May 10, 2008 12:08 am
—
The military was embarrassed recently after the father of a soldier put out a YouTube video showing the conditions of the barracks his son was living in at Fort Bragg.
The video showed mold, peeling paint and broken plumbing fixtures in the Korean War-era barracks.
That video opened up the entire housing unit situation to scrutiny, and other bases are now being forced to take a look at their barracks. Other Army barracks are in similar condition.
No doubt there are many old Army barracks getting a lot of use because of the deployment of so many soldiers over to Afghanistan and Iraq. These barracks have been out of date for years, but for military units that are more stressed and seeing more active duty, this situation has become somewhat of a crisis.
The Army has just approved $248 million in repairs to their barrack infrastructure. That’s a short-term fix.
Housing infrastructure is going to continue to be a long-term issue as our soldiers are required to fight this ongoing war. All military units need to make sure their housing is up to date and in safe condition. The barracks required by contemporary soldiers and military units are much different than the soldiers of World War II or even Vietnam needed. Barracks must be updated to include new technology as well.
It’s a shame it takes a video posted on the Internet to get the attention of our leaders in solving these long-term issues. But, if that’s what it takes to get action, then so be it.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.