Action Line #80307 - Living off base

  • Published
  • By Anonymous
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Complaint:

Can the policy for off-base living be re-evaluated? I am a DoD civilian and I've been on station since June 2005. All of my DoDDS friends live off-base and I am usually the odd man out when socializing with them because I am always looking at the clock to see when curfew is about to kick in.

Quite frankly, for me, the current policy is burdensome because my peer group lives off-base.

In addition, the houses off base are much larger and nicer than the on bases apartments.

So why not let people that are here for some time to live off base? Can the off-base policy be re-looked at? Thank you.

Response:

Thank you for a great question on a subject that is one of the most important I deal with: force protection. We continually re-evaluate our force protection posture to ensure we're taking reasonable measures to protect our people. Although some may find our policies "burdensome," please know we make every effort to strike a balance between intruding on the freedoms we enjoy and taking the steps we feel are necessary to protect our community.

With regard to the policy of requiring people to live on base, I believe this policy improves our force protection posture as a community. Additionally, I don't think a person's time on station impacts this belief. As such, I don't anticipate a change in this policy for the foreseeable future.

Another reason why it is beneficial to the U.S. for our folks to live on base is an economic one. Simply stated, it is more cost efficient for the government when people use government provided housing as it saves us from paying individuals a housing allowance that in turn would be paid out as rent. In this time of shrinking budgets, I feel we must maximize the use of the high quality housing available on base.

On a final note, our curfew is another key force protection measure and although we intend to maintain it, there may be instances where we may be able to offer relief from the curfew. I encourage you to work through your command chain if you need relief from the curfew for a special occasion.