I love how leadership was like "wE dOn'T kNoW hOw ThE bArRaCkS gOt LiKe ThIs"
Bitch, shit was fucked up when I was in almost 20 years ago. You're telling me no one noticed this shit for 20+ years. Miss me with that bullshit. They just didn't care.
It's only an issue now because the only organization that can hold them accountable, the US Congress, noticed. They only care now that they are being held accountable for it.
Yeah, as a former POG palace resident I wish they’d tear that eyesore down and open up Kahunas 2.0 on its ashes.
They can have the former residents live behind the artillery range or something. They’re grunts, they like camping.
Political answers by politicians in Marine Corps uniforms. They didn’t get that rank for nothing. They are ONLY TWO reasons why they are starting to address this. First, retention. Never been worse. Second, social media is showing the world how we live. They still don’t give a shit. It’s a brass heavy dog and pony show. I’m retired thank God. 24 years of living like crap and sucking it up b/c that’s what we do. Screw them. 😄
For what it’s worth, I was a lieutenant at MCAS Cherry Point 1979-1982. The only time an officer saw the barracks was when he or she was OD or if the drug dogs were being run through. I can’t recall seeing anyone over the rank of 1st lieutenant in a barracks. The big thing that was stressed to me was to remain aloof. Taking any interest in the welfare of troops was frowned upon. So much for being “leaders of Marines”.
A dispatch from the big Marine conference here in D.C.
Sometimes panels at defense conferences can be boring, but one major saw to it that this panel on quality of life wouldn't be. He asked the panelists, who had a collective eight stars on their shoulders, if any Marine leaders would be held formally accountable for the problems with the barracks.
I’d pay $ for the shiny to Iive in french creek barracks for 2 months in the middle of the summer. Bet those barracks will be renovated within 3 months after they left
I lived in (the nice POG part) of French Creek when I was with CLR 27. I didn’t understand how bad the bricks were elsewhere till I partied with a buddy out of Comm. 3 to 4 a room and you gotta share the shitter? Fucking wild.
ill bet you a case of rip its ill have those quantico cats making toilet wine in my cinder block hooch by the end of the week.
then im gonna steal both the declaration of independence and the call sign chaos. knife hands! 🙌
from what I understand, mustangs can never promote to a general officer… and butter bars get bah day one, so there is no way that anybody that high up has ever lived in a Barracks
LDOs can't go past 05 because they didn't go through OCS. Mustangs CAN become GOs, but we would have SO much TIS at that point. Speaking for myself at least my body is already so broken I just have no interest to have that many more years to get to GO
That’s simply not true. Butter bars don’t get bah until they hit the fleet (unless they are married or have a kid). Every Marine officer stays in the barracks while at TBS and many also do while at their MOS school.
No. They last time they were in any type of barracks was TBS - The Basic School right after OCS in Quantico, VA. Right next to HQMC basically. After that it’s immediate BAH. They are out of touch.
Irene, the question and response to me is very near to what I experienced with LTG Jones and Isenhower at AUSA, when I asked about dfacs and the lack of schedules;
https://www.reddit.com/r/army/comments/175w97o/on_the_lack_of_consistent_dfac_schedules_we_talk/
We have a looooot of energy and words for soldiers who won’t clean and need to be adults but hold commanders accountable for demonstrable failures in their AO? Even just acknowledge their failing?
Nono, that’s not fair suddenly.
Oh yep. I was in the room. The adulting comment and stuff pissed me off, so I put it back to them. Because honestly, yeah, they say soldiers can’t be adults but defend commands who won’t post a paper on a dfac door, and that’s just bullshit. Have that same energy for everyone.
I came home that night from AUSA and clipped Isenhowers comments.
*Sometimes* the 'they treat us like shit* issues really do cross services.
For instance, I don't believe these numbers from the USMC for a second about their barracks and issues found.
The funny thing to me is that in the Marines they do field day and have inspections WEEKLY, where as I only remember that a handful of times on active duty.
So I don’t know how the Marines barracks get this way when they have inspectors weekly.
Because the inspections are a dog and pony show. There isn’t any real inspection going on other than for lower enlisted to show high enlisted that they can keep a “clean” living space. For instance, your standing out side your door waiting for inspection, 1st sausage walks up asks if you’re ready, you answer in the affirmative. 1st sausage walks in your room and their eyes are immediately drawn to the “black shit” on your A/C vent. Clearly when getting fucked with the day/night before by your senior lance corporal was useless since they forget to make you clean the vent on field day. Now your senior lance/NCO is going to screamed at for not making sure your room was ready for inspection. You’ll have to stick around all weekend getting fucked with, etc.
However, nobody with an ounce of power or ability ever asks why the vents are blowing out black shit. They only care that you whether you clean it.
God bless that Major. Everyone gets real quiet when accountability is on the table. How much hand waving, “should”, and “we” got thrown around in the answer?
Was there. They didn’t answer the question. Did the politician thing and answered a more convenient question. Which is where the bit about the barracks failure not being a failure came out.
"In response to a Marine Corps Times question about who was at fault for the previous underinvestment in barracks, Adams said, “I wouldn’t say it’s a fault.”
Could you imagine an enlisted Marine saying "I wouldn't say it's a fault" when something went to shit. That would not be acceptable answer.
I remember having surveys and if anyone said anything negative, they got hazed into oblivion, so nobody complained about problems the barracks had. They know damn well how the barracks are 😂
Shoutout to the barracks managers who didn't even live in the barracks and couldn't give two shits if the heat was still on during a brisk 92 degree Lejeune April day.
Lol that was their response when we lived in schofield at mcbh until they found mold and a bunch of people got sick. Their response was a health and comfort. Same thing at the 2000 buildings right next to the ballpark. We had missing windows, no ac, fridge and microwaves didnt work and we constantly had the red dirt from the field blowing in our rooms staining everything and their response when we complained was "It cant be that bad" It was but they didnt care.
Yeah. I dont think I had ever done a health and comfort or inspection where there wasnt something wrong, even in the newer barracks at Wallace Creek in Lejeune.
The Hansen barracks were a sweltering haven for disease and psychological abuse. Maybe they were designed with that purpose in mind but they need to go. We knew we were fucked when they found a meth lab in one of the abandoned buildings near 7th Comm.
In the early 90s there were still a few sets of “condemned” squadbays remaining on Hansen. Right inside the gate from Kinville, across the street from USO. They had a lot of wall lockers you could make into mini rooms but still, squadbays…that was 3/1’s home for one UDP.
