Italy:300 soldiers put up in hotels due to no room on base

Full barracks in Vicenza means hotels for troop

By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, June 20, 2007



VICENZA, Italy — Roughly 300 single soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team returning to Vicenza from Afghanistan will be housed in local hotels because the base does not have enough barracks rooms.

Most of those destined for the hotels are soldiers slated to transfer from Vicenza to other duty stations within the next 90 to 120 days, according to 1st Sgt. Richard Howell, the brigade’s Vicenza rear detachment noncommissioned officer in charge. Others are soldiers who reported with the unit shortly before they deployed to Afghanistan 15 months ago, and had yet to find a place to live.

The unit, when it deployed, was at 100 percent staffing, said Lt. Col. Todd Johnston, the 173rd rear detachment commander. It’s now overmanned for several reasons:

Those slated for a Permanent Change of Station must stay with the unit for a minimum of three months because of an Army policy to not move them too soon after they return from a combat zone.
Soldiers slated to replace those who are PCSing already are here.
Some soldiers were affected by the Army’s stop-loss program, keeping them on active duty beyond the date they set to leave the Army.
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