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We have been stationed in Belgium for almost three years and thankfully, our tour is almost up. Being stationed at the NPC Glons means living in the surrounding community. There is no base or support for miles around. The closest shopping is located at Schinnen AB(army post). It had a small BX and even smaller commisary. The shoppette is extremely small as well. The PXtra is great. They just remodeled it and it now sells a small selection of furniture, appliances, baby items and has a great, but small toy section. The housewares section is small, but serviceable. There's a Burger King, Nathan's Hot Dogs and an Anthony's Pizza as well. SHAPE, which is our support base, is 1-1/2 hrs. away in Belgium, which is where housing concerns and check cashing is taken care of. Bitburg and Spangdahlem AFB's are 1-1/2 hrs to 2 hrs. away and are worth the drive if you want great medical care and need to do some major shopping. We live in the nearby town of Tongeren, 15 minutes from the NPC. It's a quaint, cobble-stoned town with great antique shopping, but the residents here aren't too friendly to outsiders. It helps to take a Dutch course but not much. There's not really much night life. For some great eating and fun, the 20-minute drive over the Belgium-Netherlands border to the town of Maastricht is worth it and has lots to do. Tongeren would be nice if it weren't for the dog poop everywhere. My daughter attends the local pre-school and has learned quite a bit of Flemish. She loves going there and I love it that she loves it, but again the moms are not friendly to strangers. Overall, I would recommend this assignment for the great traveling (Paris-5 hrs., Koln, Germany-2 hrs.), but other than that, get stationed at Bitburg, Spang, or even Ramstein and you'll have a better time in Europe.
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