The American Spectator

It is no big military secret that the Air Force spends more on enlisted dorms than perhaps the other services put together. The standard that the Air Force was working towards was similar to many college dorms. Contrast this with the livening conditions for the other services.

The Marine Barracks at many Marine and Naval installations can vary greatly, The newer ones can put the Air Force to shame, but there are still many dating back, if not to World War II, then the close of the Korean War. Many have had updates and upgrades, but the basic structure, including plumbing and electrical lines is still out of date by decades. The Navy, again, it really varies and can vary on the same installation. And the Army has been most deplorable; maintenance has been deferred and deferred again. And often, instead of a full replacement, it is patched and patched over again.

p>There are many excuses but it boils down to Service and Command priorities. br> — Sandra Dent /p>

Back in the day, as many of my students say, while I was briefly stationed in Jacksonville, South Carolina, many a young Marine and I (proudly Navy) would rent a room in the Thunderbird Hotel down the road from the base. Since we were lowly paid E-3’s and under, we kept the out of pocket costs for comfortable accommodations down by using the full capacity of the rooms; often we had 10 or 12 people in one small room with a television and private bathroom, but this was preferable to the spartan and overcrowded barracks we called home when we weren’t in the fields. Later I was PCS’ed to El Toro Marine Corps Base in California. I shared a room with a perfectly gentle and gentlemanly navy corpsman; the room was barely large enough for keeping clothes and a bunk-rack. Since we were naval personnel on a USMC base, we were eligible to receive a housing allowance that we pooled to live in the very ritzy area of Irvine. This allowed us to escape the loud, cramped space that most young Marines had to endure daily. Our brothers in arms had to make do with the little spaces they were allotted.

p>Now Marines are a hearty and spirited lot who do not ask much. They volunteered to join a special group knowing they will often spend 20 plus day a month in the field, sleeping, eating and other less mentionable functions, in the dirt. They work 18 hour days. And damn me if they don’t do so with a smile, but when they get back “home” they have to endure barrack housing that no one on welfare would be asked to use. While the pay is low, they somehow get by. Few, if any, enlist in the military for the money, and Uncle Sam takes care of most of the essentials. But having to face the BEQ (Base Enlisted Quarters) after a long deployment, either in ConUs or overseas, can be downright depressing. Yes, the Marines are willing to live in sub-standard housing without complaining, but the questions are, doesn’t the cost of forcing that choice cost more than good housing and don’t “our boys” deserve a helluva lot better? Base house need not be base . br> — Ira M. Kessel br> Rochester, New York /p> p> What do America’s warriors deserve? Tax free incomes! Why should those volunteering to potentially place themselves in harms way have to sacrifice twice by paying Federal taxes when effete, rich and lazy liberals do nothing, but disparage our military and the nation’s finest generation? For that matter all military pay for retirees, the Guard and reservists should be tax free too. Republicans looking to make gains in Congress in November should add this to the list of things they plan to do in the first 100 days after the moronic Nancy Pelosi has been kicked out of the Speaker’s chair and replaced with a can do Republican.