I haven’t lived in military family housing since June 2002, which is right around the time that the military stopped taking care of its own housing and “privatized” it. That means that the folks that now run the repair shop (you didn’t really think all military housing is NEW, did you?) are contracted by the government. It also means that these old homes, with their old heating & cooling systems, no longer have their utility expenses covered by the housing office. When the military went over to privatized housing, the basic utility costs (gas, electricity, water) were passed on to the military family. Some of these homes are “substandard.” I think Mary Alice’s house qualifies for that moniker.
Mary Alice over at From the Frontlines has a husband in the Air Force and a son serving in the Coast Guard. She has been discussing her housing situation lately on her blog. Housing on military installations is a cookie-cutter operation, and if it is happening to Mary Alice and her family, you can bet it is affecting other military families. Our military families deserve better! They certainly deserve better than to have their private e-mail read by a base commander (how the base commander obtained a PRIVATE e-mail sent from Mary Alice to HER FRIENDS is unknown). Instead of doing The Right Thing and investigating what is really happening in housing, this leader instructed her Military Man to stop his wife from “spreading rumors” about her housing situation!
Yes, my blood is boiling just a bit here, and I’m not the one living in this situation. Read on…
I challenge you to do a little mouse-clicking and see what I mean.
Try this post out for starters, then read this post. If you have time, read this post also and follow the links.
This is a sad and sick example of how some of our military families are treated.
If you are moved to do so, link to Mary Alice’s blog and write your own post. I’m making sure to “tag” this post to help it get picked up by other readers. If you Twitter, tweet away. It would be wonderful to see mainstream media pick it up and run with it. Bloggers can help each other, and here is a great opportunity!
Kcinnova's World 
Go you. Every military wife seems to have something to add to the story.
When I was on Ft. Meade some 20 years ago they still had some housing that was completely sub-standard. There was an ongoing remodling project, but even those were in buildings that had seen way better days, and were poorly insulated. To be fair they also had some brand new houses, but only a few by comparison. When I got married I opted to live off base.
Oh yes, I have fond memories of all the base housing we used to live in. Worse than inner-city housing projects!!!
That’s just a little more than creepy… and wrong!
That’s outrageously awful! We can and should do so much better!
Privatization is not the cure-all that some people want to believe. It is too bad that we put profits and cutting expenses ahead of the welfare of some of our families in the most difficult situations.