"You didn’t get off the boat for years?"

Winner of the dumb comment contest for today..... Patterico has a post (language warning) on the "living conditions" release of a bunch of criminals in Cali. For comparison, he has a bunch of pictures of WWII bunks, with folks. (See the picture at the bottom, which is just about head-on? That is more space than I've ever seen on a ship-- Elf says he had about one inch, maybe two, clearance when he'd turn over in the bunk.) He's got a good point-- I think I've told the story before, how we had an "expose" show up on the ship's TV about how horrible the living arrangements in Cali prisons were... the cat-calls about how we were living in more cramped quarters, AND had to keep uniforms inspection-ready, were loud and long. So, for folks who really don't know anything about the Navy: No, you don't get off the boat for years. When the ship is deployed, you're on the ship 24/7; when the ship is at home port, if you're not married or don't have special permission to get an allowance to live off base (not generally given until you're E-5, with good behavior), then you still live on the ship. Some bases will have barracks, kind of like low-rent college dorms, where you can try to get permission to sleep instead of on the ship when you're in port. It's not unusual for lower ranking folks with over-night privileges to throw into a pot and rent a house from their own small paychecks. A normal example would be the Geek House in Sasebo-- two to a room, one guy in the closet(yes, much jokes), and generally at least two guests in the living room and kitchen. I believe it was a four bedroom house, I never visited-- I was able to get a housing allowance and my geeks would usually come over to game at my place if we were in port, because fitting six people into my kitchen was easier than finding gaming room at their place.