Originally posted by Slurpee
not to hijack or anything, but you said you live on base housing? Im in the Marines now, leave for Boot Camp July 25th. What are the goods and bads of base housing?
If it sounds like I'm jumping your bellybutton get used to it.
You are not in the Marines nor are you a Marine yet if you havnt left for boot camp!
Marine is a title that you earn when the Senior Drill Instructor dismisses your platoon for the last time. It is indeed a title that you will have for the rest of your life and no one cant take that away from you. Never forget that.
OK about the housing. Marine Corps base housing is lagging behind the other services but catching up quick. Some bases have an abundance of it (camp pendleton/camp lejune) some dont. Mirimar/Yuma.
Non- NCOs E-4 and below have the smaller houses. They arent bad and usually you have a covered car park and a small back yard.
The more rank you get the better the housing gets. Eventually you'll have a fenced in back yard and/or a garage.
Pros:
The schools on base are usually top notch
Gas Water And electric are FREE
It's usually a good community (SAFE for the most part)
Cons:
If you arent buying a house you are not building up equity in that house. Living in housing means you forfiet your housing allowence, wich in some areas is quite large $1200/mo + With a VA loan you can usually buy a house you can afford close to base (depending on wich one) and when you leave you will have $20,000 + in the bank after you sell it.
Gate guards. They are a plus and a minus. Normally I wouldnt worry about going to dinner at applebees and having a beer with my dinner. I live on base and have to drive through the gate. They are pretty hard on not only DUIs but drinking and driving. They can give you a DUI on base for ANY ammounts of alchol in your system.
There is very little you can do to your house to "personalize" it. Some areas are so strict that you have to seek permision to hang a picture on the wall.
Yard inspectors! We had one here that was an absolute Nazi. rumor has it that he was asked to quit for crossing the line. Anyhow this guy would write you up for the most stupid things. Every week he inspects housings lawns. One of the dumbest rules is that I am responsible for the grass 6ft away from the curb. If There is grass growing through the cracks IN THE STREET I have to deal with them.
Dont get me wrong I like living close to my work. My commute if I didnt live on base would be 45 minutes. Hope I've been helpfull and good luck in Boot Camp. Remember......EVERY THING YOU DO IN BOOT CAMP IS FOR A REASON.....and most of these wont click until the last week there
Originally posted by Cobra412
lol Slurpee even though he's Air Force now I'm sure he can tell you some "good" stories about Marine base housing. If they are anything like what I saw when I was stationed in North Carolina I feel for ya.
Cobra my "F" area house is equivlient to O4 and above housing in the Corps. When I first joined the Corps the housing was pitiful. Just as I was getting out they were renovating all the houses at Yuma.
We both know that "F" area are now considered low quality.
K-Bay in Hawaii as some good houses but, all the new ones that were built on a hill are sliding off their foundations. Guess hiring the lowest bidder doesnt allways work.
