personally i was a big fan of living on base. i was in petawawa for 3 years, and besides the looooong winters i enjoyed it. if you are into the outdoors (as most army fellas are) petawawa is a great place, there are two rivers, tonnes of parks, trails for biking, lots of stuff.
its also nice that the majority of your friends live really close to you while you are on base, there were lots of times when everyone would go out, get wasted at someones house and it was easy walking or biking distance to home, same if you went into town.... although in the winters it was a hastle.
base life is what you make of it, do yourself a favour and go in with a positive attitude and it will all work out fine.