How to Live in a Military Barracks

Members of the US Military often live in barracks. They are very plain buildings, usually constructed to look alike. The Marine Corps has separate barracks for males and females. The Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard allow recruits of both sexes to share barracks during basic training, except for personal time and lights out. All the branches combine men and women after boot camp and their first assignment. Read on to learn how to live in a military barracks.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Get to know your roommate. You'll be spending a lot of time together, so it's important to learn more about each other. While you don't want to dive in as if you'll be best friends, it's still wise to develop a relationship.
2. Respect each other's privacy. The military tries to make room assignments based on your schedule. So, you should be on a similar sleep schedule. Still, give your roommate time to himself.
3. Keep your room clean at all times. Inspections of the barracks are typically posted to give you some notice, but they can happen at any time. Make sure your room is spotless, top to bottom.
4. Don't stock alcohol in your room. The military forbids any alcohol in a room, even if one of you is of legal drinking age.
5. Treat common areas like bathrooms as if they're your own. Typically, cleaning duty is given to people as punishment. But that doesn't mean you should leave a mess behind you.
6. Follow regulations to stay out of trouble. If you have a set time for lights out, for example, stick to it.