BAQ

Apartment shopping was discouraging.  I didn't own a stick of furniture nor the means to go out and buy any.   I needed a month's rent in advance plus a month's rent deposit.  I figured it was going to be a few months before I could afford to move out on my own unless ---- I could get BAQ and Separate Rats.

BAQ = Basic Allowance for Quarters and Separate Rats = Separate Rations.  BAQ is money the Army pays you for your living expenses and Sep Rats is what the Army pays you to eat.  Married soldiers get both as they normally live on their own, single soldiers sometimes get them, sometimes.

I'm really unclear about how the regulation worked on these matters but what I remember goes something like this:

In most cases, if you live in the barracks you get a meal card so you don't get Sep Rats.  Some soldiers living in the barracks would get Separate Rats if for instance, they worked shift hours so they were not able to eat in the Mess Hall during normal duty hours, etc.    BAQ was paid out if you did not live in Army Quarters.  Since I was given a private room in the barracks the Army pretty much figured they were more than doing their fair share to house me and thus, I was not allowed to move off post and collect BAQ.  My CO could make an exception OR --you can get a medical exception  --and pregnancy was one of those exceptions only you had to wait until your 7th month of pregnancy OR have a doctor's note earlier on.

I went to my doctor and explained to him I could not rest in the barracks, that it was too loud at night and especially on weekends.  I also explained to him how sick I was and that I just was not able to eat in the Mess Hall or on the Mess Hall schedule.  I pretty much figured it was a done deal and then my doctor said --no!  NO?  He told me I was nearing the end of my first trimester and the sickness would soon go away so I'd be able to sleep and eat on a normal schedule.  He saw no medical reason why I should be granted a medical exception to live off post.  He also argued, "Besides, it will be just a few months before you can get BAQ."

FEW MONTHS?  Did he not understand I said I DETERMINED I was not going to go through my pregnancy living in the barracks!  Did he not understand how HUGE I would be at 7 months?  I wanted out of the barracks BEFORE I started showing.

It wasn't that I couldn't live off post, I just couldn't get paid to live off post.

*sigh* So I was discouraged.