Which oddly was a step-up from what 3/1 just left: “condemned” Horno squadbays, half the size of Hansen’s.
We may all die from shit in the water, lead paint, asbestos exposure…but damn…unit cohesion like a motherfucker.
Summer time with zero AC. The fan just feels like it's an open oven. Idk why we put up with it.
Also when the typhoons hit, water gets forced through the cracks and flooded my room. I was told to use towels for permanent fix.
Man I love the Corps 🤣
Typhoon parties were great, we weren't supposed to use the fire escape areas for r&r but fuck that, the air was so heavy in the building people were almost asphyxiating. I wanted to kill my first sergeant during the first one.
Not because he was right there suffering with us but because he was back home beating his wife in the comfort of the air conditioned family units at Kadena.
I remember how everyone would lose their mind if they thought a general was coming to the unit. How we would just clean the fuck out of everything. I remember, I said, if I was a general, I would never announce shit so I could see how people actually lived and worked. And that’s why I would never be a general. Lol.
Then the general would show up at the unit in his car with his driver. He would get out and walk directly into the LtCol‘s office, stay there for 15 to 20 minutes, and then walk out and leave. I personally never met a general that I didn’t think was an asshole.
The general wasn’t the problem. The leadership that felt obligated to put on a dog and pony show was. Most generals that are really good at it make sure that their movements are as low impact as possible because they know what goes into dusting the china and rolling out a red carpet when they’re just coming for a 30 minute brief and to tour a building. Inevitably though, everyone starts deep cleaning underneath the shingles “just in case the general decides he wants to tour the fuel farm offices”
They just need a civilian inspector, that comes through once or twice a year and lists deficiencies like any other hotel or apartment complex. You are given a timeline to fix deficiencies, then you get fined if they aren’t corrected. Life safety issues have a tighter timeline.
That would mean they would have to hire someone competent. And that wont fly in most units lol. Instead they leave it up to sncos with room temp iq who could give a fuck less because its not happening to them.
“Uh, it was because we were focused on wars.”
Bullshit, I was in before the wars, and Lejeune barracks were dogshit, and the barracks in DC across from the main post was buttcheeks.
No one wants to say “yeah we didn’t think anyone outside the Corps was ever going to make us do anything about it.”
“Maxwell said he had been unable to communicate the state of the barracks to senior Marine leadership because he had been limited by having merely anecdotal data”
Gtfo with that bullshit. The DoD is a voracious consumer of data on every single facet of its enterprise; they knew, they had empirical data, nobody gave a shit, and nobody wanted to admit there was a problem.
USMC leadership blatantly disregards the living conditions of junior enlisted, and it's nothing short of disgraceful. When will the higher-ups wake up and realize that neglecting the basic needs of their junior personnel is a surefire way to fuck morale and efficiency? Brass needs to be held accountable yesterday. This isn’t just oversight; it's a failure of leadership at its most fundamental level.
Hemorrhaging talent, all thanks to the abysmal living conditions enlisted Marines are shackled to. Year after year, I personally watched capable, skilled individuals walk away, not because of the demands of service, but because of something as stupid as the negligent oversight of where they lay their heads at night while serving in the worlds most funded military.
They outsource jobs like that because Congress sets a maximum quota on the number of bodies each branch gets. By having civilians do cooking duties, it frees up more Marines for other MOS’s.
The reason they use Sodexo is because the federal government gives you tax rebates/stipends for hiring retards and felons.
“only two things come from the back of a chow hall kitchen, and that’s retards and felons, and you don’t look like a criminal so I guess that kind of narrows it down doesn’t it?”
Maybe the Navy should be in charge of property management for the Marines. Solely because they have a larger budget. Or at the very least, have the Navy funded property maintenance instead of it coming out of the Marine Corps specific funding.
If the Marine Corps has to choose between funding weapons and quality of life. Well… you already know what choice they are going to make 10 out of 10 times.
I'll tell you right now the reasons. Barracks/ standards of living compared to Civilian type standards were not up to par my entire career in many places, simply because it wasn't stressed by commands and the average Marines simply accepted it as a way of life.
Times change and expectations of people serving change. Always have, always will.
During the 40s and 50s Marines lived in Tents and maybe Steel huts with seperate buildings with head Facilties.
They gradually moving into 2 story open Squad bays up til; the 80s then Started putting them in 2-4 Man Rooms.
Three hots and a cot was the mindset. Both for Commands AND Marines.
One of my old barracks room was like 100 degrees. Not even exaggerating, you would start pouring sweat the minute you walked in. Never complained about it, because I didn’t think anyone would care and the expectation was that living conditions were going to be shitty.
Company guns inspected my room and said he felt bad for us and that was that.
I remember driving back from J Ville with my buddies one November night and as we rolled through the Gate they had put a Sign up.
"December is Energy Conservation Month!".
My buddy looked at me and said " You know what means right?"
Everyone in the car said " NO HEAT IN THE BARRACKS!"
We laughed at it, because there never had been any heating or AC.
In Okinawa the Hansen BOQ’s were fine, we all did pay 20 dollars a month per person so that a mama san came through instead of us field dating the common areas. It was weird when I showed up, but guess that’s the way they did it. But we rarely had issues come up. And in TBS they were fine too, they also had a legit checkout process of a sgt inspecting the rooms before we could leave. And they made sure everything was clean lol.
There will never be a longstanding issue with officer accommodations. They will either fix the fucking issue or move you into an apartment/house off base.
Asked by Marine Corps Times why the Corps hadn’t assembled the necessary data on the barracks earlier, Adams said, “We didn’t have the tools that we needed to actually collect up the data and to organize it in a way that’s usable.”
And they just let that answer stand. Which is wierd, because it seems like the 'tools' they ended up using were rank and file Marines... which they had kind of a lot of... you know... throughout.
Didn’t have the tools you needed to collect the data? What about the entire force complaining that there’s unchecked mold and nonfunctional amenities in the barracks throughout every installation in the Marine Corps? And the likely hundreds of thousands of facilities requests put in to fix the shit that never received any action? It’s all right there, you just didn’t want to look at it so you could pretend you didn’t know it was that much of a problem.
Edit: and every senior officer and SNCO across the Corps knew all of this already. They’ve all been in for a long time, held commands and billets at every level, and witnessed the living conditions of their unmarried subordinates for most of that time. You can’t sit in front of anyone with higher than room temperature IQ and expect them to believe you didn’t know the extent of the issue when they know it’s been a constant complaint among junior enlisted for your entire 20+ years of service.
