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FlyButtaflyYou know... as much money as we pay in rent, you'd think they'd come up with a solution for their garbage problem. This really makes me mad. To be honest, right now there are a lot of things about the Navy that I'm pissed about - but for the moment, I'll focus on this "little" issue.
The Navy has a "partnership" with a private company, and they lease out the townhomes in our neighborhood to Military families, who then pay rent to the company based on how much BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) we get. BAH is based on rank and location - though location of what, I'm not sure - because ours is based on a zip-code that neither my husband works in nor we live in. Go figure.
Anyway - so our little slice of heaven *cough cough* is out in the middle of a marshland. A place that literally looks like they found a tiny piece of property and decided to see how many "houses" (8-plexes, really - or whatever you call them) they could cram in that one area. The streets are so narrow, you're not allowed to park on them (heck, they're barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other). In fact, you are only allowed to park in your driveway or garage - the garage which barely fits your vehicle (you can't open the back of our van with the garage door closed, when it's parked in there), and the driveway which is large enough for the minivan if you park within a couple inches of hitting the garage door - and even then your bumper is just about over the sidewalk. There are a few "guest" parking spots scattered around the neighborhood, but they're just about always full, and it's a common sight to see cars, trucks, what-have-you parked half on the sidewalk or grass and half in the street; just because there's nowhere to park!
Oh, and did I mention that it is over 8 miles from here to the Navy base where (I'd assume) the majority of the Military members living in this housing work? That may not seem like much (unless you are like us who were used to actually living on base, or within 3 miles of it) except you have to take I-5 to get there. So those 8 1/2 miles take you 30-50 minutes depending on traffic. And if one of the bridges you have to cross to get there is closed, well, count on another 20 minutes of waiting. And, it just so happens that to call anywhere except (literally) down the road, is long distance. That means, to call my husband on the ship, or any office that I might need to call on base, or - well - pretty much anywhere, I have to pay either for monthly long distance service, and fees, or have a phone card that I have to keep recharging. And that may seem petty and silly to complain about; but when you have no choice, it's pretty darn frustrating. I guess I'm a little more upset about it than maybe others who didn't come from living on base - but let me tell you, the money the Navy gives us for housing does *not* go nearly far enough.
Anyway, back to this little issue. There's only one way into the neighborhood. And this eyesore sits right at the entrance/exit (well, once you drive down the long street that eventually gets you here). Looks pretty ghetto, doesn't it? Well this is what happens when you cram a huge amount of Navy/Military families into a tiny piece of property, and then tell them that the only place to throw away their garbage is in this little compactor that sits behind the fence. So they have two dumpsters you can put your cardboard in. Big deal! How fast do you think this thing fills up? I mean, it's ridiculous. I have 3 bags of garbage sitting in my house waiting to be taken out, because I'm not going to go throw them on the pile. Instead, I have to put them in my garage just to get them out of sight. And in order to throw them away, I have to either hope for a sunny day so we can put the garbage in the wagon and take my four kids for a walk down here, or put everybody in the van and throw the garbage bags in the back and drive them down. We don't have a garbage can, because when we lived on base they provided them for us, and actually came and *picked up* the garbage like a regular civilized neighborhood. Heck - we wouldn't have room to keep a garbage can anyway! And get this - there is a regular garbage truck that drives down the long road that leads here, and actually picks up the garbage of the regular people who live in regular houses on the regular street. But for us... we get the overflowing garbage compactor; that has an opening that is neck-high for me, and you have to heave the garbage up, over, and into. A 6 1/2mo. pregnant woman heaving a filled garbage bag over her head to get it into the compactor... I bet that's an interesting sight! (It also means that I can't just send my son down here to throw the garbage out, like I could if we had a regular dumpster like when we lived in our first apartment.)
