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I have a case of the green-eye monster
ETA: I'm not sure where posters below got the idea that the other house hasmore bedrooms. It has the same number of bedrooms. Just a different style/age/floorplan.
I'm not saying this isn't childish and unjustified, I'm just saying it's how I feel.
We moved to our new base last week. They are taking $2800 worth of BAH from us to live on base. Our house is *fine* but last night I went to some friends of ours about a block over and their house is beautiful. They are also paying $2800 in BAH. Same amount of kids, got here the same time, etc. The only difference is that both my DH and I are AD and his wife stays at home. They also have a privacy fenced back yard, which I wanted so bad. We can't put up a fence at our house, and we never go outside because my 20 month old won't stay contained in the back yard area. Our house is older and has smaller rooms, less square footage, and isn't nearly as cute. Their's has huge bedrooms, nicer finishes like crown molding, countertops with rounded edges, etc.
I know I should just be happy to have a single family home, but seriously, I just can't get over how fortunate they were to get this and I'll be spending 5 years in this house.
Whine over.
Re: I have a case of the green-eye monster
I'd move off base. you can surely find a house for way less than $2800 a month. I would not pay that much for something I didnt love. I dont think I would pay that much for something I did love, actually.
Can you ask to move to the new housing?
Why do you have to live there for 5 years? thats laughable that you HAVE to stay somewhere you're unhappy that you rent.
I changed my name
Here, single E5s stay in the barracks.
Yeah, well, since he was on recruiting duty, he had BAH and HHG, so he was one of the lucky ones who didn't get pushed back into the barracks. And neither he nor I was willing to get married any sooner like many of his Marines so he could live off base.
This is the problem that is glossed over in the other thread. It's not necessarily that the NCOs think all JESMs should be living in squalor, but rather that it is odd to subsidize and reward marriage and child bearing, while simultaneously (in a way) punishing those who don't rush to get married/have children and those who have medical conditions precluding childbearing.
IIRC, someone who posts here occasionally and currently lives overseas had housing troubles a while ago. Part of the problem was that her H was considered "key and essential" so they didn't want them to move off base. The problem they had in housing was so severe that they went up the chain of command until finally they were given permission to seek housing off base. At least I think that's what the story was.
::sigh::
Housing is a benefit of military service. BAH is afforded to the service member should they be unable or unwilling to live on post. Housing is the default and it's based on family need and availability at the time of move in. That's it. And you don't pay your BAH to live in housing. They pay your BAH if you decline housing. It's a subtle difference but it's a difference.
Click me, click me!
Please do some research on the subject before you get all up in arms.
http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/faqbah.cfm
A member assigned to permanent duty within the 50 United States, who is not furnished government housing, is eligible for a Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), based on the member's rank, dependency status, and permanent duty station ZIP Code. A member stationed overseas (except in Hawaii and Alaska), including U.S. territories and possessions, who is not furnished government housing, is eligible for an Overseas Housing Allowance (OHA) based on the member's dependency status.
You are not LOOSING money by living on base, since HOUSING is the default and BAH is to provide enough money for the servicemember to live on the economy, given the variables of COLA by area.
And the BIGGEST take away of this is that HOUSING AND BAH/OHA ARE BENEFITS, not ENTITLEMENTS. You are not entitled to any of this. Being pissy that YOU do not get an extra bedroom, when you do not have a body to sleep in the room is pretty darn petty.
What? I'm not up in arms about not having an extra bedroom....I'm not sure where that even came from. The nicer house has the same amount of bedrooms as mine does. It's just a lot nicer finishings and yard.
And I have no desire to live off-base. We live in an area where the commute would be awful. I'm not UNHAPPY in my home, I'm just jealous of how nice my friend's house is a block over, where we have the exact same circumstances except they were not required to live on base like we were.
Wow. Y'all need to settle down.
And actually we do pay BAH to live in housing. It's privatized. DFAS puts BAH into our checks on our LES, then we pay the private company. I was just in their office last week writing them a check, so I don't think it is really inaccurate to say we pay BAH to live on base. I still keep my BAH and live on base because we are paying my DH's BAH as rent instead of mine.
I think that you must be right about base housing being the default because when I think about it, whenever DH reports somewhere, his orders get stamped when he arrives and they indicate at that time whether or not government quarters are available. We considered it to be "just a formality" but I can see how the case might be that the military wouldn't just stamp the page "unavailable".
On the other hand, I don't think that OP deserves to be pounced on. Yeah, # of bedrooms and things have been a hot topic on the board lately. She didn't come in and say, this is so horrible and unjust and shouldn't be allowed. She said, well, I'm jealous that other people have it better and I don't really feel that I have a better option. If I were in her shoes, I might be a little jealous too. And she's posting on the internet, not stamping her foot in the housing office or anything.