Kyle said:
ShamMol said:He is a bit crazy, but he does have a point with off-base housing. I actually hadn't thought of that before. There is housing on-base that is subsidized, why can't they live there?
Hmm....I was under the impression that there actually was family housing on base in the form of condos. If this isn't the case, then he doesn't have a point. But let me reiterate that I think he is crazy, just brought up an interesting point.akyron said:Wives and kids need a little privacy. They ca not all sleep on those little bunkbeds with 50 other guys.
I know when I was in the Navy (83-87) there was an extreme lack of housing on base. The housing available on base was very nice and free. If you couldn’t get into the on base housing then they’d give you some increase in pay to help you afford off base housing. Keep in mind this only applies to married sailors. Unmarried sailors were provided with living quarters on base (dorms) or on board ship (berthing), they could live off base but were given no pay increase to cover the cost. The amount given to married sailors was not enough to cover the cost of the housing. If I remember correctly I received somewhere around $350.00 a month for housing cost. I was stationed in San Diego at that time rent was going for about $500.00 for a basically crappy one bedroom apartment. Plus you had to pay for electric, phone, etc... If you lived on base those were all covered and free. You did have to pay for long distance phone calls but local calls were free. Basically living on base was a much better deal. Not only did you get a nice large home or duplex but it was clean and the crime rate was zero. The only guys I knew who weren’t interested in on base housing were guys involved in illegal activities such as drug use. I was on the wait list my entire hitch, never lived on base.ShamMol said:Hmm....I was under the impression that there actually was family housing on base in the form of condos. If this isn't the case, then he doesn't have a point. But let me reiterate that I think he is crazy, just brought up an interesting point.
Edit: Yeah, I just looked it up, there is family housing (usually a two room or three room condo), but sometimes there is a wait. Then my suggestion would be to stop financing off-base housing and revitalize the current housing (which apparently is not all that great) and build new housing waning off of paying for outside housing.
Trust me, I support our troops, but I think that this makes sense.
Kyle said:
ANAV said:The quality and number of base housing has been improved greatly over the last few years. Some bases still do have a waiting list however. The size of house you are entitled to is based on the number of people in your family. Even if a four bedroom house available a family of four (husband, wife and two kids) would not be given this house and would be put on a waiting list for a three bedroom. Makes sense to me. Also when you are in base housing you do not have to pay for electricity, water, sewer, or garbage removal.
To offset the cost of off base commercial housing, service members get an extra pay called Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH). The amount is based on where you live and your pay grade. I get $1049 a month for the area I live in. Not bad considering my mortgage is $811. I have a friend who transfers to San Diego later this year and he was receive right around $2000 a month. BAH is based on the cost of living and local economy (housing market) in the area where you are stationed. This rate is evaluated every year and raises are given appropriately.
Pacridge said:Welcome to debate politics!
Are you enlisted or an officer?
If your enlisted then I’d say they’ve made some improvements since I was in. When I got out in ’87, the amount I was getting would not have paid any mortgages. I looked in a file I keep. In with my DD-214 and a bunch of other documents, were my LES (leave and earnings statements.) I was an E-5 when I left and I was making 1289.00 a month and getting 376.00 BAQ (Basic Allowance for Quarters.) There’s no way that covered even rent on an apartment.
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ANAV said:I'm an enlisted E-7 sailor with 16 years in thus far. In the short period of time that I have been in there has been drastic improvements in military pay and quality of life for military members and families.
My wife's civilian doctor is covered by TRICARE (the military contracted insurance company). The navy doctor she had was competent but his schedule was always full and it was hard to get appointments.
Here's a link to the current BAH rates. All you have to do is type in the zip code and military members can see how much they are getting;
https://secureapp2.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/bah.html
And here's a link to the current military pay scale. Base pay plus BAH and other special pays add up once you have some time in.
http://www.dod.mil/dfas/money/milpay/pay/paytable2005-rev1.pdf