A Tale of Two Privates

I live in a small town outside an active duty army post. It could be any small town in America, and it could be any active duty installation of any of the services, but this is Radcliff, Kentucky, and the post is Fort Knox.

For those who don’t know all the details of how we were affected by the Base Realignment And Closure of 2005, Fort Knox was selected to house the 3^rd Brigade of the famed 1^st Infantry Division, perhaps better known as the “Big Red One”. Along with that privilege came a responsibility of our communities to honor the service of the young men and women who serve.

USA Cares headquarters sits about a mile and a half from one of the main gates of the installation, and right next to a super Walmart, so it is an understatement that we see a lot of traffic every day, but last week, we had a unique opportunity to see the best and the worst of some of those in the thousands of cars that pass by and to participate in our own way.

Two privates faced the same situation. They traveled here from other installations, both believing that there was available housing on post almost immediately. The truth of the matter is that there isn’t. It is perhaps as much as 3-6 months before you can be selected to move “on-post” and that depends on how many bedrooms you need and your rank.

Before I tell you about these two privates I have to stop and tell you about being a private. Privates are a special part of any Army family. They are our “interns” or our “apprentices” or just the “new guys” and while they have been taught all about how to act as a soldier, how to dress, how to assemble and disassemble a weapon or two, they can run long distances and are pretty self confident of themselves, what they are not, is experienced soldiers who know all about moving to a new location.

It is something you learn. And you usually learn it the hard way. As a career soldier of the nearly 30 years that I served, I moved my family at least 10 times. I know others who have moved a lot more times. It is part of a military life.

The situation that the privates faced, both whom were married, both with children (and one pregnant wife) and both showing up broke in Kentucky, was that living in a motel can get expensive very quickly. Landlords always want the same thing. Money. They want first and last month’s deposit, the charge for credit history reports, the utility companies want deposits and again, perhaps a credit report cost. Remember, I said they were broke and payday is still a week away.

Both showed up at Fort Knox already owing on a loan from Army Emergency Relief and were not eligible for more assistance. Both had tried the payday loan outfits, but they can’t loan money to soldiers anymore and neither had a local bank or the appropriate credit or the ability to open an account. When they found us either by referral or by accident, they were at the end of of their rope and their hope. They had one more night of paid up motel time and not sure where to go.

To rush to the end of the story, both of them were taken care of, provided a stable platform to find a suitable place to live, but there was a remarkable difference on how that happened.

The first private, after being assured that USA Cares would help them get going, found an apartment in nearby Elizabethtown. The landlord asked for the first month’s rent and deposit, and as we have done a thousand times, connected with them, told them who we were, and said we would provide the private with a check to cover the necessary cost of acquiring the rental unit. The very rude lady on the phone told our staff member that she had lived in Elizabethtown her whole life had never heard of us and that the soldier could not move in until the check had cleared the bank. She was asked, as we normally do, to just check out our website and they would see that we were capable of a month’s rent, to which she replied, “I’m too busy to check out some website” and hung up. The private was embarrassed, having filled out all the paperwork and felt like things were starting to go his way only to be treated to a very arrogant landlord who clearly didn't care about the soldier and his family, only if they were going to be paid or not.

What we saw was just plain old greed and ugliness, and sadly we see that more than we would like to when it comes to helping military families.

We sent this first private to several other property management companies, and I am happy to say they are moved in and getting on with being an Army family. Total cost to USA Cares? Less than $1,000.

The second private came to us five days later. Three kids, an expecting wife and just a little over a dollar left in the bank. He too, had one night of paid up motel bill, no refrigerator or place to fix meals and not sure what was coming next.

Our staff got a bit involved with this one, and immediately the assistance began to flow in ways other than money. One staff member called the local food bank (North Hardin Hope) and within an hour, several boxes of food were provided. A restaurant donated free meals and the family moved into an extended stay motel as they looked for the right place to live. A landlord had offered a fully furnished apartment for $1,500 a month. That isn't a good deal, not in central Kentucky.

In the meantime, a staffer sharing the story without names, with her family and friends, ignited a flurry of email messages about the young family, and again, offers of assistance, furniture, food, clothing, and money began to pour in, just to “help the soldier”. That is how I think it should be, all of us remembering the real value of the service these men and women are offering, and the freedoms we often times take for granted that they provide.

So to all those who assisted these young men and women, thank you from all of us at USA Cares, to those who didn’t, shame on you.

By the way, just in case you were wondering, because we are best known in Kentucky and that we started here, to date we have granted over $721,000 to 1,684 clients and saved 52 homes from eviction so far. Not bad for an organization that started in an “Army Town” just seven years ago.

Roger
USA Cares