Extra Duty : Many Local Military Personnel Moonlight to Make Ends Meet

Sunday is special for Mary Berryhill and her 11-year-old daughter, Mitzi, since it’s the one day they can spend a lot of time with each other and do things together, even if it’s just going to the beach.

The rest of the week, Berryhill, a single parent, is away at work. When she leaves the office in the afternoon, her day is far from over. There’s still another three hours a night and seven hours on Saturday that she spends at a second job.

But the long hours and extra pay are an absolute necessity. Berryhill, a yeoman 2nd class assigned to an administrative office at Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, is far down the list for low-cost military housing, so she and Mitzi must live off the base.

Berryhill’s military housing allowances are $470 a month, but the two-bedroom house she rents in Long Beach is $625, plus utilities. Thus, the extra $300 a month that she earns by dispensing recreational equipment at the Long Beach Naval Station gymnasium makes ends meet.

But not always.

“When we have an unexpected bill or . . . the car insurance comes due, it can get pretty tight,” said Berryhill, a seven-year Navy veteran originally from Tennessee.

In Southern California, Berryhill’s situation is not the exception but more often the rule for military personnel, particularly among the lower enlisted ranks, who find that they are forced into after-duty employment--moonlighting, in civilian parlance--at fast-food restaurants, service stations and anywhere else that allows them to go to work after 5:30 p.m.

Just how widespread moonlighting is among military personnel stationed in and around Orange County is uncertain. The state Employment Development Department does not keep track of any specific subgroup within the labor force. Nor does the military.

Only the Air Force requires permission from a supervisor or commander before enlisted personnel can take another job. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps only want to be told about it.

“In very-high-cost areas, it’s recognized that a lot of them have to do it, especially among the lower enlisted ranks, so they get a lot of understanding from their commanders,” said Maj. Bruce Bell, an Army spokesman in Washington.

And while the military hierarchy would prefer that soldiers, sailors and Marines not work an extra job--believing it can take away from the performance of their primary duties--it recognizes that the need to moonlight, in many instances, is well-founded.

First, there is the problem of military pay scales, which still lag behind those in the civilian world, despite serious efforts over the last 10 years to achieve parity. More important, however, for those with families assigned to such posts as Seal Beach or the Marine Corps bases at El Toro, Tustin and Camp Pendleton, is the acute shortage of military housing.

“I’ve been here for eight months and have had my name on the housing list for nine months, but I’m still something like No. 367 in line,” said Berryhill, who added that she even had the foresight to apply in advance. She said she didn’t hold down a second job at either of her previous assignments in Virginia and Hawaii because there was plenty of housing available.

Even those at the higher end of the enlisted pay scale have a tough time paying the rent, since many also have larger families to support.

A Marine Corps staff sergeant with 10 years’ service currently earns $1,273.80 a month. If they have dependents there is a $348-a-month basic allowance for quarters, as well as a variable housing allowance that adjusts for the cost-of-living and currently is about $160 a month.

‘Quality of Life’

“We’ve got some of the corporately owned rental complexes and some of the profit-oriented private ones (that) keep pretty close track of pay scales and how much the housing allowance is,” said Marine Lt. Col. Michael R. Mullen, commander of the family services center at El Toro. “Every time there’s an adjustment and the VHA (variable housing allowance) goes up, they raise the rents. It becomes sort of two steps forward and three steps back for some of our people.”

To Mullen, a major motivation among Marines who moonlight is “quality of life. They have aspirations to have a good life for themselves and their families. Also, a lot of Marines are the sort of people who have very traditional values. They like to be the breadwinner so that momma won’t have to go to work.”

Of course, not all military personnel are moonlighting to make ends meet. There are any number of reasons for holding down a second or even a third job.

Al Grooms, a 29-year-old torpedoman 1st class stationed at Seal Beach, works at a convenience store at least two nights a week and has another job doing repairs and maintenance at apartment complexes.

Parents Are Ailing

“My father has leukemia and my mother suffers from arteriosclerosis, so there’s not a lot of income at home now,” said Grooms, who is from South Carolina. “I’m just doing whatever I can to make it comfortable for them.

“I don’t drink or smoke or anything like that. And it’s not that I can’t make it on the Navy’s pay. That’s no problem. I’m just trying to help out my parents,” he said.

For Marine Staff Sgt. Lou Porras, his moonlighting job at Angie’s Famous Pizza in Tustin has to do with the future rather than any immediate pressing financial need. The extra money is for college tuition so that he can parlay his current skills as a quality assurance inspector on jet fighters into a degree in aviation management when he gets out of the service.

Lance Cpl. George E. Bruce, 21, is also looking ahead to the time when he gets out of the Marine Corps by setting aside the money he earns working at a gas station in a savings account.

Although single and living in barracks, Bruce said he plans to be married when his enlistment is up.

“We looked at getting married while I was still in, but decided against,” Bruce said. “Even with BAQ (basic allowance for quarters) and the housing allowance, it would be tough. I guess you could do it with a second job.”

Jobs Easily Found

For those Marines who want to moonlight, jobs can easily be found, according to Mullen, the family services commander at El Toro. Military personnel, he said, are sought-after employees in Orange, Tustin, Irvine and El Toro, the communities surrounding the base.

“They present a good appearance, they’re well-mannered and they know the meaning of hard work,” Mullen said. “Particularly by the time they make sergeant, they’re golden for many of these employers.”

Mullen gets no argument from Janet Kardashian, who owns Angie’s Famous Pizza and makes it a priority to hire Marines.

“They are, overall, of all the people I’ve hired here, the best employees,” said Kardashian, who opened her restaurant in a small shopping center seven years ago. “The first year I was getting acclimated to the area and it took me that long to realize what was here. Since then, I’ve used Marines most of that time. I really can’t say enough good things about them.”