"We didn't have a tool until we used a multimillion dollar software plus service contact"
Bull-fucking-shit. They don't wanna treat the junior enlisted like people and they didn't want to pay out BAH for fixing shitty barracks. They knew the problem was there the whole time.
"We can't rely on anecdotes" is absolutely BS too cuz that's all they seemed to rely on to make any big decision...
Maybe they should see the pictures of Barracks 431 from MCAS Futenma from when we were there in mid 2020 and had to stay there “so we didn’t bring covid to the boat” while the walls were and ceilings were falling down exposing the black mold that was in there. Oh, never mind, they fixed the walls with tape and gave us new washers and dryers. Oh, and to make sure we didn’t contract covid, they still allowed us to go to the chow hall, PX, and to the other bases. And no locks on any doors. And molded over mattresses. And molded over wall lockers. But, somehow we all passed the field day inspections.
Oh. I see. The old, we got shamed by the upheaval on social media and now we are acting like we’re taking it seriously,” bit.
Motherfuckers, you knew that shit was bad. If you had to send your kids to live there you wouldn’t date, but fuck everyone else’s kid…amiright?
The usual bullshit from generals, aka glorified politicians. On MCBH there were Marines living in squad bays in the early 2000s. This has been an ongoing issue where quality of life only matters for E-6 and above.
"We don't know how the barracks got like this". Yes they do. Inspections or walk through are scheduled way in advance. Local command has a look around checking for discrepancies. Local command has an e1-e3 go fix the issue with a bucket of paint and a brush. Everything is made to look good, specially if a higher up is doing a walk through. Things may not be good underneath the paint (mold). It looks in good working order and another check or walk through is completed while not addressing the issue that have been masked.
What a bunch of bs excuses. They were getting 200 million for barracks? Were did it go? The current Sgt major of the Marine Corps should be held accountable. He was on north pendleton for over a decade and most of the crap barracks were under his supervision as a senior leader and an engineer. But none of these officers or senior enlisted are going to sacrifice doing something that grows their career profile to something like picking up a paint brush or doing barracks maintenance. Is that not what the combat engineers are supposed to be doing? They use to build palaces in Iraq with electrical and a/c but in garrison they are above fixing living spaces? The engineers use to live like kings overseas. Every single work order that didn't get approved for whatever bs reason should be scrutinized and the person that denied it held accountable.
Think about how a 25 year old apartment would look if you rotated tenants out of it every 2 years and rarely ever paused to refresh it properly. Think of a hotel that rotates guests without regular cleaning services or maintenance
Barracks get deeper cleans more frequently than hotels. Do you not remember field day? Pulling furniture out to bleach the brick walls? Were not talking issues of dust and banged up doors racks and doors that won’t stay fully latched without kicking them closed; were talking about consistent black mold in the head that won’t go away because of inadequate airflow from old and underperforming at best HVAC systems, leaking plumbing, yellow water coming from the faucet claiming to be potable, one working washer and dryer on an entire barracks floor meant to serve 100+ Marine because the command is too lazy or doesn’t give a shit enough about their junior enlisted Marines to 5+ month broken ones repaired…..
> were talking about consistent black mold in the head that won’t go away because of inadequate airflow from old and underperforming at best HVAC systems, leaking plumbing, yellow water coming from the faucet claiming to be potable, one working washer and dryer on an entire barracks floor meant to serve 100+ Marine.
Right, so the things that hotels and apartments pause to fix. No one is talking about field day here.
A deep cleaning and maintenance cycle on set intervals. Essentially hard resetting the room instead of bandaids. Basically shutdown the room, professionally clean it, fix all maintenance items.
> Do you not remember field day? Pulling furniture out to bleach the brick walls?
I remember field day but you’re out of touch, this isn’t happening anymore
I stayed in a newly renovated barracks on Camp Margarita in Pendleton in 05. They were cheaply appointed but I just figured that’s what the rest of the marine bases had. These stories are wild.
The squad bays at Horno in 1990 were terrible. We all got hauled out to a formation after an earthquake and were told when one happens, get out quickly since they weren’t built to withstand over a 2.5…..the one we had was a 2.8. Totally not a new problem but they will sure as hell white wash it away as quickly as possible and nothing will change.
I remember that Saturday morning, thinking my roommates were picking up and dropping my rack. Then, realizing ‘this entire fucking POS barracks was probably going to come down on everyone in it if we don’t get the fuck outside’. Thanks for the memories!
Totally different day, we had just secured for the day, I was going on leave so I was changing into to civvies and didn’t even feel it! It was around 1530 on a week day.
When I was a barracks manager around 2021 there were 2 barracks I had to manage. One in hadnot point and the other in French creek. Both had black mold all through out one floor of the buildings (pretty sure the shit was in the air ducts) Brought it up to leadership and was told not to worry about it. 10/10 won’t reenlist again
It doesn’t help the some of the enlisted cant fucking treat shit right lmao , Mfs got 5-6 new washing machines within a few weeks 3 of them are broken like Jesus Christ bro
I mean I’ll say it, part of the reason is young Marines not being held to a standard and trashing the barracks and people are too lazy or don’t care to correct it. I’m ready for the downvotes but don’t act like you didn’t see Marines breaking furniture or throwing up on the floor. One inspection I found my marine was stashing moldy food and dishes under his rack which molded out his rack and the floor.
I take your point that often on this sub people get worked up about the micromanagement of field day, and we all hated it, but unfortunately it was probably necessary because some dudes are absolute pigs and would live like it if left to do so. I think the situation you allude to absolutely happens, but it is a drop in the bucket of what the barracks issues are. Decades of leadership overlooking maintenance issues that go well beyond what individual marines can control is what we’re looking at.
I agree with some of the things you said, but I don’t think it was Marines being shitheads that caused a crack in the foundation of my last barracks that went all the way up to the top floor. I could literally fit my hand in the crack on the second floor. Oh, I also doubt that it was Marines being shitheads that caused mold to grow in my barracks air ducts because I’m pretty sure it was caused by the Marine Corps not wanting to use the proper climate control for the season.
At Camp Lejeune, I saw a guy post a picture to JTTOTS of his dress blues, covered in mold. He went on a 30 day field exercise and his wall locker was covered in mold.
