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Originally Posted by lookout123
marichiko- turn off gomer pyle and see if you can look at a modern military base.
the norms will be different based on the branch of service, but at most bases, the majority of junior enlisted have better living conditions than junior officers did 20 years ago. at most AF bases and many army posts, having a roommate is an unusual annoyance. having 2 is unheard of. yes, there are exceptions, but that is the reality. family housing is being massively overhauled again. (there were a lot of upgrades in the early '90's). enlisted and officer clubs are onbase for cheap entertainment. the messhalls are still open for at least 3 squares/day and it isn't the food they were eating 20 years ago, which is part of why the prices at AAFES locations don't seem as cheap to you anymore. dining halls and the shopping centers are lumped together in a single "0 gain/loss budget" the slightly higher shopping prices pay for better food, better buildings, better R&R opportunities for the troops.
and the biggest benefit of the commisary and BX/PX system are still in place - NO TAX, including liquor, tobacco, and gasoline.
this ain't yer daddy's military.
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No, it sure ain't. I'm talking about the barracks in 2004 that Army enlisted men stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado live in. It's the norm to have two guys to a room. The barracks have flimsy walls and you can hear everything through them. The only R&R facilities available on post are the NCO club and a bowling alley. There is a base library which I actually once worked in. Its seriously under-funded and most of the books are 10 years old or more. Mess hall food is still mess hall food. It actually wasn't half bad back in my Dad's time, but the quality seems to have gone down, although you're right, there's plenty of it. I mentioned that cigarettes are cheaper and, yes, so is booze. Drinking is a regular pass time - there's not much else to do on base.
I know all this because I still have friends who are active duty military, and one friend was confined to base for a while, so I'd go up there now and then to offer him a little support (he was a Gulf War vet who was getting massively screwed over by the Army legal system).
Your experiences in the Air Force Reserve cannot be extrapolated for the military as a whole.