SIERRA VISTA - They are not small box homes.
They are for soldiers of any rank, no longer for noncommissioned officers and above, as it used to be.
And, they are not cheek-by-jowl duplexes, four-plexes or six-plexes.
On Thursday, two soldiers, a junior enlisted woman and a senior male NCO and their families got to see where they will be living.
Spc. Dana Payton said she had never seen such military family housing like the one she and her husband, Jerome, and their two children will be moving into soon in the Gatewood area at Fort Huachuca.
Payton, who has been in the Army for 17 months, said the only time she has seen such high-quality homes has been off a military installation.
Echoing her views was Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Roesel, a 20-year soldier, who praised the four-bedroom house he will be moving into with his family
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Surveying one model for senior NCOs, Roesel said his military housing allotment could never have paid for a similar home off post.
During ribbon cuttings at the two housing areas, people were able to look at homes for a typical junior enlisted and senior NCO, both of which had been furnished as part of the display.
The two new family areas on the fort are like small housing-subdivisions that can be found in any civilian community. They represent how areas of the fort will be developed .
The Gatewood area is being constructed by Castle & Cooke Arizona, while DeAnza is by R.L. Workman Homes.
Both contractors are working for Michaels Military Housing, a private company given the contract to develop privatized housing on the fort.
The Army has left the old system of using appropriated funds to construct family housing.
Robert Greer, president of Michaels Military Housing, said the objective is to "make life better for our solders."
The two prime contractors have subdivisions in Sierra Vista and continue to expand their work off the fort, Greer said.
Castle & Cooke Arizona Vice President Rick Coffman said the fort's project was the company's first military program.
"We've done work downtown but not on the fort," he said.
R.L. Workman Homes President Bob Workman, who lived in older family homes on the post when he was in the Army, said he hopes the new homes will be a blessing to soldiers and their families.
Garrison Commander Col. Timothy Faulkner said it is important for soldiers who are asked to deploy "and get shot at" to be assured their families have good places to live while they are away.
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