"Conditions at Fort Bragg" Topic

magfor61 writes:

I found this incredibly offensive. It is a video of living conditions in a barracks at Fort Bragg. I thought your readership might contact their Representative and Senator. I do not want this to be about the war, whether you are for or against the war. This is just downright offensive that these men put their lives on the line and expected to live like this.

I find it pretty offensive that the Army doesn't do anything about this, but I include the base commander and his staff and all of his base support facilities. Why in the hell aren't there troops in there cleaning and painting and fixing the plumbing?

It certainly seemed to be Marine Corps policy to put the troops in condemned Navy barracks when I was a jarhead, but at least we kept those buildings clean and maintained. Shame on the Army brass all the way down for this mess.

Doesn't this belong on the CA board?

It's current and involves politicians.

Regards, the Gorb

But it doesn't seem controversial. That is, I don't think anyone is going to argue in favor of keeping the barracks the way they are.

I just saw a news clip where they just ordered inspections and repairs because of that video. At several bases including here at Fort Lewis.

This isn't anything new. Lots of the problems are from his kids friends beating the crap out of the place. Peeling paint and mold needs to be repaired but broken toilet seats are from the kids trashing the place.

The barracks at Ft Custer are worse than this, we quit sweeping the floor because it was wearing it away. These rooms need base commander attention not senate attention. There is probably a reason why these guys got put in there, too many troops returning and no place to put them or they will be there for a few days then sent to other quarters.

What ticks me off is Daddy had to make a video when Sgt Airborne should have been bustin ass up the chain getting suitable quarters for his guys. If the quarters are that bad draw a tent from supply and camp out on the lawn.

Sgt Hazuka

When I was stationed at Fort Benning from 1980-82 our barracks had been condemned by the post fire marshall for several years in a row. Because of the condemned status, we couldn't get anything to maintain them. This was by regulation at the time. Our living areas were painted with IR reducing camouflage paint diverted from our tactical vehicles. To get plumbing and electrical parts required "midnight requisitions" from other condemned, but vacant, structures. When I saw the missing water fountain part of the clip, the first thing I thought was that someone had done the same to these barracks. It is shameful , but sadly not without precedent.

Ken

This is where our trillions of dollars go? State of the art facilities? I suppose that would be Lockheed and Boeing.

If you owned an old house and knew it was in bad shape and were planning on tearing down, AND were paying a boatload to have a new house built, how much do you pay to paint the interior of the soon to be demolished house? If the roof on the old house leaks, do you replace it, knowing you will be destroying it within the year?

Also note, the funds were allocated for this stuff up to 5 years in advance.

Also ask, in this case, why does the one guy have a broken toilet seat? These are pretty damned heavy duty toilet seats. The only time I saw one broken was when some trooper got really drunk and purposely broke it. He also broke his arm that night. Note another toilet seat was a Sponge Bob toilet seat. Why did the guy with the broken one not just replace it? Obviously other troops did so.

Back in the 90s leaders were told to NOT inpect the barracks "too much" (which turned into you had to get permission from the Bn CDR to do a Health and Welfare) becuase it hurt the "quality of life" of the Single Soldier. It was UNFAIR because we did not go off post and ispect folks houses that lived there. BAck when inspections took place all the time we bought paint from unit funds and made sure the halls were painted. Troops did the work. Now that work is done by a post maintenance group, usually contracted out. So the Post Commander can either pay to do this or pay for the new buildings to go up.

Where were the work orders? We used to call in all that crap and posted the work orders by the fault. Were these faults even called in? What was the status, were they denied? What did the unit 1SG, CDR and BN CSM and CDR have to say about this? Were they given a chance to address it BEFORE this went on YouTube and to Congress? We don't know.

I love troops. As a commander (twice) and member of a garrison staff I've dealt with these issues. It comes down to dollars and time and responsibility. A barracks with all those NCOs and no one took charge to fix what they could (getting materials from the self help center or from the BN S4?) If I have a drunk guy run through the halls and break ceiling tiles as he goes (and yes, that is how ceiling tiles break, they don't break themselves), that come out of a very small budget. It happens more than once and you wonder why the heck you replace them. The DEH guys have a huge list of prioritized work and soemtimes it takes a while to get your ceiling tiles replaced. Your XO or 1SG calls weekly (or more often) to check the status. You have a pipe break and sewage water is leaking into your company arms room. Seems to always happen at 0230 Saturday morning so no one notices until you go to draw weapons at 0530 Monday morning. Since the building is scheduled for demolition in a year and a half no one wants to spend a fortune to fix it. You get the minimum done and drive on.

