why the hotel not base?

Question

My boyfriend is stationed at a base....why is he staying at a hotel about 20 min away? he says the base is overflowed .. I know there are other people stationed there who are at the hotel too, I see them whenever i am there..what determines who stays on base and who they ship off to a hotel? he has been back from iraq for 3 mmonths and has been there the whole time.

Answer 1

happens all the time when there is a huge influx of personnel at once and the barracks are full. I once worked for a hotel that took over flow from a nearby Naval Traning Command.

Determining fcators could include timing(who got back first while there was still room in the BEQ) or rank.

Answer 2

It's not uncommon, especially if this is a smaller mobilization / demobilization post.

For example - my Reserve unit was called up at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a garrison support unit and sent to Fort Eustis, which is in southern VA. Fort Eustis isn't a terribly big post, but has a lot of barracks - except many of them haven't been used in years and needed to be refurbished before troops could be housed in them.

Since the barracks on base were needed by soldiers mob'ing / demob'ing, all of us were put in Extended Stay type hotels (with kitchens in the rooms and all that).

This is probably what's going on with your boyfriend as well - there aren't enough barracks available for everyone who is going through the demob process after coming back to Iraq, plus everyone who is mobilizing, plus everyone in medical hold, plus everyone permanently assigned to that base. Not enough room. So the military makes arrangements with local hotels to room the overflow.

For a lot of training - PLDC, ANCOC, BNCOC, etc. - participants are also staying at hotels off base rather than barracks on base, depending on what is open and available. A lot of the time it's probably more cost effective for the military to get hotel rooms over refurbishing old barracks that may need a lot of work.

Answer 3

Regs state that when the base barracks are over 85% full, off base housing is authorized by request by SINGLE personnel E-4 and below. However, it seems that PERHAPS your bf's base living quarters are filled to over flowing. When I first went in, my first shore duty had FOUR men to a room. Now, I understand it could be TWO per room. So perhaps there is no room 'at the inn' for your bf and he's been moved off base 'at the convenience of the service' (I LOVE that phrase hehe).
(USN/retired)

Answer 4

sometimes if they dont have rooms or houses available they put them up in hotels. He should be reimbersed for it. I had to stay in a hotel for a couple of days until they found a house here on base for us to live.