Military homes move to Rocky Boy

For the fourth year, the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls is offering used military houses to members of the Chippewa Cree tribe for a pittance.

The homes were slated to be demolished after the Air Force changed the minimum size requirement for housing in 1999. About 200 houses that military families had been living in since the 1960s were suddenly too small, and would be scrapped for new, bigger ones.

A nonprofit organization called Operation Walking Shield stepped in to save the homes. As a result of their efforts, Congress included in the 1999 defense appropriations bill a provision...