It's really just ridiculous how many issues there are with this company... Oh, did I tell you they towed my husband's car a couple weeks ago??? Apparently because it had a flat. My husband's car, which I can't drive anywhere with four kids (it's a Corolla) and he's on deployment so what was I supposed to do? He had it parked on base for the longest time, but brought it home the one Sunday he had before going back on restriction for refusing the anthrax vaccine and then being deployed. I didn't really have a chance to check on it, but the tire wasn't flat when he drove it home obviously (I assume that was the reason because when I picked it up the tire was completely flat). I got a notice in the mail from the towing company, but it was almost a week after it had been towed, because - like the garbage compactor - our mailboxes are all at the entrance and the kids and I had all been very sick all week and hardly able to get out of bed. When I did find out, it was a Friday night, so I had to wait and talk to the manager the next Monday morning. He was very kind and when I had explained the circumstances he cut the amount that I'd have to pay to retrieve it by over $100. Even still, I had no clue how the heck I was going to pick it up from the impound - but my mother graciously came up on short notice and helped me go get the car and get everything taken care of.
As it was though, it ate a big hole in our paycheck. What with that and groceries, and rent... I literally had nothing left. I haven't paid a single bill yet this month (except my insurance which comes out automatically) - and get this, our next paycheck is supposedly only going to be about $126.
I am not kidding.
Back when he refused the vaccine, my husband was threatened with a reduction in rank and a docking of 1/2 months' pay for two months. When he went for his second CO's mast, he was told that the threat was now reality - he was no longer a second class but was reduced to third class, and the fine would be instituted. He tried to get documentation for me to give the manager of our neighborhood to prove his reduction in rank, because that would affect the amount of BAH we were given and also our rent amount. Nobody could find the paperwork anywhere. (Leave it to the Navy to screw up essential paperwork...) I still don't have the paperwork, in fact.
Well, we kept waiting for the fine to show up, and everything pay-wise continued as it was before. Until a few days ago, when I checked his LES. I don't have to tell you that my jaw about hit the floor. Now, first of all, when they fine you it is in the instruction that the fine is supposed to be worded in whole dollar amounts - not fractions of pay like "1/2 of one month's pay for two months". Yet that is exactly how it was worded in the documents we have (the fraction). So right off, that's not right. How am I supposed to budget when I have no idea how much he's going to be getting paid? Do I have to go research what an E4 with his time in service gets paid and then deduct half and figure out the taxes and all myself? And as far as I knew, they're supposed to only take half a paycheck at a time. Not pay you a full check (which is one-half months' pay, since we get paid in the middle and at the end of the month) and then nothing. Or next to nothing. Except that's the problem - according to what my husband found out, the paycheck after that is going to be something like $8 and change. What??? So my husband, along with all his other duties on board ship, is now trying to figure out how and what this is all about, and get it fixed. And I in the meantime am sitting here trying to figure out how the heck I'm going to pay any of my bills, let alone buy basic necessities for the next month.
Oh, and I didn't mention that they're flying him home very soon. Yep, he already signed his discharge papers (can you believe it, they're giving him an Honorable!!! With all the rest of this crap, that is one big shining piece of awesome news!!!) and he'll be home in time for our anniversary! Of course, I have to figure out how I'm going to have enough gas to get him from the airport, and then to work, etc. etc. etc...
One of the other big things about the pay issue is they're not supposed to be allowed to touch our allotments. Things such as BAH. That is something not considered "basic pay" and so isn't supposed to be figured in to the amount being taken. So why and how are they *not* paying us??? Leave it to PSD and they'll screw it up big time. I can't tell you the number of times they've screwed up our pay through the almost 6 years of our marriage... and it always ends up biting us in the rear. Let me tell you, I'd just like to get a hold of the ear of the person who did this and give him/her a piece of my mind. When it comes to something as vital as pay, you'd think the Navy would try to be a little more conscientious and careful - but they screw that up more than anything else that I can think of. We're far from the only ones to have had issues with pay...
Oh, and to top it all off. My husband was told, point blank, that at his check out with the CO, he was "not allowed to mention anything religious i.e God, Jesus or any religious topics."
Excuse me??? Is someone forgetting that the whole reason my husband refused the vaccine was because it violates his religious beliefs??? What country is this my husband dedicated 9 1/2 years to serving???
