Okinawan real estate agents go out of their way to help service families find off-base housing near their work place and schools. We have ongoing relations with them both professionally and socially, and it's the enlisted members who most benefit from that, because they're often the ones who actually do the interfacing. For these and other reasons, neither commander hesitates to recommend Okinawa for military assignments. At the same time, neither whitewashes problem areas. You're separated from family, you may not always be able to find things in the exchange and commissary you take for granted back in the states, and the cost of living off base can get very high.
Affordable housing presents military families a big challenge.
Long-range plans call for construction of new family housing that would increase the number of units available by several hundred. Meanwhile, single-member dorms are going up across the island. At Kadena, residents will see four-story dormitories with private rooms and bathrooms by the year 2000. Schools aren't a problem on Okinawa, where Department of Defense Dependent Schools operates modern facilities in or near family housing. Child care facilities are still catching up, particularly at Kadena, where more than 4,000 military families from all service branches reside.