Help! Moving to DC

[BTExpress]

Be careful of the next-door neighbors.

 

[TigerVols]

Office of The Surgeon General

Congrats!

 

[three_bags_full]

Congrats!

Thanks. I'm not totally sold on it, but it's a pretty important and influential job. There's two kinds of Army officers ... the nice, spit-and-polished kind, and the grungy guy in the bullpen throwing elbows. You can guess where I fit in. I've spent my time in the Army doing something very different than the force management and policy development I'll be doing in this one. Imagine me advising the surgeon general on policy that will affect the force for the next 20 years...

 

[Twirling Time]

Stay off the 405. Oh wait.

 

[Machine Head]

Imagine me advising the surgeon general on policy that will affect the force for the next 20 years...

Run everything by us first, we'll steer you right.

Congrats on the career trajectory.

 

[Vombatus]

Did you stay in your current Armed Service, or did you become part of the SG officer corps?

 

[three_bags_full]

Did you stay in your current Armed Service, or did you become part of the SG officer corps?

No. I will not be on the TSG's executive staff. I'll be slugging it out in the bullpen.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Looks like the TBF clan is headed to DC this winter, and we have no idea where to start. I'd sure appreciate some advice from anyone who has experience up there.

I'll be working in Falls Church. Housing is crazy expensive, schools seem to be hit-and-miss, and I have no idea which towns are decent.

Falls Church is a small, suburban city that basically hugs that lies basically west of Leesburg Pike between I-66 and Arlington Boulevard, a.k.a. U.S. 50. The city of Falls Church has its own, small, excellent district. The high school is now called Meridan High School (formerly George Mason High School). In Virginia cities are completely separate legal entities from counties. It is not like Illinois, where Chicago is part of Cook County. However, much of eastern Fairfax County has a Falls Church mailing address, even though they are physically outside the boundaries of the the City of Falls Church.

Having said that, I emphatically disagree with the comments about Fairfax County schools. The schools are generally excellent. If you look at he Newsweek list of the top 500 schools in he United States eight are Fairfax County schools. Thomas Jefferson is the honors high school and Langley and McLean are the rich kids schools. But basically any high school along the Orange line or the Dulles Toll road is really good. And some of them serve solidly middle clash areas.

 

[Cosmo]

I went to public elementary/secondary school in Fairfax County and came out just fine.

 

[LanceyHoward]

I went to public elementary/secondary school in Fairfax County and came out just fine.

Is there anyway we can validate that statement?

 

[Cosmo]

I mean, I'm still here, went to college at a good school and have a pretty solid career, so I guess that will have to do, lol. My melting pot of a high school (Hayfield) was actually really good for me socially. Would have hated to go to some lily-white school. Would have actually gone to South County had I been born a bit later except it was Lorton Prison when I was growing up.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I don't want to threadjack here, but my kids go to an FCPS school and I stand by my earlier statement. It's fine as long as your kids don't need extra services.

I'll spare you details of my personal experience, but there's a very good reason the DOE Office of Civil Rights has found FCPS negligent in providing special-ed services and ordered it to re-evaluate every IEP and 504 Plan in the county to ensure that they're being followed.