The Cannon AFB guide

• Clovis Regional Airport (CVN) is six miles east of town on NM 523 with Denver Air Connection service to Denver International; Enterprise handles rentals there. Most travelers fly into Lubbock (LBB) or Amarillo (AMA), each about 100 miles and 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours by car on US 84 or US 60 — reserve the rental in advance because both airports run short on trucks and SUVs during exercise weeks.
• Both gates are open 24/7: the Main Gate on the north side off US 60/84 and the Portales Gate on the south side reached via NM 467. Hours can change with FPCON, so confirm on cannon.af.mil or the base Facebook page before an odd-hour arrival.
• The Visitor Control Center is at 601 Chindit Avenue just outside the Main Gate, 575-784-2400. Bring a REAL ID-compliant driver's license or passport, vehicle registration, and proof of insurance; anyone without a DoD ID needs a sponsor. VCC hours are not posted consistently online, so call ahead if you expect to arrive after normal duty hours.
• Traffic is light by any standard, but US 60/84 west of Clovis backs up at the Main Gate between about 0700–0800 and 1600–1700 on duty days. Watch for farm equipment, cattle trucks, and blowing dust on the highway, and in winter the two-lane stretches ice over before the town streets do.

• No schools on base. Kids in Cannon Family Homes are bused to Clovis Municipal Schools; Portales Municipal Schools serve families who live south of the base.
• Clovis Municipal Schools (pre-K–12) run multiple elementaries, three middle schools, and two high schools including Clovis High, with bus service for anyone more than a mile from a school and a dedicated military family page; the district partners with the base on a back-to-school event each August. Portales Municipal Schools have three elementaries, a junior high, and Portales High, with Eastern New Mexico University in town for dual credit and spouse degrees.
• The School Liaison sits with the Military & Family Readiness Center at 575-784-4228 — ask for the SLO for enrollment, IEP transfers, and district comparisons.
• The base Child Development Center is the main daycare option and has a waitlist; register at MilitaryChildCare.com as soon as orders are in hand. Off-base licensed care in Clovis is limited, so families lean on the CDC, Family Child Care homes on base, and the Youth Center for school-age care.

• The 27th Special Operations Medical Group is an outpatient clinic at 208 W. D.L. Ingram Ave, Bldg 1400 — no emergency room and no inpatient beds. The appointment line published on base directories is 575-784-2778; confirm on cannon.tricare.mil.
• Emergencies go to Plains Regional Medical Center (Presbyterian) in Clovis, the area's only hospital; call 911 for anything serious. Specialty referrals often route to Lubbock or Amarillo, so budget for the drive.
• TRICARE West Region, administered by TriWest Healthcare Alliance.

Commissary

102 Levitow Ave, Bldg 77-A; Tue–Sat 9 AM–7 PM, Sun 10 AM–5 PM, closed Monday

Exchange

102 Levitow Ave, Bldg 77-B, next to the Commissary; Mon–Sat 9 AM–6 PM, Sun 10 AM–4 PM, with a food court and Class Six

Fitness

Commando Fitness & Aquatic Center — manned Mon–Thu 6 AM–9 PM, Fri 6 AM–6 PM, with 24/7 access by application; indoor pool, track, sauna, and the seasonal DZ Pool

Dining

Pecos Trail DFAC (203 Air Commando Way) serves seven days a week; also Billy D Smokehouse, Commando's Alley at Cannon Lanes, the Chip Shot Diner at the golf course, and Tailgate Sports Lounge

MWR

Cannon Lanes bowling, Outdoor Recreation with gear and trip rentals, an 18-hole golf course, ITT for Texas and Colorado trips, and the base library; FSS main line 575-784-6623

Newcomers

Military & Family Readiness Center, 575-784-4228, runs Right Start in-processing and the sponsor program; the wing's Air Commando spirit shows up in a fall open house or air show most years

1. 01Spring wind is no joke: April averages nearly 13 mph and gusts push 50 during dust storms. Park facing the wind, keep sunglasses handy, and do not leave anything light in a truck bed.
2. 02Summer thunderstorms bring hail. If your rental has a garage, use it — Cactus View and Cannon Crest both have off-street parking for that reason.
3. 03Book the Caprock Inn the day your orders drop, then call again a week out. Exercise and inspection weeks empty the 88 rooms, and the non-availability number is your ticket to a crashpad at the $110 rate.
4. 04Both gates are 24/7, but the Portales Gate is the smart move if you are coming from ENMU or the south; the Main Gate line on US 60/84 stacks up at 0700 and 1630 on duty days.
5. 05Fly into Lubbock if fares are close: it has more flights, more rental trucks, and better roads to Clovis than Amarillo. Reserve the car in advance.
6. 06PCS families: call Cannon Family Homes at 575-784-7141 before you leave your last base. The waitlist for 3- and 4-bedroom homes can run months, and Clovis rentals move fast in summer.
7. 07Pack for two seasons in one week — 90s in the afternoon and 50s at night are normal in May and September, and a February morning can be in the teens with a warm afternoon.
8. 08New Mexico is on Mountain Time but Texas is Central, so your Lubbock and Amarillo flights leave an hour 'earlier' than you think. Set the phone to auto and double-check the departure time.

More New Mexico guides

The Kirtland AFB guideAlbuquerque, New MexicoThe Holloman AFB guideAlamogordo, New Mexico