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Life On Military Bases
Life "inside the fence" was and is normal for the average Military Brat. It is very different from civilian life.
Military bases or posts are very self-sufficient, with their own police, fire department, bus transportation, hospital, schools, commissary, post exchange, barber shop, snack bars, movie theaters, libraries swimming pools—everything a community needs.
There is no elected mayor, no elected council, and sales on military posts are tax-free.
One of the biggest difference is that everyone who lives on a military base or post, works for the military. And when you go through the main gate, you have to abide by the rules and regulations of the military installation.
While there are a few civilian towns that are built around a factory, where the majority of people living in the town work for a particular company, the town's personal lives and what they do after hours is their own.
Within the fences and barbed wire that surround a base, life goes on, day after day. Families come and go, with everyone serving a higher purpose.
Military Chapels
- Article
- September 30, 2010
- 2 comments
Every military post or base had a PX, Commissary, Hospital or Clinic, Library, Theater—and a chapel.
Baseball
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- September 10, 2010
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Regardless of where you were stationed, Baseball was a part of growing up as Military Brat. Bill shares with us his learning about baseball from his caree Air Force father.
Lost in a Sonic Boom
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- August 22, 2010
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"Giving the speed of sound the slip; has cracked the air like a penny whip."—John Updike
Know Thy Neighbor
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- August 16, 2010
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Living in assigned quarters on any military post means living where you are told to live, unlike civilians who get to choose where they want to live and what schools their children can go to. James offers some insights into life on post.
The Things We've Seen
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- August 5, 2010
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The daily routine of life on a military post was often boring, but once in a while something would happen to shake things up a bit.
Little Boxes
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- May 25, 2010
- 1 comment
Remember the song by Malvina Reynolds with the words: "Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky, little boxes on the hillside, little boxes just the same." Military Brats know all about those "little boxes."
Saturday Matinees at the Base Theater
- Article
- May 1, 2010
- 2 comments
"Going to the movies with a dozen or so buddies added greatly to the enjoyment, especially when you could get seats in the first two to four rows down in the center section. Girls had their own groups, at that time boys and girls kept to their own 'tribes'."
Japanese Paddy Houses—Where You Live Before You Moved On Base
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- May 1, 2010
- 1 comment
"I remember when we first got there we had to live in a paddy house until there was a house ready on base."
Eyes Right! A Return to Jefferson Barracks
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- May 1, 2010
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"A visiting stranger might sense the ambience of a host of uniformed marching spirits parading with rifles reflecting the bright rays of an afternoon sun. I first stood here as a seven-year-old to scratch my initials like thousands before me on that cannon."
Marines and Toys for Tots—Semper Fi!
- Article
- May 1, 2010
- No comments
Thomas shares with us his memories of his father, who would sometimes don a different kind of uniform.
