When told of the newly installed kiosk that would allow her to send a video message to her husband in Iraq, she voiced out loud her amazement: "That's awesome."
Simmons said she likes the neighborhood and home. "I have a real kitchen; I don't have a little L-shaped closet."
She said her kids especially love the swimming pool that offers two water fountains.
Searcy, who was formerly on active duty, has lived in military housing at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska and Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. She said her new Fort Meade space is just huge. "The kids," she added, "finally have a place to run."
The bedrooms inside the townhouses at Potomac Place are large enough for king- and queen-sized beds, another request made by focus groups, Mulvey pointed out.
Simmons said their move to Potomac Place has even made
a difference in her relationship with her husband, Sgt. Joshua Simmons, and has helped her change her thoughts about the military. "I'm happier," she said. "I stay at home and have three children, and he knows I'm happy, so we're both happier together."
Those are the kind of words any military service wants to hear from its families. Improving the quality of life for service members is a overall goals of privatization, Mulvey said.
"The soldier volunteered, and he gets to do what he wants to do," he said, "and the family just follows along. So they get stuck with the quality of life at whatever post they are."
He said the Army figures that by keeping families happy, it's going "to keep soldiers around longer, so it's really an investment in retention."
Picerne also has an investment at stake. Mulvey said the Picerne family put $10 million of its own money upfront to secure the more than $385 million needed to start the construction project.
The company leases its Fort Meade communities for the next 50 years and will receive servicemembers' basic allowance for housing, which currently ranges each month from $1,167 for an E-1 through E-4 to $1,864 for an O-6.
Mulvey said the company doesn't expect to make a profit for the next 17 years. "The Picerne family put a lot of their dollars into making this happen, but they're doing it for the right reasons. So we do feel good about it."
A look inside one of Fort Meade's old townhouse units, most of which have stood for more than 40 years, explains in part the Army's move to privatized military housing.
Inside the existing Argonne East unit, the tiled floors have yellowed from years of waxing, layers of military-issue white paint coat the windows and cabinets. The three bedroom, one-and-a-half bath townhome is cramped, to say the least.
"This is as bad as it comes," said Mulvey.
Going to privatized military communities allowed the Defense Department to rebuild its aging military housing and improve the quality of life for servicemembers and their families faster and at a lower cost to American taxpayers.
At Argonne East, Picerne keeps the old townhouse unit in its present state to give visitors a before and after view, what Mulvey calls a "then and now" of the difference that RCI is making in the living conditions for military families.
Over the past two years Picerne has refurbished thousands of the homes like this, adding new kitchen appliances, sinks, counters, linoleum and carpet.
"The Army was afraid of carpeting," Mulvey said. "We're not afraid of carpeting. Somebody lives here three years, they move out, there are stains on the carpet, we'll put new carpet in."
He noted that such touches are temporary until the company can tear down the old units and build new ones. Still, Picerne's patchwork on the Argonne East townhouses and other homes on Fort Meade are a dramatic improvement.
A few streets over, behind trees and next to the golf course, construction continues on several new neighborhoods that will one day become the permanent home for military families on Fort Meade.
Picerne's plan for Fort Meade calls for a total of five new neighborhoods and 3,170 new homes to be built over the next 10 years, making it one of the largest home developments in Maryland. Each neighborhood will have between 400 to 600 homes, Mulvey said.
The average size of each home is expected to be over 1,700 square feet, with most featuring two and a half baths, separate dining room, family room, breakfast nook, garage and porch.
Mulvey said that all new homes will range in size from three to five bedrooms, with 70 percent of the homes being four- and five-bedroom units. "People don't want two bedrooms any more," he pointed out.
