Lawton(Fort Sill), OK...?

Question

Ok I know I've been asking a TON of questions about BCT and Fort Sill and such so here is another one. Directed towards someone who has done a FAB. job of answering my questions cuz she is a drill sergeant's wife, but everyone else who can answer also. What is there to do around the Lawton Area?? Like stuff that I should go and see while I'm there. So far I know we are going to the wildlife refuge but we are gonna be there for 5 days so we need more to do. Any suggestions<<< Also we are traveling from Ohio so anything from there to OK would also be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks-Ash

Answer 1

Take a drive up to the top of Mt Scott and have a picknic at Lake Latonka(sp?). Go check out the FA museum and missile walk. Lots to do but it will most likely be hot-hot during the day.

Answer 2

It has been a while since I served as an officer in the field artillery at Ft. Sill but let me just mention a point or two. The wildlife refugee is excellent and you can spend at least 2 days seeing the entire place. There use to be a restaurant on the park where you could order buffalo steak for dinner (they were only allowed to use the meat of a limited number of animals procured by the US Dept of Interior and not buy "Buffalo Bill" hunting techniques, OK guys?!)
Cameron University is in Lawton and if you are stationed at Sill after AIT you can consider using your inservice GI Bill there. While at Sill I attended the Univ of Oklahoma for my Master's using the GI Bill. If I made time while serving full time, perhaps you will be able to. Therefore you might want to just visit the campus to see if there is a course of study you are interested in pursuing. Coming from Ohio, you may want to visit OKC (Oklahoma City) which is only about 90 miles north of Lawton on "the slab"...the freeway from OKC to Lawton.

On the flip side of the coin. As in most "military towns" there is the Ft.Sill/Lawton strip out side the main gate that has (or had) at least 20 bar, strips clubs and other business that where after the the soldier's paycheck whith lound music, the suggestion of female companionship and the like. I'm all for free enterprise but I would suggest your limited time could be spent doing other things. If bar hoping is what you want to do...and yes as a younger man I did my share (before the army) by all means do so; just be careful on the strip. As the battallion and Group Duty Officer I had to respond to and at times bail out some of the young troops who the Lawton police were (at that time) more than happy to take to jail for any infraction. I can only hope in this time of active combat their views have changed. Good luck to you and thanks for your future service.

Answer 3

I hadn't been stationed at Fort Sill during my career, but there should be information pertaining to Geronimo, the last of the POWs.

On a cold day in February 1909, Geronimo had ridden to Lawton, the town near Fort Sill, sold some bows and arrows, and got drunk. Heading home after dark, he fell off his horse and lay all night on the ground. Now 85 years old, he contracted pneumonia and lingered in a delirium for several days. In this state he thought he saw a young Chiricahua who had recently died; the boy approached Geronimo and begged him to become a Christian, but he refused, saying he had been unable to “follow the path” in his life, and now it was too late.

An old friend of his, Daklugie, had held his hand as the great warrior lapsed into his final coma. Geronimo died on February 17.

His name lives on in the U.S. Army Airborne forces and is seen today on the uniforms of a certain Airborne unit. So strong the Apache psyche is for our Airborne elite the distinctive unit insignia of the U.S. Army Special Forces is the crossed arrows—the same insignia created by those Apache scouts assigned the task of bringing in Geronimo to General Crook in 1886.

We always joked among fellow paratroopers that to holler "Sitting Buuuull!" while descending wasn't quite right.

Answer 4

It only takes a few seconds of your time but it's really neat to stop by the tar pit when you're driving out toward lake George. We found a horned toad out there one day. Of course we let him go. Also from the dock of Lake George my kids watched a decent sized water moccasin eat a fish. It's the discovery channel up close and personal on this post.

Answer 5

The wildlife refuge is a great place to visit. Theres open range buffalo and longhorns. Oklahoma City is less than an hour away and theres plenty to do there.

Answer 6

There's the Field Artillery Museum on post. And, in town, there was a Frontier [or something similar] Museum. It had a big field of prairie dogs next to it. We used to go and feed the priarie dogs bread for hours.
Enjoy.