Military Housing Frustrations

For the most part it's very convenient to live on base; but I know a lot of people buy or rent off-base so they don't have to deal with on-base regulations. One of those regulations deal with how you keep the area surrounding your house...grass, leaves, trash etc. We have weekly "yard inspections" and you get written notices if there are any discrepancies. Sometimes this can be a pain in the butt, but I can understand the need for the regulation as I could just imagine what some of the houses would look like without it.

Today I came home from the commissary to find a "courtesy" note on our door. It said, "Your satellite dish is on the side of the house - needs to be in the backyard; you have 1 week to move it."

Here is a picture looking out our patio door into the backyard. See the satellite dish in the corner of the yard? Wouldn't you say that was the backyard and not on the side of the house?


So I called housing to question the notice. I was told to imagine there was an imaginary line from the end of the house to the fence - the satellite dish should be on the right side of that line, not the left. It should be directly behind the house and not where she could see it looking from the street. (Probably about where the telephone pole in the picture is).

That's all fine and dandy except:

1. That dish has been in that location since we moved into this house almost 2 years ago.

2. They do weekly yard inspections and we've never been told it needed to be moved.

3. Before Joe could even install the dish he had to submit paperwork to do so and include a diagram of where the dish was going. He drew a long rectangle as our back yard and put an X in the far back left corner against the fence. This was approved.

Now almost 2 years later someone says this is on the wrong side of the "imaginary" line. She said it's probably just the "flavor of the month."

Last year Joe dug up the whole backyard, tilled it and everything, to plant new grass. The wire/cable for the dish is in a "trench" he dug up and that's now been covered up and grassed-over. He'll now have to dig that trench up to move the cable and dig another trench to lay the cable - all the way from the house to the fence.

Yes, the "joys" of living in military housing!

PS - Honey if you're reading this from work - I'm sorry! I would have told you about it had you come home for lunch; and now I know what this does for your weekend, since you have a week to move it.