Czechs ratify treaty with US allowing troops, PCS room rates rising

Czechia (formerly the Czech Republic, formerly the Western half of Czechoslovakia, not to mention Bohemia and a few others) has formally ratified a treaty with the US:

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s signature was the final step in the ratification process of the Defense Cooperation Agreement, which had been endorsed by both houses of Parliament in July and by President Petr Pavel on Aug 1.

Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova signed the treaty together with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington, D.C. on May 23. The U.S. has similar agreements with 24 other NATO members, including Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania and Bulgaria that form the eastern flank of the alliance.

Any deployment of U.S. forces would still need approval by the Czech government and Parliament.  Military.com

Remember the Sudetenland that Germany acquired at various times? Many Czech cities have alternate German names… like Plzen, which the Germans called Pilsen – yep, what Pilseners are named for.  Then there is Ceske Budejovice – which the Germans called Budweis – you see where that is going. Unless there’s a war, this would be duty to die for – Prague is more beautiful than Paris but costs less, most of its citizens DO speak English (probably better than you), and Czech women are described as some of the most beautiful in Europe. What’s not to like?

And closer to home, some base hotels are raising their room rates for PCS’ing service members.

Beginning Oct. 1, troops whose lodging allowance expires will be paying an average of $35 more per night than their housing allowance.

Since March 2020, IHG Army Hotels, a partnership between IHG Hotels & Resorts and Lendlease under Privatized Army Lodging, has been voluntarily offering a discounted rate to help families making a PCS move during the pandemic, according to Army officials who spoke on background.

The program was later extended to help families who were unable to get housing within the then-10 days of the Temporary Lodging Expense allowance. Defense officials have since extended the TLE window to 14 authorized days, but installations can request that it be extended up to 60 days.

Back during the bad old days of Covid,  IHG dropped their rates to equal housing allowances. Not entirely altruistically, occupancy rates in hotels were as low as 20%. Nowadays, though, occupancy rates at hotels are far higher, and we all understand supply and demand, right?

Now this only applies to folks who can’t get someplace to live within 14 days of arrival, so it doesn’t mean every PCS’er gets hit – as of now, Fort Lewis seems to be the only place which has actively gone for the higher rates. Me, I remember a couple of PCS’ when we found multiple  cockroaches in temp housing, lovely stuff like that – we found off-post housing most rikki-tik. Like within a day.

H/t to Jeff LPH.

Category: Army