It wasn't that long ago, when the number of soldiers on Fort Drum was much larger than the number of houses for them to live in.  The post and developers in the North Country started building and eventually caught up.  But now, as the Army continues to downsize the wait lists have mostly gone away.  So, as Brian Dwyer reports, there's enough housing on-post to offer homes to a much wider market.

FORT DRUM, N.Y. --  Last week's announcement that Fort Drum would only lose 28 active duty positions was celebrated everywhere in the North Country, including right on post.

"It was great news for us because the more stability there is in terms of our resident base, the better it is for us,"  Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes Director of Property Management Megan Klosner said.

Klosner manages the Mountain Community Homes on Fort Drum that are typically for soldiers and their families.  You don't have to look back too far to find a time when getting a home on post required a name on a list and some long waiting.

But as the war efforts slowed down and the Army started cutting back, rememer Fort Drum lost 1,500 soldiers last year, the wait lists mostly vanished.

So instead of letting homes sit empty, Fort Drum and the Army are allowing Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes to offer the homes to guard members and reservists, retirees, even civilian employees and contractors who work on Drum.

"We have these wonderful homes.  We want to make sure that they are full.  If we have opportunities, vacancies, we want to invite the public (that works on post) to live with us," Klosner said.

Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes opened up the doors to one of its homes Tuesday for an open house.

It says its ammenities, private garages and balconies, 24/7 maintenance and community centers with all sorts of events, are something many off-post sites can't offer.  But the most important thing may be exactly what's in it's name, community.

"A military family living next to a military retiree or a Department of Defense civilian, they all have a similar understanding to the overall Fort Drum culture.  They all have the same values and understand they're living as a community that really supports each other.  They have a great understanding of what we're all about and they take care of each other,"  FDMCH Leasing Manager Allyssa Romeo said.

About 10 percent of the post's homes are open and even if the Army needs to ramp back up, Time Warner Cable News was told there's always enough soldier turnover that anyone who's not active duty will not have to worry about the homes being needed by soldiers.

For more information on Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes and to see if you are eligible to live there, you can visit www.Fort DrumMCH.com.