:01:50 PM

^ heh if that WR mall is like crabtree it has changed a LOT since i went a few years ago. they halted production because of funding issues for about half a decade and then finished it. it still is trying to fill all the slots.

12/9/2006 5:04:49 PM

bttt

1/10/2007 2:34:00 PM

Quote :

"they have a minor league hockey team called the whoopie"

why did I just rofl at that

1/10/2007 4:42:48 PM

yeah... i have a friend who goes to Mercer

he hates the town, but it could just be him. he says he can't find anyone to fit in with (hah).

if i were you, i'd visit before making a decision

1/10/2007 4:53:09 PM

Lets just say my dad was in the AF and had a choice of moving there or to Kansas and he chose Kansas

1/10/2007 4:55:14 PM

In 1974, the Southern Hockey League featured a team called the Macon Whoopees. The team folded not long after, but a new team was introduced into the East Coast Hockey League in 1996 called the Macon Whoopee, which folded in 2002.


(note the bird and bee)

That team was replaced by the Macon Trax, who had entertaining jerseys but also folded.

1/10/2007 4:59:25 PM

Prior to its establishment as a city, Macon was the site of Fort Benjamin Hawkins. After the Creeks ceded their lands east of the Ocmulgee River, President Thomas Jefferson ordered the fort built in 1806 on the fall line of the Ocmulgee River to protect the new frontier, as it was a major military distribution point during the War of 1812 and the Creek War of 1813. Afterwards, the fort became a trading post for a few more years before it fell to disuse. A replica of the fort, however, stands today on a hill in east Macon. By this time, many settlers had already begun to move into the area and later renamed Fort Hawkins “Newtown.” After the establishment of Bibb County in 1822, the city was chartered as the county seat in 1823 and officially named Macon, in honor of North Carolina statesman Nathaniel Macon because many of the city's early settlers hailed from North Carolina.

There is also a Macon, NC... I wonder if they are named after the same guy?

Macon opposed the Constitution and spent his four decades in Congress making sure the national government would remain weak. He was especially hostile to a navy.

Macon was for 37 years the most prominent nay-sayer in Congress--a "negative radical." [1] It was said of him that during the entire term of his service no ten other members cast so many negative votes. "Negation was his ward and arm." He was rural and local-minded, and economy was the passion of his public career. "His economy of the public money was the severest, sharpest, most stringent and constant refusal of almost any grant that could be proposed."
-A few random tidbits from wiki

1/10/2007 6:57:38 PM

GNATS. EVERYWHERE.

1/10/2007 8:13:25 PM

marijuana. everywhere.

1/10/2007 8:30:40 PM

My band played there at a place called the Whiskey River. Apparently it's the only good social joint in the whole city (according to locals). It's a sweet ass club. Huge with about 5 bars. live music 4 nights a week (mainly country/classic rock stuff). Pretty much anybody who's anybody in country music has played there. As for the city, I didn't get to see that much of Macon, but the part I did see didn't impress me. It was pretty ghetto. But I'm sure there's a nice part somewhere in the city..

1/11/2007 1:52:52 AM

my friend is in the air force at wr and we went to whiskey river while we were down, it's a pretty hoppin' spot...kinda like the longbranch, but not nearly as crowded

other than that place there's not much going on

1/11/2007 12:39:17 PM

come visit me in ATL!

1/11/2007 1:14:15 PM