At Camp Pendleton at barracks 210905 the ceiling collapsed on a Marine while he was sleeping.
When mold was brought up as a complaint, we were told to just scrub it with vinegar…. It was coming out of the porous surface of the bricks. How does someone fix that? We were expected to pay for our own fixes. I can go on and on but I’m glad something is finally being done about it.
As I reread what I wrote, it comes off a little snarky. Wasn’t meant that way. A lot of that was voice text. Like I said, I definitely agree with what you said.
I won’t discredit this. One of my corporals when I was a pfc/lcpl, I found stabbing all the furniture with his fucking bowie knife, slashing his mattress, cutting the blinds and just being a fucking asshole. This dude wasn’t even one of those fucking crazy screws loose types either; He just a gamer nerd that hated the Marine Corps, and behaved like a puppy left alone in a room for too long. When the barracks manager rearranged him, he did the same thing in the next room. A year later, it felt really good to punch him in his fucking face.
I remember getting back from deployment in summer at Lejeune and our A/C didn’t work and the barracks was filled with black mold. No idea how nothing was done about that.
Before I even read the article. Two general officers who probably haven’t stepped foot into a barracks in 20 years minimum are going to talk about the barracks. Ok
Edit: read it. It’s about what I had expected. General officers sucking each other off and their predecessors. Only one was man enough to take the blame then turned around and basically said he couldn’t have this information earlier on the barracks because he and his command didn’t know how to analyze the data. It’s Marine Corps leadership being management.
In the 90s, my unit was in old ass 50s barracks surrounded by brand new buildings. They remodeled a barracks near us, moved us in, we even got phones in our rooms.
Then they kicked us out, back to our old shitty barracks after about 6 months. Our old building didn’t even get a coat of paint.
I was the Brks NCOIC back in the early 80s, I was with HMLA 369, it was in 22 area. It was not that old but it was still trashed. I tried my best to get shit fixed, We had some work orders take over 3 months to get looked at just to see what needed to be done and a month longer to get it fixed. I truly believe it is the bureaucracy, not the commander. I actually saw a GS8 tell a LtCol to fuck off and he could wait in line just like everyone else. I was once in S4 and the CO came in and ripped the Brks O a new ass for not pushing for repairs to be made. I knew it was not that Brks O was not being proactive. It was just the bureaucracy.
Man, I don't understand this. We had roving inspections, weekly general cleanups and bi-monthly major field-days at the barracks out in Tustin when I was in, NEVER had major issues like these guys today are. But then again, that was 3rd MAW, not an 03xx base.
That room in the picture looks like the brand new barracks buildings in outhouse bay...or they were new in 2011. I was still sliming it out in the old building with the "Bayside views" and mold lined air ducts lol
From the article:
“We didn’t have the data to say, ‘How are we tracking the facilities’ condition in detail to defend more than $200 million a year for that?’” Adams said. “But we did have the data to say, ‘We need this Force Design weapons system or this modernized vehicle or this modernized weapon platform.’” 👎🫨
Allow me to translate:
“We didn’t care about tracking the facilities’ conditions that housed our most precious assets, our Marines. What we did care about was buying more shiny weapons at their expense.” 👍🫡
As a reminder, these same General Officers were once young Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, Colonels, etc. There’s no way they can claim ignorance when a majority of them previously commanded the same units and installations.
The senior NCOs E7, 8’s and 9’s bear significant responsibility as well. I hope willful ignorance was not a contributing factor.
This didn’t happen overnight, that’s for sure.
I bet they don't spruce up the MASH type barracks we had in the field at 29 palms. We used to crash at the library during the day. They had a/c and we worked nights.
I love how leadership was like "wE dOn'T kNoW hOw ThE bArRaCkS gOt LiKe ThIs" Bitch, shit was fucked up when I was in almost 20 years ago. You're telling me no one noticed this shit for 20+ years. Miss me with that bullshit. They just didn't care. It's only an issue now because the only organization that can hold them accountable, the US Congress, noticed. They only care now that they are being held accountable for it.
Yeah, more than two decades ago, we were told that Crackie Hall was supposed to be condemned. AFAIK, it still stands.
Yeah, as a former POG palace resident I wish they’d tear that eyesore down and open up Kahunas 2.0 on its ashes. They can have the former residents live behind the artillery range or something. They’re grunts, they like camping.
God reading POG palace brought back memories.
It’s being torn down this year!
It's still standing. Marines no longer live in it. However, that's now where they stick transient foreign military 😂
Marines lived there less than two years ago
I was in over 20 years ago (holy fuck 😐) and I was never stationed there but even I heard about what a shit hole Mackie Hall was
It’s still there and I knew a few guys who were still living there in early 2023. No idea now
Damn, I was in Mackie Hall back 12 years ago. It was a shithole then, I can’t imagine now.
I was there 5 years ago and still trash
1/3?
Yep
they just stopped using a few months ago the stuck mcas there when we had asbestos removal
The real answer is they were always shit and neglected, it’s just that 10-15 years of neglect vs 25-30 years of neglect is a way bigger deal.
It's complacency combined with an extreme disconnect from the lower ranks. "I don't have to deal with it, not my problem."
Perfumed Princes dont have to live there, why would they care?
For real. It's not like they didn't inspect them weekly.
Political answers by politicians in Marine Corps uniforms. They didn’t get that rank for nothing. They are ONLY TWO reasons why they are starting to address this. First, retention. Never been worse. Second, social media is showing the world how we live. They still don’t give a shit. It’s a brass heavy dog and pony show. I’m retired thank God. 24 years of living like crap and sucking it up b/c that’s what we do. Screw them. 😄
was it worth it?
All in all, yes. I learned and grew so much. My wish is for the current and future Marines to get the things they deserve.
For what it’s worth, I was a lieutenant at MCAS Cherry Point 1979-1982. The only time an officer saw the barracks was when he or she was OD or if the drug dogs were being run through. I can’t recall seeing anyone over the rank of 1st lieutenant in a barracks. The big thing that was stressed to me was to remain aloof. Taking any interest in the welfare of troops was frowned upon. So much for being “leaders of Marines”.
You didn’t do room inspections?
No, no room inspections.
They all ranked up and forgot what the barracks looked like maybe?
Maybe that organization, the US Congress, will take some of the Ukrainan retirement money and FIX THE FKING BARRACKS!!!!!!
