Housing Dilemma: Part I

dilemma:  n.  a situation where someone has to choose between two or more possible actions, each of which will bring difficulties

There are two kinds of people in the Air Force:  those that prefer to live on base and those that prefer off base. And before anyone spouts off about which is better or worse, they need to have experienced both.  Don't brag about the awesomeness of your square footage or huge lot is if you haven't also known the awesomeness of living in your own gated community of military peeps.

I have experienced both.  Lived on base for three assignments and getting ready to live off base for a third time.  But I am a bit biased, because I just love me some living on base.  However, I will do my best to give pros and cons for both.

ON BASE UTOPIA:

Imagine it...people who have the same interests, commonality, aspirations...all living together in sub-par space and questionable wiring/plumbing.  You do it for the experience, sometimes for the schools, convenience, and camaraderie that can only be described as misery loves company.  And that company usually welcomes you with baked goods.

Oh sure, some military installations have brand new housing.  Brand new built by the lowest bidder.  I will always take the archaic home that dates back to the time of Moses over new housing.  Old homes have weathered plagues, countless attacks by mother nature, and a bajillion families yet are still standing.  Ain't much me or mine can do to bring the walls down.  New housing ALWAYS, and I mean always, has issues.  Like when you hit your light switch, your neighbor's fan turns on.  Or concrete stuck in the water line to the washer, located nicely on the second floor near the bedrooms, causes water to overflow, flood the upstairs, and the ceiling below to collapse into the two car garage and subsequently on your car.

Living on base means living in a small community.  Everywhere you go are friendly faces, or unfriendly depending on your current situation.  You may not have a lot of privacy, but that gates swings both ways...neighbors may know your dirt, but they also know when you need help.

Rest assured, the one time you are dolled up and feeling fine, no one sees you.  But when you have been up for 36 hours with a puking baby, the water main on your street has burst, and you need to run to get water from the commissary, you will see everyone and their mom.   You attend church, play sports, go to school, and live next to the same people. Forget six degrees of separation...it is more like 1.5 when you live on base.

But I like all that.  I like that I know I can be late, for whatever reason, and that my kids aren't in danger of abduction because I am not there to welcome them home from school.  That my neighbor and husband have worked the same job so we can bitch about laundry and absurd schedules.  That there are families on my street whose active duty member is deployed and they don't have to feel alone...that we have all been there or are about to be. I like how even if I run into people at the commissary when I look horrible, they ask how I am, and honestly want to know the answer.  I like how my husband can ride his bike to work in five minutes.  And he can come home for lunch.  I like not paying utilities or lawn care. I love when my kids start a new school on base and every other kid has been in their shoes and can commiserate.

Mostly I love how doors are always open.  Both literally and figuratively.   It takes a village to raise this military spouse.

 

Tomorrow....OFF BASE PARADISE