Advantages and Disadvantages of Living on Base

Advantages and Disadvantages of Living on Base

When the orders come through telling you that it is time for you to make another military move, the process of house hunting will start and you may want to think about actually living on your military base.  A vital component of military readiness is the quality of military housing, and all military installations attempt to offer accommodations that will ensure that families do not want to leave for anything.

Actually living on a military base is not necessarily the right option for every military family, however.  Living on a military base comes with both advantages and disadvantages, and you and your family need to take these into consideration before you reach a final decision about whether to move onto the base.

Quality housing assists the Department of Defense to keep its most valuable personnel for its military force, which is entirely composed of volunteers.  The proportion of personnel that stay in service at bases that offer high quality housing can be more expensive than for those who are stationed in places where the housing is of a much lower quality.  The service members of today enjoy living in a community that provides continuity and stability as a backdrop for day-to-day life, reassignment and deployment.

Service members who reside either on or off base are entitled to the BAH (basic allowance for housing), which gives military families equitable and accurate housing compensation based on the real housing costs in the local civilian housing markets near to where they are making a move to.