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By William Cole, Advertiser Military Writer
Soldiers returning from war, new soldiers coming to Hawai'i and large-scale family housing and barracks renovation projects have created a housing crunch at Schofield Barracks.
Some 880 people are on the waiting list for family housing, and the situation is expected to peak in the summer with the soldier overlap and arrival of 800 more personnel plus their families for a new Stryker brigade.
"Field grade officers (major, lieutenant colonel, colonel) who are not key and essential will have to look off post," Janine Lind, Army Hawai'i Family Housing property manager, said in a post publication.
With so many moving pieces, the Army is preparing for a worst-case housing scenario this summer. In addition to the family housing effort, the base also is in the midst of a more than $802 million barracks renovation that started in fiscal 1995 and is expected to run through fiscal 2008.
Three of the base's historic "quads" are being worked on now and are closed, said Dino Buchanan, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Honolulu Engineer District.
Soldiers said that in some cases, newer barracks with two-bedroom suites designed for two soldiers have seen the temporary addition of a third soldier.
Pfc. Michael Hegstrom, 20, who just returned from Iraq, said, "it's not unbearable."
"In Iraq, there's 10 guys to a room," added Spc. Aaron Blenden, 27. "I'm not worried about (a temporary space crunch)."
"As of now, we're fairly good with barracks, but with the new Stryker brigade coming, we'll be moving, and I don't know what the living arrangements will be," said 1st Lt. Jason Felix, 29, who's with the 65th Engineer Battalion.