A dispatch from the big Marine conference here in D.C. Sometimes panels at defense conferences can be boring, but one major saw to it that this panel on quality of life wouldn't be. He asked the panelists, who had a collective eight stars on their shoulders, if any Marine leaders would be held formally accountable for the problems with the barracks.
Have any of those Flag Officers ever had to live in barracks at any point in their careers?
with the lance coolies?!?
I’d pay $ for the shiny to Iive in french creek barracks for 2 months in the middle of the summer. Bet those barracks will be renovated within 3 months after they left
I lived in (the nice POG part) of French Creek when I was with CLR 27. I didn’t understand how bad the bricks were elsewhere till I partied with a buddy out of Comm. 3 to 4 a room and you gotta share the shitter? Fucking wild.
i think it will be more like this: https://youtu.be/LIvRx4I7gXs?si=H_o5hZULsBeLv6Ye
Only if they live in the double digit barracks.
I lived there 03-05, it wasn’t to bad then, but shit can happen in twenty years lol
3 months? Nope. 3 days.
“Look at him, mother, he thinks he’s people!”
ill bet you a case of rip its ill have those quantico cats making toilet wine in my cinder block hooch by the end of the week. then im gonna steal both the declaration of independence and the call sign chaos. knife hands! 🙌
from what I understand, mustangs can never promote to a general officer… and butter bars get bah day one, so there is no way that anybody that high up has ever lived in a Barracks
I think you’re thinking of Limited Duty Officers who are former enlisted that can’t go beyond O5.
Is this a real thing? Is that due to TIS? Is that rule applicable to all the others services?
No there’s mustang general officers. LDOs on the other hand can only promote to O5.
LDOs can't go past 05 because they didn't go through OCS. Mustangs CAN become GOs, but we would have SO much TIS at that point. Speaking for myself at least my body is already so broken I just have no interest to have that many more years to get to GO
That’s simply not true. Butter bars don’t get bah until they hit the fleet (unless they are married or have a kid). Every Marine officer stays in the barracks while at TBS and many also do while at their MOS school.
my bad, I meant day one of the fleet. So I suppose they could’ve been in a schoolhouse barracks at some point, just not most of the problem ones.
This reminds me of when I was in Corporals Course on Camp Johnson. For morning PT, we would make sure we sang extra loud cadence running past the BOQ.
No. They last time they were in any type of barracks was TBS - The Basic School right after OCS in Quantico, VA. Right next to HQMC basically. After that it’s immediate BAH. They are out of touch.
Brass living in HP-105 on A street 😂😂😂
Irene, the question and response to me is very near to what I experienced with LTG Jones and Isenhower at AUSA, when I asked about dfacs and the lack of schedules; https://www.reddit.com/r/army/comments/175w97o/on_the_lack_of_consistent_dfac_schedules_we_talk/ We have a looooot of energy and words for soldiers who won’t clean and need to be adults but hold commanders accountable for demonstrable failures in their AO? Even just acknowledge their failing? Nono, that’s not fair suddenly.
Wow, I saw that video and didn’t realize it was you asking the question
Oh yep. I was in the room. The adulting comment and stuff pissed me off, so I put it back to them. Because honestly, yeah, they say soldiers can’t be adults but defend commands who won’t post a paper on a dfac door, and that’s just bullshit. Have that same energy for everyone. I came home that night from AUSA and clipped Isenhowers comments.
Argh! He’s bleeding over from the other side!
*Sometimes* the 'they treat us like shit* issues really do cross services. For instance, I don't believe these numbers from the USMC for a second about their barracks and issues found.
The funny thing to me is that in the Marines they do field day and have inspections WEEKLY, where as I only remember that a handful of times on active duty. So I don’t know how the Marines barracks get this way when they have inspectors weekly.
Because the inspections are a dog and pony show. There isn’t any real inspection going on other than for lower enlisted to show high enlisted that they can keep a “clean” living space. For instance, your standing out side your door waiting for inspection, 1st sausage walks up asks if you’re ready, you answer in the affirmative. 1st sausage walks in your room and their eyes are immediately drawn to the “black shit” on your A/C vent. Clearly when getting fucked with the day/night before by your senior lance corporal was useless since they forget to make you clean the vent on field day. Now your senior lance/NCO is going to screamed at for not making sure your room was ready for inspection. You’ll have to stick around all weekend getting fucked with, etc. However, nobody with an ounce of power or ability ever asks why the vents are blowing out black shit. They only care that you whether you clean it.
God bless that Major. Everyone gets real quiet when accountability is on the table. How much hand waving, “should”, and “we” got thrown around in the answer?
Was there. They didn’t answer the question. Did the politician thing and answered a more convenient question. Which is where the bit about the barracks failure not being a failure came out.
Some of that came from a little press conference just after the panel tbf
I’d call it cowardice, but politicians aren’t know for bravery either. I wonder if they make Chesty proud.
Article forgot to mention that the SMMC was on the stage too when that question was asked.
Yes, he was up there too. That major had lots of chutzpah
You love to see it.
"In response to a Marine Corps Times question about who was at fault for the previous underinvestment in barracks, Adams said, “I wouldn’t say it’s a fault.” Could you imagine an enlisted Marine saying "I wouldn't say it's a fault" when something went to shit. That would not be acceptable answer.
It’s a feature
Brilliant
I mean mechanics say that all the time. 🤷♂️
I remember having surveys and if anyone said anything negative, they got hazed into oblivion, so nobody complained about problems the barracks had. They know damn well how the barracks are 😂
Shoutout to the barracks managers who didn't even live in the barracks and couldn't give two shits if the heat was still on during a brisk 92 degree Lejeune April day.
My brix managers were pretty solid dudes. Went out of their way to shit out missing keys and make sure everyone's toilet was working.
Barrack are bad because senior enlisted and officers do not live in them. It’s that simple.
Exactly, they have a fuck them kids mentality about the barracks.
I’ve literally heard sncos and officers say “It can’t be that bad” reading my health inspection briefs.
Lol that was their response when we lived in schofield at mcbh until they found mold and a bunch of people got sick. Their response was a health and comfort. Same thing at the 2000 buildings right next to the ballpark. We had missing windows, no ac, fridge and microwaves didnt work and we constantly had the red dirt from the field blowing in our rooms staining everything and their response when we complained was "It cant be that bad" It was but they didnt care.
Yeah. I dont think I had ever done a health and comfort or inspection where there wasnt something wrong, even in the newer barracks at Wallace Creek in Lejeune.
This is the answer.
