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I lived in El Paso for a number of years and was in the National Guard there (3-133FA). I found El Paso to be a quite friendly place, with great Mexican food. It's a bout 700 miles from anywhere though, Denver, Dallas, San Diego. Nearby things to see include White Sands Missile Range Museum and Missile Park at White Sands, White Sands National Monument, The New Mexico Space Port, the NM Museum of Space History at Alamogordo, Hueco Tanks Historical Park, Viva El Paso a play presented at the outdoor McKelligon Canyon amphitheater, water sports-wise there is Elephant Butte Reservoir located north of El Paso at Truth or Consequences, NM. Educational opportunities exist at the University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) and at NM State University (NMSU), Las Cruces. There are local travel/vacation opportunities which include Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Carlsbad NM, and Las Vegas is only a Southwest flight away. I-25 can take you to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Denver in a day or less.

if you have children, the school system is fair, and El Paso can be a good place to learn and practice Spanish, but keep in mind the local version is Spanglish or boarder Spanish, which can actually detract form learning classic Spanish. El Paso Community College seems to be a good school and as mentioned there is UTEP and MNSU.

Fort Bliss is a large facility with lots of military support options. There is a German prescience mostly ADA training I think, but also an aviation component. What is referred to as "down range" is the artillery range to the north.

Cost of living is, or was when I was there, lower than many places, so your money should go much farther than it did in California.

We use to visit Juarez, but I would advise against it at this time.

There is more and I'm sure I'll think of it later, but that's the major stuff. Hope you enjoy the area, we did.

Some pictures of the area.