The Goodfellow AFB guide

• Fly into San Angelo Regional Airport (SJT, Mathis Field), which has American Eagle service to and from DFW only. Avis and Budget rent on site and Enterprise is off site; reserve ahead because inventory is thin. The airport is on the southwest side of town, about 20 minutes to the gate. If SJT fares are ugly, DFW is about 4 hours by car and San Antonio about 3.5 hours via US-87.
• Goodfellow has two gates. Historically the Jacobson Gate (South Gate, off South Chadbourne Street) was the 24/7 main gate and the North Gate ran weekday hours only. As of March 23, 2026 the base flipped that for a Visitor Control Center remodel: the North Gate is open 24 hours and the South Gate runs Monday through Friday 5 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed weekends and federal holidays. Confirm current hours on the base's Visitor Control Center page before you arrive.
• The permanent Visitor Control Center is at 361 Apache Trail, Building 3005, beside the South Gate (listed phone 325-654-4122). During the remodel a temporary VCC operates in the parking lot next to the North Gate and handles all passes and registration. Bring a REAL ID or passport, plus registration and insurance if you are driving a rental; rideshare and food-delivery drivers must use the North Gate while the remodel is under way.
• Traffic is light by military-town standards. The only real crunch is the 0530 to 0700 student push at whichever gate is open, and Loop 306 at lunch. If you are staying on the southwest side, Knickerbocker Road to Loop 306 to South Chadbourne is the standard route.

• No on-base schools. Children in Goodfellow Family Housing attend San Angelo ISD, which serves most of the city; outlying families use Wall ISD (east), Grape Creek ISD (northwest) or Christoval ISD (south).
• San Angelo ISD runs Central High School and Lake View High School plus a full set of magnet and career-tech programs; Wall ISD is the small rural district many base families drive for. Texas participates in the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children and its Purple Star campus program — ask the School Liaison which campuses currently hold the designation.
• The Goodfellow School Liaison Program Manager is listed at 325-654-3893 (confirm on the 17th FSS or Military OneSource page); call before you PCS for enrollment help and transfer of credits.
• The base Child Development Center, School Age Program and Youth Center are all run by the 17th FSS. Put your request into MilitaryChildCare.com the day you have orders — CDC waits at a training base with this many young families can run months.

• The 17th Medical Group runs an outpatient clinic only (two squadrons providing primary care, dental, mental health and student clinic services). There is no emergency room on base; find the appointment line on goodfellow.tricare.mil or the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal.
• Emergencies go to Shannon Medical Center downtown, the region's Level II trauma center and the largest civilian employer in San Angelo after the base; it is about 10 minutes from the gate.
• Texas is in the TRICARE West Region, administered by TriWest Healthcare Alliance since January 2025. Confirm your region by ZIP on tricare.mil and update your PCM if you are here on a long TDY.

Commissary

Full commissary on base — small but adequate for a month-long TDY; H-E-B and Walmart in town cover the gaps.

Exchange

Main BX open Mon-Sat 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sun 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. per MyBaseGuide, with Express and food court.

Fitness

Base fitness center open to all ID card holders; outdoor pools open seasonally to DoD card holders (aquatics 325-654-5643).

Dining

Dining facility for students and permanent party, plus X-Press-O's Cafe, the Thede Bowling Grill and snack shacks around the training area.

MWR

Thede Bowling Center, Powell Event Center, Arts & Crafts Center, Auto Hobby Shop, Outdoor Recreation with equipment rental and a Lake Nasworthy campground, and an ITT office for Fiesta Texas and San Antonio trips.

Signature events

FSS Oktoberfest each fall, 'Monsters of Mathis' at the airport, and the annual Goodfellow open house tied to the base's 1940 founding.

1. 01Gate hours changed on March 23, 2026 for the VCC remodel — the North Gate is 24/7 and the South (Jacobson) Gate is weekday daytime only. Check the base's Visitor Control Center page the week you travel, because the base will flip back when construction ends.
2. 02Heat is the hazard. Thirty days a year over 100°F, high UV and hot wind mean fire academy and PT are early; bring electrolytes, a sun hoodie and a car windshield shade, and never leave gear or pets in a vehicle.
3. 03Spring hail is real in the Concho Valley. If your crashpad or rental has covered parking, use it; if not, know where the nearest garage is when the sky turns green.
4. 04Book the Angelo Inn the day you have orders. Class starts stack students into the inn and the town's hotel inventory is thin, so get your non-availability number early and line up off-base lodging inside the $110 rate.
5. 05San Angelo is 90 miles from Abilene and 225 from Austin, with a one-airline airport. Rent the car before you fly, and if you're driving in on US-87 or US-67 watch for deer at dusk — hitting one is the most common rental-car claim out here.
6. 06The base has no runway, so there's no flightline noise and no aircrew rhythm — but there are Army, Navy and Marine formations at 0600, so expect gate traffic then rather than at 0730.
7. 07PCSing with kids? Put your name into MilitaryChildCare.com immediately and call the School Liaison at 325-654-3893 about Wall ISD versus San Angelo ISD before you sign a lease — the district line matters more than the neighborhood here.
8. 08Water restrictions are a way of life in West Texas. Check the City of San Angelo's current drought stage for lawn and car-wash rules before you get a ticket in a rental house.

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