Quality of life?

[ABrevik]

LOL. Yea they were from IPAC. Those bricks are nice. They have a walk in closet, cabin bed. Alot better compared the previous bricks that they were living in.

[Bama Boi]

The Corps treated me pretty good, like others say its what you make of it. If you go in with the notion that things suck, and you had it better on the outside, then yes it will suck. Trust me there are days after you get out that the Corps looks like a bed of roses compared to the stupid civilian crap you have to deal with after EAS'ing. Granted I have had my ups and downs in the Civie world, but I would say I have been blessed with more ups than downs. Trust me if I could go back to free medical, free meals, and getting to see cool spots in the world for free, you can bet your a$$ I would, but thats just the nature of the beast. Semper

Thanks for the advice. I've liked all the replies I've gotten so far. Wouldn't mind any other advice or information.
Thanks again.

[ammermda]

They are also doing an $80+ million dollar renovation to our old barracks. I think that's a bit much considering we don't have the money to replace the broken bolts in our M-4's, but that's a different story.

Good evening All,
I just want to address this issue because I'm sure a lot of Marines and family are probably interested: how can the government afford new buildings but can't fix our equipment?

The money for the USMC (and all military branches) does not come in one lump sum. Spending is recorded by type (military goods, maintenance, supply, printing, food, construction, research, etc.) and budgets are made accordingly. Those budgets are forwarded up to the President (Office of Management and Budget) who can tweak the requests as he pleases when he makes his budget. The President's budget is then forwarded to Congress. And to make a long story a little shorter, Congress can further tweak the budget, and finally passes an appropriations bill (gives us money) based on the specific requirements we asked for/justified, all split-up with particular guidelines for each 'pot' of money (i.e. a 'pot' for pay, a 'pot' for construction, a 'pot' for operation and maintenance, etc.)

Take re-enlistment bonuses for this year (FY10). We did not anticipate reaching 202K so soon (didn't anticipate a bad economy to assist with recruiting) so we have more Marines active in FY10 than we budgeted for. As a result, we are not currently authorized the funds (Mil-Pay) to pay everyone, plus bonuses, etc. So what do you do? Limit bonuses, and offer Marines early release -- which if you keep up to date on MARADMINS, you'll see that's exactly what we're doing -- in order to keep from spending more than you have.

So, I know that was probably longer and more boring than most of you care to know; but that is how the Marine Corps can currently afford to build you nice barracks (in the works to prepare for 202K) but perhaps not fix your M4 (that is a command budget issue, likely O&M funding.)

(If you can't tell, I'm a 3404. Any questions about 34XX community, feel free to ask.)

V/r
Lt A