YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — For a kid who went from the top of the heap to the bottom, Nahjee Maybin has few complaints.

The war in Iraq uprooted Nahjee and his family from Turkey, where he attended Incirlik Elementary School, a Department of Defense Dependents School on Incirlik Air Base.

Nahjee, his mother and two sisters left the country March 23, leaving behind father and husband Tech. Sgt. Lionel Maybin.

Nahjee’s Japanese mother has family in Tachikawa, so they moved into temporary base housing at Yokota. They plan to return to Turkey this summer.

At Yokota’s sixth- through eighth-grade middle school, sixth-grader Nahjee is among the youngest pupils.

“In elementary school, we were the oldest,” he said.

But the transition wasn’t so bad: “Making friends was easy,” said the 11-year-old.

More difficult, in the beginning, was a school day extended by 45 minutes with more classes, which meant more homework.

“I used to go home and take naps,” Nahjee said.

His younger sisters are enrolled at Yokota East Elementary School.

The Maybins are among a handful of pupils who transferred to DODDS-Pacific in Japan and South Korea because of the war. Six pupils who voluntarily evacuated from Bahrain and attended Seoul-area schools have returned to school in Bahrain, according to a DODDS-Pacific spokeswoman.

Of the eight children who transferred to Yokota- and Yokosuka-area schools, only the Maybin children remain.

DODDS can enroll pupils on a space-available basis when their parents are not assigned to the local base, said Barb Seale, YMS registrar. Non-U.S. citizens must pay tuition.

Seale helped the new pupils from the Middle East schools with more than just enrollment: She arranged for Nahjee’s mother to sign up for billeting and set up a post office box.