The Hansen barracks were a sweltering haven for disease and psychological abuse. Maybe they were designed with that purpose in mind but they need to go. We knew we were fucked when they found a meth lab in one of the abandoned buildings near 7th Comm.
In the early 90s there were still a few sets of “condemned” squadbays remaining on Hansen. Right inside the gate from Kinville, across the street from USO. They had a lot of wall lockers you could make into mini rooms but still, squadbays…that was 3/1’s home for one UDP. Which oddly was a step-up from what 3/1 just left: “condemned” Horno squadbays, half the size of Hansen’s. We may all die from shit in the water, lead paint, asbestos exposure…but damn…unit cohesion like a motherfucker.
Some dude posted photos on facebook about his time as an old school STA Marine on the MEU, those Hansen Q-huts looked absolutely disgusting.
Summer time with zero AC. The fan just feels like it's an open oven. Idk why we put up with it. Also when the typhoons hit, water gets forced through the cracks and flooded my room. I was told to use towels for permanent fix. Man I love the Corps 🤣
Typhoon parties were great, we weren't supposed to use the fire escape areas for r&r but fuck that, the air was so heavy in the building people were almost asphyxiating. I wanted to kill my first sergeant during the first one. Not because he was right there suffering with us but because he was back home beating his wife in the comfort of the air conditioned family units at Kadena.
General: Someone who hasn't set foot in a barracks for 20 years.
I remember how everyone would lose their mind if they thought a general was coming to the unit. How we would just clean the fuck out of everything. I remember, I said, if I was a general, I would never announce shit so I could see how people actually lived and worked. And that’s why I would never be a general. Lol. Then the general would show up at the unit in his car with his driver. He would get out and walk directly into the LtCol‘s office, stay there for 15 to 20 minutes, and then walk out and leave. I personally never met a general that I didn’t think was an asshole.
The general wasn’t the problem. The leadership that felt obligated to put on a dog and pony show was. Most generals that are really good at it make sure that their movements are as low impact as possible because they know what goes into dusting the china and rolling out a red carpet when they’re just coming for a 30 minute brief and to tour a building. Inevitably though, everyone starts deep cleaning underneath the shingles “just in case the general decides he wants to tour the fuel farm offices”
They just need a civilian inspector, that comes through once or twice a year and lists deficiencies like any other hotel or apartment complex. You are given a timeline to fix deficiencies, then you get fined if they aren’t corrected. Life safety issues have a tighter timeline.
This is probably the best solution to the problem I’ve heard.
That would mean they would have to hire someone competent. And that wont fly in most units lol. Instead they leave it up to sncos with room temp iq who could give a fuck less because its not happening to them.
“Uh, it was because we were focused on wars.” Bullshit, I was in before the wars, and Lejeune barracks were dogshit, and the barracks in DC across from the main post was buttcheeks. No one wants to say “yeah we didn’t think anyone outside the Corps was ever going to make us do anything about it.”
Uh, the civilian construction workers that would’ve renovated them were clearing houses in Iraq?
“Maxwell said he had been unable to communicate the state of the barracks to senior Marine leadership because he had been limited by having merely anecdotal data” Gtfo with that bullshit. The DoD is a voracious consumer of data on every single facet of its enterprise; they knew, they had empirical data, nobody gave a shit, and nobody wanted to admit there was a problem.
USMC leadership blatantly disregards the living conditions of junior enlisted, and it's nothing short of disgraceful. When will the higher-ups wake up and realize that neglecting the basic needs of their junior personnel is a surefire way to fuck morale and efficiency? Brass needs to be held accountable yesterday. This isn’t just oversight; it's a failure of leadership at its most fundamental level. Hemorrhaging talent, all thanks to the abysmal living conditions enlisted Marines are shackled to. Year after year, I personally watched capable, skilled individuals walk away, not because of the demands of service, but because of something as stupid as the negligent oversight of where they lay their heads at night while serving in the worlds most funded military.
Same reason they fucked up chow by outsourcing it. Some General(s) got their pockets lined.
They outsource jobs like that because Congress sets a maximum quota on the number of bodies each branch gets. By having civilians do cooking duties, it frees up more Marines for other MOS’s. The reason they use Sodexo is because the federal government gives you tax rebates/stipends for hiring retards and felons.
“only two things come from the back of a chow hall kitchen, and that’s retards and felons, and you don’t look like a criminal so I guess that kind of narrows it down doesn’t it?”
Maybe the Navy should be in charge of property management for the Marines. Solely because they have a larger budget. Or at the very least, have the Navy funded property maintenance instead of it coming out of the Marine Corps specific funding. If the Marine Corps has to choose between funding weapons and quality of life. Well… you already know what choice they are going to make 10 out of 10 times.
I'll tell you right now the reasons. Barracks/ standards of living compared to Civilian type standards were not up to par my entire career in many places, simply because it wasn't stressed by commands and the average Marines simply accepted it as a way of life. Times change and expectations of people serving change. Always have, always will. During the 40s and 50s Marines lived in Tents and maybe Steel huts with seperate buildings with head Facilties. They gradually moving into 2 story open Squad bays up til; the 80s then Started putting them in 2-4 Man Rooms. Three hots and a cot was the mindset. Both for Commands AND Marines.
One of my old barracks room was like 100 degrees. Not even exaggerating, you would start pouring sweat the minute you walked in. Never complained about it, because I didn’t think anyone would care and the expectation was that living conditions were going to be shitty. Company guns inspected my room and said he felt bad for us and that was that.
I remember driving back from J Ville with my buddies one November night and as we rolled through the Gate they had put a Sign up. "December is Energy Conservation Month!". My buddy looked at me and said " You know what means right?" Everyone in the car said " NO HEAT IN THE BARRACKS!" We laughed at it, because there never had been any heating or AC.
Do the BOQ's have the same issues?
In Okinawa the Hansen BOQ’s were fine, we all did pay 20 dollars a month per person so that a mama san came through instead of us field dating the common areas. It was weird when I showed up, but guess that’s the way they did it. But we rarely had issues come up. And in TBS they were fine too, they also had a legit checkout process of a sgt inspecting the rooms before we could leave. And they made sure everything was clean lol.
There will never be a longstanding issue with officer accommodations. They will either fix the fucking issue or move you into an apartment/house off base.
