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G.I. without KP. It has also become one of the Army's lushest assignments. Instead of hot and confined Quonset huts, there are new G.I. housing developments that look like Levittowns-on-the-Pacific. Modern concrete houses, bright with yellow, grey and white paint, stand on winding streets behind broad green lawns. Sergeants with families get three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch-style houses complete with Government-supplied furniture, the latest-model refrigerators, and excellent plumbing. Closets are electrically dehumidified against mildew in Okinawa's muggy climate, and a full-time maid costs only $153 month. For military personnel there are three golf courses, four bathing beaches, air-conditioned PXs. Officers' and noncoms' clubs feature dancing nightly, advertise on the Armed Forces Radio: "For an enjoyable evening, why not come on up tonight to the Club Top Three? It's within easy distance of most installations on the island." On one post, G.I.s even get out of KP by chipping in about $1 a month to hire Okinawan stand-ins.
As a result of all the military bustle, the Okinawan economy has boomed. One of every four in Okinawa's labor force works for the U.S. military. Though Okinawans are paid only from 8¢ to 21¢ an hour, these are the highest wages in Okinawan history. A new city of paved streets and concrete-block buildings is rising to replace the dirt streets and shattered houses of the old capital city of Naha. Last week stonemasons and carpenters worked under lights until midnight rushing a new $350,000 movie theater, which will have a CinemaScope screen, air conditioning, and a cabaret in the basement.