Reply #107: Just because there are bases, there aren't many rooms in the barracks [View All]

[MADem]

Military barracks, worldwide, operate at at least 93 percent of capacity. Some are in excess of a hundred percent, requiring personnel to accept what is termed 'substandard quarters' which usually takes the form of four folks in a two person room.

This myth that there are rooms everywhere is false.

Under Clinton, we tore down substandard barracks and built new--and far fewer, because the military was drawing down as a result of the Cheney plan. We also permitted more military personnel to live off base, and draw housing allowance. Most of the kids in Iraq have families at home in CIVILIAN communities, and the reservists do not ever live in military housing in any event.

Sure, you can put them in a hangar, without air conditioning...or the gym, with bad air conditioning...but there just are not rooms at the inn. It is an old and false paradigm.