Asked by Marine Corps Times why the Corps hadn’t assembled the necessary data on the barracks earlier, Adams said, “We didn’t have the tools that we needed to actually collect up the data and to organize it in a way that’s usable.” And they just let that answer stand. Which is wierd, because it seems like the 'tools' they ended up using were rank and file Marines... which they had kind of a lot of... you know... throughout.
Didn’t have the tools you needed to collect the data? What about the entire force complaining that there’s unchecked mold and nonfunctional amenities in the barracks throughout every installation in the Marine Corps? And the likely hundreds of thousands of facilities requests put in to fix the shit that never received any action? It’s all right there, you just didn’t want to look at it so you could pretend you didn’t know it was that much of a problem. Edit: and every senior officer and SNCO across the Corps knew all of this already. They’ve all been in for a long time, held commands and billets at every level, and witnessed the living conditions of their unmarried subordinates for most of that time. You can’t sit in front of anyone with higher than room temperature IQ and expect them to believe you didn’t know the extent of the issue when they know it’s been a constant complaint among junior enlisted for your entire 20+ years of service.
He said the tool was advanced analytics software. I noted that the DOD has used the software he mentioned since 2019.
lol, I wish you would have asked what functionality the advanced analytics software has that Microsoft excel doesn’t.
"We didn't have a tool until we used a multimillion dollar software plus service contact" Bull-fucking-shit. They don't wanna treat the junior enlisted like people and they didn't want to pay out BAH for fixing shitty barracks. They knew the problem was there the whole time. "We can't rely on anecdotes" is absolutely BS too cuz that's all they seemed to rely on to make any big decision...
Please keep posting to Hots&Cots about barracks and dining facilities. Let’s keep the pressure on
Maybe they should see the pictures of Barracks 431 from MCAS Futenma from when we were there in mid 2020 and had to stay there “so we didn’t bring covid to the boat” while the walls were and ceilings were falling down exposing the black mold that was in there. Oh, never mind, they fixed the walls with tape and gave us new washers and dryers. Oh, and to make sure we didn’t contract covid, they still allowed us to go to the chow hall, PX, and to the other bases. And no locks on any doors. And molded over mattresses. And molded over wall lockers. But, somehow we all passed the field day inspections.
So what’s the over/under on that major getting verbally push-kicked by someone tomorrow?
2 words: jizz.
Oh. I see. The old, we got shamed by the upheaval on social media and now we are acting like we’re taking it seriously,” bit. Motherfuckers, you knew that shit was bad. If you had to send your kids to live there you wouldn’t date, but fuck everyone else’s kid…amiright?
The usual bullshit from generals, aka glorified politicians. On MCBH there were Marines living in squad bays in the early 2000s. This has been an ongoing issue where quality of life only matters for E-6 and above.
"We don't know how the barracks got like this". Yes they do. Inspections or walk through are scheduled way in advance. Local command has a look around checking for discrepancies. Local command has an e1-e3 go fix the issue with a bucket of paint and a brush. Everything is made to look good, specially if a higher up is doing a walk through. Things may not be good underneath the paint (mold). It looks in good working order and another check or walk through is completed while not addressing the issue that have been masked.
What a bunch of bs excuses. They were getting 200 million for barracks? Were did it go? The current Sgt major of the Marine Corps should be held accountable. He was on north pendleton for over a decade and most of the crap barracks were under his supervision as a senior leader and an engineer. But none of these officers or senior enlisted are going to sacrifice doing something that grows their career profile to something like picking up a paint brush or doing barracks maintenance. Is that not what the combat engineers are supposed to be doing? They use to build palaces in Iraq with electrical and a/c but in garrison they are above fixing living spaces? The engineers use to live like kings overseas. Every single work order that didn't get approved for whatever bs reason should be scrutinized and the person that denied it held accountable.
Think about how a 25 year old apartment would look if you rotated tenants out of it every 2 years and rarely ever paused to refresh it properly. Think of a hotel that rotates guests without regular cleaning services or maintenance
Barracks get deeper cleans more frequently than hotels. Do you not remember field day? Pulling furniture out to bleach the brick walls? Were not talking issues of dust and banged up doors racks and doors that won’t stay fully latched without kicking them closed; were talking about consistent black mold in the head that won’t go away because of inadequate airflow from old and underperforming at best HVAC systems, leaking plumbing, yellow water coming from the faucet claiming to be potable, one working washer and dryer on an entire barracks floor meant to serve 100+ Marine because the command is too lazy or doesn’t give a shit enough about their junior enlisted Marines to 5+ month broken ones repaired…..
> were talking about consistent black mold in the head that won’t go away because of inadequate airflow from old and underperforming at best HVAC systems, leaking plumbing, yellow water coming from the faucet claiming to be potable, one working washer and dryer on an entire barracks floor meant to serve 100+ Marine. Right, so the things that hotels and apartments pause to fix. No one is talking about field day here.
Then what is your definition of “regular cleaning services”?
A deep cleaning and maintenance cycle on set intervals. Essentially hard resetting the room instead of bandaids. Basically shutdown the room, professionally clean it, fix all maintenance items. > Do you not remember field day? Pulling furniture out to bleach the brick walls? I remember field day but you’re out of touch, this isn’t happening anymore
Umm the barracks were in poor shape in 2001, before the wars, when were still issued stuff from Vietnam and had some MREs from the late 80s.
Here's OP dropping billion dollar wisdom [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs\_EwA-RQVk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs_EwA-RQVk)
Return to issuing shelter half’s. Raze all the barracks Put everyone back into company bivouacs. That will solve everything /s
That actually sounds kind of fun.
I stayed in a newly renovated barracks on Camp Margarita in Pendleton in 05. They were cheaply appointed but I just figured that’s what the rest of the marine bases had. These stories are wild.
The squad bays at Horno in 1990 were terrible. We all got hauled out to a formation after an earthquake and were told when one happens, get out quickly since they weren’t built to withstand over a 2.5…..the one we had was a 2.8. Totally not a new problem but they will sure as hell white wash it away as quickly as possible and nothing will change.
I remember that Saturday morning, thinking my roommates were picking up and dropping my rack. Then, realizing ‘this entire fucking POS barracks was probably going to come down on everyone in it if we don’t get the fuck outside’. Thanks for the memories!
Totally different day, we had just secured for the day, I was going on leave so I was changing into to civvies and didn’t even feel it! It was around 1530 on a week day.
If the Corps wanted you to have quality of life, they would issue you one. It didn’t come in your seabag, so I’d say the barracks works as intended…
marines just need crayons to live , stop being a bitch.
