As a Marine during the Reagan years, I loved living 4 to a room at NAS Oceana while in Avionics Screwl while attached to the Green Knights. Down below, on the first deck, were a few Air Force fellas who manned the nearby Continental radar station for NORAD. Those AF guys not only had “private” rooms, but cable TV and maid service. Talk about swank. At least the sailors I roomed with knew how to make a rake, knew how to polish the deck, and we never failed a weekly inspection. I don’t even think the air force guys got inspected. That zoomie posting must have been plumb for those guys.... all those extras for living with us squids and jarheads. Oh well. At least the mid-rats were good.
The best laugh I’ve had in months. I’ve always felt that your statement is 100% spot on. On board ship, our living conditions violated the ‘civil rights’ of the most evil criminal. Privacy wasn’t even a word in the dictionary. The Fire Control guys converted a STORAGE SPACE into a bunk room for 8 sailors. They called it the BOUDOIR. I slept on the bench in the shop I ran. It was only 12’ long, so I had to kick out a 6’ tall kid because I was 6’5”, and I had enough rank not to be willing to play footsie all night. Oh, the joys of showering with 35 guys and no solitude for **********.
Oh, what people don’t know. Wonder how we survived
I went TDY to Camp Pendleton for a few weeks while stationed in San Diego. They put me up in the barracks with some of Marines coming through. They were complaining about the sparseness of the 2-man rooms, while I was amazed how much room there was after living onboard ship for the last several years. Unmarried sailors always could count on the crap assignments, being the ones called on when last-minute things came up, and getting the raw end of pretty much any deal.
Seeing as we’re bringing up the old living arrangements, back in ‘68 I was stationed at Rota, Spain. E-4 and lower got to live 6 guys to a ‘cube’, which was just a locker arrangement. That made about 120 sailors in what amounted to open bay barracks. Plus open showers, etc. E5 and E6 got four guys to a real room. Palatial!!