Army OKs $248M in Barracks Repairs

[unhappycamper]

Army OKs $248M in Barracks Repairs
May 08, 2008
Associated Press

Army Secretary Pete Geren said May 7 that the Army has appropriated $248 million in emergency funds to fix problems found during inspections of 148,000 rooms at bases worldwide over the past two weeks.

"We ordered a look at literally every single room," Geren said. "We didn't find any looming danger to their health and safety." Geren made his comments at Fort Bragg, N.C., which became the flash point for the Army's latest move to upgrade the conditions of its old barracks after a Soldier's video of his run-down barracks ended up on YouTube.

The Army aims to have new or renovated barracks housing for 147,700 enlisted Soldiers within five years, according to Ned Christensen, chief of public affairs for the Army Installation Management Command. The Army doesn't have a total for all its barracks spending, but Christensen estimated that between 2004 and 2013, the construction cost for new barracks complexes will amount to $10.7 billion.

The Pentagon also gives troops more financial incentive to rent or buy housing in communities near their base rather than stay on base. Monthly allowances that vary according to a Soldier's location, rank and dependents have been increased substantially in recent years.

But for those living on base, the conditions can be grim, and military leaders concede the housing situation as a whole is deplorable despite the millions spent over the decades to gut, retrofit and renovate the old structures.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/army-oks-248m-in-barracks-repairs.html

[More_liberal_than_mo]

1. Funny they waited

until the MSM reported on this story before they acted to correct the problem. My Marine son lived in a pre-Vietnam era barracks at Camp Lejeune for most of his 4 year career (2003-2007 when he wasn't in Iraq) and it was a dump also. He said that the plumbing leaked, sewer lines backed up regularly, the heating in the winter couldn't be turned down so they had to sleep with the windows open even when it was freezing outside. During the summer the AC hardly worked at all and there was a moldy smell in all the rooms that caused guys like him to suffer from allergies to mold.

He said the barracks in Iraq were better.