Military recruits don’t expect to live in the Taj Mahal when they enlist. But they also don’t expect to be assigned to spend their free time in filthy barracks with vermin-infested rooms, broken air conditioners and patches of mold on the wall. But all too often, that is the case in the U.S. armed forces these days, lawmakers said Wednesday.
Providing adequate housing for junior service members is a national security issue because it can impact the military’s already struggling recruiting efforts. Parents, friends and family members are unlikely to encourage potential recruits to enlist if they are forced to live in squalor, said Rep. Mike Waltz, a Florida Republican who chairs the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee.
“This is disgusting. This is unsatisfactory. Would any of you want your children in these kinds of conditions, with mold, with feces, with broken sewage lines? I wouldn’t,” said Mr. Waltz, an Army Green Beret veteran who fought in Afghanistan.
Hundreds of thousands of troops live in barracks both in the U.S. and throughout the world. All enlisted personnel start their careers there and living conditions can have a significant impact on their quality of life and readiness, officials said.
Wednesday’s hearing followed a September 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office that investigated reports of sub-standard living conditions in the barracks on 10 U.S. military bases, and made more than 30 recommendations for improvements. The military manages nearly 9,000 barracks facilities worldwide and almost all are owned, operated and maintained by the government.
“I don’t even know what [the GAO] would have seen if they had gone to all of them,” Mr. Waltz said. “We just had reports yesterday of a cockroach infestation down at Camp Lejeune. We had to move Marines out of those barracks.”
Brendan Owens, assistant secretary of defense for installations, energy and environment, said ensuring quality housing for the troops is both a national security imperative and a moral obligation — an obligation he said the government has not always met.
“Out of all the infrastructure we provide, our service members’ housing has the great impact on their quality of life,” Mr. Owens said. “The [Defense Department] has, in too many instances, failed to live up to our role in making sure the housing we provide honors the commitment to the service members and their families.”
“We have a lot of work to do,” Mr. Owens added.
The GAO investigators said the Defense Department has “insufficient oversight” of military barracks. It doesn’t track information about the conditions or “facilitate collaboration” on initiatives to improve the living conditions.
“Insufficient oversight hampers [the Defense Department’s] ability to identify and address longstanding challenges in barracks conditions across the department,” the GAO said in its report.
Rep. John Garamendi of California, the top Democrat on the House subcommittee, said Congress also bears some responsibility: In the past, funds have been stripped away from infrastructure improvement to pay for weapons like F-35 fighters, he said.
“Here we go again. Everything’s important except the maintenance of our facilities,” he said. “We’ve been banging this drum for a long time and we’ll have to continue to do so.”
Pentagon officials have said they want to increase accountability in solving the housing problem. The conditions of the barracks should be considered when a base commander is up for promotion, Mr. Garamendi said.
“I don’t know of any other way to do it,” he said. “If you want to move up in the ranks, this is something you have to pay attention to.”
Most of the Navy’s infrastructure, from barracks to public shipyards, isn’t in the shape it should be, Meredith Berger, assistant Navy secretary for energy, installations and environment, acknowledged in her testimony to lawmakers.
“We have allowed these assets to degrade over time. We have identified and deferred risks and allowed that risk to accumulate and compound,” Ms. Berger said. “We’ve been paying the bill with quality of life and readiness.”
She said the recent decision by the Marine Corps to order an inspection of every barracks room and living facility throughout the force was a step in the right direction. The Navy Department also is pursuing a pilot program on two bases in Norfolk and San Diego that would privatize some military barracks.
“We’ve made some meaningful progress and we’ve got some significant work to do,” Ms. Berger said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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