Housing: Barracks and Dormitories - Military Housing - Military Times

Housing: Barracks and Dormitories

The services call military unaccompanied personnel housing by different names, such as bachelor enlisted quarters, barracks and dormitories. All the services are upgrading their current facilities through renovation and new construction, and the pace is increasing as Congress provides more money. The primary focus is to eliminate inadequate living conditions such as overcrowding and common-area (“gang”) latrines. Modernizing improves privacy, increases living space and provides improved amenities.

The service secretaries can require uniformed members to live on base for various reasons, including military necessity, readiness, training missions or discipline, and making use of underutilized barracks space.

Conditions

A key initiative is to improve privacy and increase space by housing all permanent-party enlisted members in a “one-plus-one” module. Under this design for new construction, each enlisted member has a private room and shares a bathroom and kitchenette with one other person.

The Navy has awarded military construction contracts for building market-style housing, comparable to what is commonly found in the private sector, for unaccompanied sailors in Norfolk, Va., and San Diego.

Under this design, each member would have a private room and a private bath while sharing a full kitchen, living/dining room, and washer and dryer. (Under the Homeport Ashore initiative, however, two sailors on sea duty would share a bedroom while the ship is in port, until additional construction allows each sailor to have a private room.)

The Navy had congressional authority to proceed with three Unaccompanied Housing Privatization (UHP) pilot projects. A central provision of this authority is to allow sailors who are not otherwise entitled to BAH to receive a higher rate of partial BAH if they reside in housing privatized under this program. Because Congress did not extend that authority, it expired Sept. 30, 2009.

The first project was awarded at Naval Station San Diego in December 2006. The second, at Hampton Roads, Va., was awarded in December 2007. New construction for the pilot projects will be two-bedroom/two-bath market-style apartments with amenities such as fitness facilities, media centers, Wi-Fi lounges and technology centers. As with privatized family housing, sailors would sign a lease and pay rent to the property manager. The monthly lease payment would cover rent, utilities and renter’s insurance.

The Marine Corps was granted a waiver to the one-plus-one module in favor of a “two-by-zero” approach. This plan calls for two junior Marines (paygrades E-1 to E-3) to share a room and bath, to support the tenets of team building and unit cohesion. E-4s and E-5s are to be assigned private rooms.

Using input from quality-of-life surveys, the Air Force has developed a new standard called “Dorms-4-Airmen.” This design provides a four-person module with four private bedrooms and private baths, and a shared kitchen, washer and dryer, and living room. The Air Force design promotes increased privacy and social interaction while creating an environment for mentoring and “buddy care.”

The Army’s current construction standard is an expanded and enhanced version of the “one-plus-one” module; it includes two bedrooms, one bathroom and a kitchenette, but does not include a living/dining room. Washers and dryers are provided either in the shared module or in a laundry room on each floor.

Of course, as UPH modernization is still progressing, not all of the permanent-party UPH inventory meets the above standards. Also, many installations have capacity shortfalls due to the “Grow the Force” initiative, base realignment and closure actions, and force structure changes. Until the military services’ build-out plans are completed, large numbers of permanent-party junior enlisted personnel may be assigned to housing that provides less privacy, space and amenities than the current new construction standards.

Eligibility

Defense policy requires enlisted service members without dependents in paygrades E-6 and below to live in barracks, but the services have the flexibility to require only members in lower paygrades to live in barracks.

The Navy’s unaccompanied housing privatization pilots feature different eligibility requirements for the E-1 to E-3 population. Before service members can be referred to privatized housing, they must have a projected rotation date at least six months out, be willing to enroll in an allotment program for rental payments, and be eligible for a higher rate of partial BAH. Shipboard sailors must meet two additional requirements: They must get approval from their commanding officer to live off ship and be six months out from the next scheduled deployment of more than 90 days.

Assignment policies for unaccompanied housing vary among the services.

The Marine Corps requires all single personnel in paygrades E-5 and below to live on base, unless they’re authorized BAH. Marines in paygrades E-6 and above may live in government quarters, space permitting, once all bachelor personnel E-5 and below are adequately assigned.

The Air Force has placed a high priority on dormitory life, using operations and maintenance dollars to renovate dorms in order of priority of condition until new facilities can be built.

Air Force policy allows E-4s and above with at least three years of service to live off base, regardless of the on-base occupancy rate. Air Force officials contend that the first three years of an airman’s career are key years in shaping a future noncommissioned officer.

Army policy allows single E-6s and above to move out of barracks and draw BAH for off-post housing.

The Navy and Coast Guard have unique housing requirements.

Coast Guard personnel stationed on ships of less than 1,000 gross tons are assigned government rooms ashore when in port. Crews of small Coast Guard cutters often occupy government-leased apartments.

Navy policy allows shore-duty E-4s and above to live off base. For those on ships, the Navy lets E-4s with more than four years of service and all E-5s and above to request to live away from the ship and draw BAH if bachelor housing is not available. Enlisted sailors on sea duty who are authorized BAH to live in the local community do not have to give up their allowance when deployed.

Unmarried E-6s and above who are stationed on ships may choose to receive BAH and live in the community, without having to give up their allowances when deployed.

On ships of less than 1,000 gross tons or that lack support infrastructure aboard, the Navy assigns personnel to available ashore berthing while in home port. If no ashore berthing is available, personnel live on the ship.

Their E-1 to E-3 counterparts on larger vessels, with more room and better facilities, generally live aboard ship throughout their tours, except when overhauls make crew quarters unavailable.

The Navy has been rolling out a “Homeport Ashore” program to provide ashore accommodations for E-1s to E-3s without dependents who are stationed aboard ships. The chief of naval operations has committed to establishing Homeport Ashore fleetwide by 2016 by housing two sailors per sleeping room as an interim assignment policy.

Bachelor officer quarters

Availability of bachelor officer quarters for single officers and married officers not accompanied by their families — known as geographic bachelors — differs by service and location. Unless they are designated key and essential, single officers on U.S. installations are authorized to receive BAH and reside off base. Outside the U.S., officer quarters are often made available on base.

Restrictions

Barracks life is defined by rules and regulations.

Defense Department and service guidance addresses the possession, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages within the military installation. Minimum drinking-age laws apply on stateside bases. At overseas locations, host nations may apply more rigid restrictions.

Inspection policies for on-base housing vary among the services and typically are conducted at the discretion of the commander of the base or unit.

The Marine Corps has a standardized policy for barracks management, called the Bachelor Enlisted Quarters (BEQ) Campaign Plan. The latest version is dated Nov. 9, 2006. It provides guidance for assignment, visitation, alcohol consumption, inspections, maintenance and repair, and new construction programming.

The Army has established a centrally managed First Sergeant Barracks Program that is being deployed worldwide as funding becomes available. The program standardizes the barracks management to include assignment and termination inspections, central in- and out-processing, maintenance and repair programs, and management control of room furnishings by hand-receipting the property to the assigned occupant.