July 2008

So I do a variety of jobs in video and audio support, sometimes at different hours.  Last night was the Town Hall meeting for Schofield Barracks.  It started at 5 and was supposed to go until 7:30.  Yeah right.

So it didn’t actually get started until 6, and from 6 to 7 they had presentations from different organizations on base telling upcoming activities and what organizations were doing to improve the community.  At 7 the whining began.  From 7 until 9 (when they had to cut people off) soldiers wives and even some soldiers came in and cried about how terrible life is.  Here is a list of some of the more absurd ones.

• OMG!!!!  I am an E6 with 5 children living in the large housing area and this E4 with 4 kids moved in next door!  I can’t believe they let E4’s have that many children!  They should sterilize them or something at 2 so that they can’t move into big houses next to me!  What happens if their kids talk to mine!?!  I feel like such a babysitter now!
• My neighbor keeps parking in my spot!
• My neighbor’s music is up too loud!
• My neighbor’s kid is riding his skateboard without a helmet!  (The MP rep actually recognized the lady who made this complaint as someone who recently got a ticket for using a cell phone while driving.  She got huffy when he stated so in front of the whole crowd but she shut up)
• The noise from the intersection keeps us up all night!  (Their solution went about like this “We are planning on planting a treeline as a sound barrier in Fiscal Year 09 to take care of that problem.  It should only take 3-5 years for the trees to get big enough to stop the sound.”  The complainer loved that answer)
• “My wife and I don’t shop at the PX anymore because the workers don’t enforce the dress code.  When you walk in all you see is teenagers with tank tops and baggy pant and their underwear hanging out.  If you want us as customers you need to start enforcing the dress code.”
• “What can I do to make the MPs enforce the rules.  When I call them to my neighborhood all they do is talk to the neighbors/kids/teenagers/hoodlums and then they go away.  Nothing gets better”  I wanted to strangle this lady; she had no tact and spoke as if she was better that everyone. 
• The commissary doesn’t carry enough whole/healthy/organic foods.  (The Commissary rep actually told this lady that she should fill out one of the feedback forms and that wasn’t something worthy of town hall time.  I wanted to kiss the guy!)
• “Who reads the Post General’s ‘open door policy’ email?  I sure never get an answer and don’t feel anything gets done!”  I didn’t even know there was a Post General email we could get ahold of him at!  =)