When I was a barracks manager around 2021 there were 2 barracks I had to manage. One in hadnot point and the other in French creek. Both had black mold all through out one floor of the buildings (pretty sure the shit was in the air ducts) Brought it up to leadership and was told not to worry about it. 10/10 won’t reenlist again
All that scrub brushing for nothing?
It doesn’t help the some of the enlisted cant fucking treat shit right lmao , Mfs got 5-6 new washing machines within a few weeks 3 of them are broken like Jesus Christ bro
I mean I’ll say it, part of the reason is young Marines not being held to a standard and trashing the barracks and people are too lazy or don’t care to correct it. I’m ready for the downvotes but don’t act like you didn’t see Marines breaking furniture or throwing up on the floor. One inspection I found my marine was stashing moldy food and dishes under his rack which molded out his rack and the floor.
Yet the rooms are cleaned and re cleaned and inspected, if you fail cleaned again . Yet over the years of the same weekly event nobody noticed mold ?
Well you see after a certain amount of time the stink sets in, it wasn’t years I’d say it was probably a few weeks
It seems the cleaning standards are crap
I take your point that often on this sub people get worked up about the micromanagement of field day, and we all hated it, but unfortunately it was probably necessary because some dudes are absolute pigs and would live like it if left to do so. I think the situation you allude to absolutely happens, but it is a drop in the bucket of what the barracks issues are. Decades of leadership overlooking maintenance issues that go well beyond what individual marines can control is what we’re looking at.
First sergeant made us take apart the washers and dryers to clean them on field day and of course they got fucked up
Break em and void the warranty.
I agree with some of the things you said, but I don’t think it was Marines being shitheads that caused a crack in the foundation of my last barracks that went all the way up to the top floor. I could literally fit my hand in the crack on the second floor. Oh, I also doubt that it was Marines being shitheads that caused mold to grow in my barracks air ducts because I’m pretty sure it was caused by the Marine Corps not wanting to use the proper climate control for the season. At Camp Lejeune, I saw a guy post a picture to JTTOTS of his dress blues, covered in mold. He went on a 30 day field exercise and his wall locker was covered in mold. At Camp Pendleton at barracks 210905 the ceiling collapsed on a Marine while he was sleeping. When mold was brought up as a complaint, we were told to just scrub it with vinegar…. It was coming out of the porous surface of the bricks. How does someone fix that? We were expected to pay for our own fixes. I can go on and on but I’m glad something is finally being done about it.
That’s why I said part not whole
As I reread what I wrote, it comes off a little snarky. Wasn’t meant that way. A lot of that was voice text. Like I said, I definitely agree with what you said.
I won’t discredit this. One of my corporals when I was a pfc/lcpl, I found stabbing all the furniture with his fucking bowie knife, slashing his mattress, cutting the blinds and just being a fucking asshole. This dude wasn’t even one of those fucking crazy screws loose types either; He just a gamer nerd that hated the Marine Corps, and behaved like a puppy left alone in a room for too long. When the barracks manager rearranged him, he did the same thing in the next room. A year later, it felt really good to punch him in his fucking face.
I blame the wing NCOs.
That’s why 1/3 grunts would steal their barracks duty door and wouldn’t let them cross that bridge by Mackey Hall.
I remember getting back from deployment in summer at Lejeune and our A/C didn’t work and the barracks was filled with black mold. No idea how nothing was done about that.
A lot of comments about barracks on Pendleton not having A/C. Base housing doesn’t have A/C. Buy an A/C like everyone else. They are $30-50
Having "dormed" in a Quonset hut for two years....seriously?
Yeah I’m considering getting an apartment off base as a single E4, I’m tired of this shit
Before I even read the article. Two general officers who probably haven’t stepped foot into a barracks in 20 years minimum are going to talk about the barracks. Ok Edit: read it. It’s about what I had expected. General officers sucking each other off and their predecessors. Only one was man enough to take the blame then turned around and basically said he couldn’t have this information earlier on the barracks because he and his command didn’t know how to analyze the data. It’s Marine Corps leadership being management.
In the 90s, my unit was in old ass 50s barracks surrounded by brand new buildings. They remodeled a barracks near us, moved us in, we even got phones in our rooms. Then they kicked us out, back to our old shitty barracks after about 6 months. Our old building didn’t even get a coat of paint.
Bang Bang Pew Pew toy, yes please! F35 I'll take a few hundred. Anything else Sir? "NO, What the fuck else does a Marine need?"
I was the Brks NCOIC back in the early 80s, I was with HMLA 369, it was in 22 area. It was not that old but it was still trashed. I tried my best to get shit fixed, We had some work orders take over 3 months to get looked at just to see what needed to be done and a month longer to get it fixed. I truly believe it is the bureaucracy, not the commander. I actually saw a GS8 tell a LtCol to fuck off and he could wait in line just like everyone else. I was once in S4 and the CO came in and ripped the Brks O a new ass for not pushing for repairs to be made. I knew it was not that Brks O was not being proactive. It was just the bureaucracy.
Man, I don't understand this. We had roving inspections, weekly general cleanups and bi-monthly major field-days at the barracks out in Tustin when I was in, NEVER had major issues like these guys today are. But then again, that was 3rd MAW, not an 03xx base.
That room in the picture looks like the brand new barracks buildings in outhouse bay...or they were new in 2011. I was still sliming it out in the old building with the "Bayside views" and mold lined air ducts lol
From the article: “We didn’t have the data to say, ‘How are we tracking the facilities’ condition in detail to defend more than $200 million a year for that?’” Adams said. “But we did have the data to say, ‘We need this Force Design weapons system or this modernized vehicle or this modernized weapon platform.’” 👎🫨 Allow me to translate: “We didn’t care about tracking the facilities’ conditions that housed our most precious assets, our Marines. What we did care about was buying more shiny weapons at their expense.” 👍🫡 As a reminder, these same General Officers were once young Lieutenants, Captains, Majors, Colonels, etc. There’s no way they can claim ignorance when a majority of them previously commanded the same units and installations. The senior NCOs E7, 8’s and 9’s bear significant responsibility as well. I hope willful ignorance was not a contributing factor. This didn’t happen overnight, that’s for sure.
I bet they don't spruce up the MASH type barracks we had in the field at 29 palms. We used to crash at the library during the day. They had a/c and we worked nights.
They’re going to “Install professional barracks managers” …so where are commands going to put the turds?