It is detestable that the troops had to live in these buildings, but I do understand how it could happen. I also understand the chain of command can't do crap if not informed and not given the chance. I also understand that intiative of the troops living there can go a long way towards fixing some of the stuff.

"It's current and involves politicians."

How, because Dad went and cried to a congressman? This is not a political issue, it is a Garrison/Post Commander and Command Sergeants Major issue, not a political issue.

I lived in this type of barracks in Basic ('92 Ft. Leonard Wood) and again in Airborne Schhol ('94 Ft. Benning) and had friends in the 82nd that lived in them ('94-98 Ft. Bragg). Most of what is shown may be a failure of the NCO Support Channel and Chain of Command.

I recall in our barracks (Smoke Bomb Hill area, near the intersection of the All American Freeway and Gruber Road) that anything major had to have a work order with post facilities. Some work orders were taken care of quickly, some took longer. Mind, this was 10 to 14 years ago. Things, obviously, may have changed.

550 cord for shower curtain rings? I call BS. Sarn't should have marched his happy ass to the PX, paid $2 USD for a set of shower rings.

Peeling paint on the hand rails? I call BS. Platoon Daddy should have gone to Home Depot and bought a couple of gallons of cheap paint, some rollers and scrapers and used sergeant time to fix it.

Missing water fountains? Missing ceiling tiles? Sewage backing up? Battalion Sergeant Major should have been yelling at post facilities daily until it was fixed.

All of these things should have been fixed by either rear detachments or post facilities while these guys were rotating back. It's not like their return would have been that big of a surprise.

Hey, any of you guys and gals seen the inside of Krak des Chevaliers? Those Hospididdlers never have kept a clean barracks.

Camping out in the open with tents is not only cheap, it is clean, healthy and good for the soul.

I have to second Jay Arnold on this one.

I lived in those buildings back in the early 90's during the time of the first Gulf War when I served with the 82d. They look about the same as they did back then with about 15 months of no body doing proper maintenance added on top. I really doubt there is any lead based paint left in those buildings I could swear we scrapped it all off. :-)

That said, I stayed in government quarters that made those in their current state look good. The worst I ever saw were the the old wooden WW II era barracks I stayed at in in Fort Benning. Man those were a serious pit. We use to jump through a hole in the floor at one end to get out of the building if we didn't feel like walking all the way to the door. They had no AC, but luckily for us they were drafty old building so you always had a breeze, even if you closed all the windows. Six crappers in one room no stalls, you rubbed shoulders with the guy next to you. I hope to God those pits no longer exist.

In the first Gulf War, we once went 3 months without a proper shower, and sponge baths were few and far between because water for drinking was sometimes in short supply. And for the first six months over there phone calls consisted of a commo van where somebody tried to reach a state side ham radio operator so he could call somebody for you (usually on his own dime) and they would patch the radio and phone together and you try to have a three minute phone call before the next guy got his chance. best case for mail was 2 weeks to make it stateside and two weeks to return. Somebody always has it worse, no matter how bad you think you and your unit have it.

It would be nice if every soldier, sailor, and airman always had the best of everything, but they only have so much funding. If you are asking me if I would rather have the latest greatest weapons, vehicles, equipment in combat or cut some corners on that stuff and have nice barracks, I'd pick that stuff that helps me and my buddies survive and win wars.

I am afraid calling Congress and asking them to give Johnny a better barracks or BAQ can have the unintended consequence of getting somebody else killed. The money for the new barracks or BAQ has to come from somewhere just hope it isn't somebody else son's body armor, IED resistant vehicle, etc.

LLC aka Ron

I don't support any wars or armed conflicts but I have always feel for the soldiers that have to put up with TERRIBLE living conditions in condemned builings or buildings that should be condemned, for their cheap faulty guns or malfunctioned equipment.

The military would rather spend $2 USD Million on a new warplane when they could easily use those $2 USD Million to drastically improve the conditions of these brave men and women and their equipment?

It's obvious the Army has their heads up their rear ends.

and they shouldn't be jerkwads and take money that was allocated for body armor or metal plates for Humvees. It needs to come from the money that is used to manufacturer the tons and tons of unneeded experimental weapons.

I was watching that one Military channel show last year the one where people build new weapons and stuff for the army for experiments and thinking…'they spend these thousands and sometime millions of dollars on this crap when they can use that to get better armor, or body armor for EVERY combat soldier?'

It is a SHAME to have this and numerous other idiotic things happen.

The US has one of the most powerful and technologically advanced armies in the world and we still have this happening?

Come on.

It's obvious they need commanders and officers with balls enough to set things right.

Otto
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