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Comment by WalterBright | Hacker News Reader

I've lived on military bases. You get subsidized housing. You get issued military furniture. You buy from the base PX. You follow the military's rules. This all goes away if you leave the military for whatever reason.

I don't recall anyone having a big problem with it, because if you did, you opted to live "on the economy". Your choice.

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When you join the military you sign a friggin contract that gives up your rights. If you desert and run away _you can be killed_ by military tribunal and firing squad as punishment for example. Military housing and matters have absolutely no relevance here, unless you have some bizarre dream that we all live under a dictatorship with your employer at the top.

It's the same in that you don't have to live on the base, and the option to live there is tied to your continuing to be in the military.

My dad retired when he wanted to, and the family gave up all their base privileges.

(I was even born in the base hospital! I was even going to join the AF, but my glasses meant no wings, so that was it for me.)

> It's the same in that you don't have to live on the base

Yes, you do. Unless you're married or are above a certain pay grade / rank. An awful lot of dumbass privates marry their hometown sweethearts and pop out kids just so they ain't gotta live in what are basically dorms.

And folks in the Navy often have to live on ship in the absence of the above options. The second my buddy from HS made E-4 him and 4 friends GTFO.

Military housing also has a lot of problems, and the water around several military bases (e.g. Camp Lejeune) is dubious; awful lot of EPA Superfund sites around bases...

The military isn't at will employment though, it is different when a company can fire you tomorrow.

They let you retire when you want, and they can boot you out when they want.

"If you do 20+ years of service they'll let you out when you want" which in the last 2 decades meant getting deployed to Iraq 3+ times.

Nothing about that post is good or a solution

You don't sign up for 20 years when you join.

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