Interview: The Fort Bragg Barracks Controversy
Shortly after the US invasion of Panama in 1990, several staff officers of SOUTHCOM were strongly encouraging General Max Thurmond to engage the media that were clambering for information. Finally in frustration, Thurmond said “Send out the Public Affairs guy! He doesn’t know shit and is trained to say even less.”
The Army has gotten a lot smarter with media relations and we have some extremely well trained and dedicated soldiers who fight the media fight on a daily basis. It is a very difficult and often thankless job but they are a great resource.
I’m sure you have all read and seen the video of the substandard barracks conditions that some paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne recently returned to at Fort Bragg. Naturally this situation created an uproar and just as naturally politicians started chiming in.
The video was pretty damning but I wanted to get the real story. So, I reached out to Major Angela Funaro of the 18th Airborne Corps Public Affairs Office.
In spite preparing for All American Week and a visit by the President, she was gracious enough to give me an interview.
1. How many soldiers were living in the specific barracks in question?
Approximately 100
2. What unit (s) were the soldiers assigned to?
C Co., 2-508th Infantry Regt., 82nd Airborne Div.
3. Was the chain of command or installation support folks aware of the
problem before the film hit the internet?
Yes. Work began in January of 2008, but was uncompleted. In addition, the unit returned three weeks early from their 15-month deployment from OEF in Afghanistan on 13 April 2008, and the rear detachment had only 72 hours notice of their early arrival. Outstanding work orders had not been completed and were ongoing as they arrived home, which was when the pictures were taken.
While the conditions were unacceptable under any reasonable standard, at no time was the life, health or safety of any of the Soldiers in jeopardy. Our Preventative Medicine department inspected the paint (no lead content) and found traces of mold but reported no health hazards were present. By the time Mr. Frawley posted his video on 24 April, many of the repairs had been completed. The flooded latrine that was pictured occurred after troops clogged a couple of the toilets with baby wipes, and an emergency work order was called and closed out within two hours of initial report to DPW. The bottom line is that these barracks have long outlived their usefulness and are no longer acceptable by today’s standards.
4. How many of the old barracks are still occupied?
a. 21 Korean War era “hammer heads”
b. 4 late 1960’s/early 70’s “rolling pins”
c. 3 late 50’s “H-style”
d. 8 late 80’s “ARHOC and 2+2”
e. 6 early 70’s “rolling pins” renovated to 1+1 standard
f. 2 mid 50’s renovated to 1+1 standard
g. 62 interim modulars
h. 43 late 80’s through present 1+1 standard
i. 19 late 70’s/early 80’s “LBC&W” style
TOTAL: 168 barracks. However, only the Korean War era barracks
are slated for complete reconstruction
5. Has anyone been held responsible, administratively or otherwise?
I cannot speak if administrative action was taken by the Division. As a result of the incident, the garrison command for Fort Bragg under Installation Management Command (IMCOM) is now charged with conducting regularly scheduled maintenance inspections. Unit leaders are still required to enforce good order and discipline in their assigned barracks.
6. What has been done in the short term to get these soldiers in alternate quarters?
All but three (out of 21) repairs have been made, and the Soldiers still reside in those barracks. The Secretary of the Army, a Congressional staff delegation, and soon the President himself have toured those very rooms to find them in satisfactory condition.
Within 24 hours of Mr. Frawley’s YouTube video being posted, we invited local media to a press conference by the Garrison Commander, COL David Fox, and a tour of the barracks with their cameras. Unfortunately, some outlets have not shown the new photos and instead have reported on our corrective actions while rebroadcasting the photos from Mr. Frawley’s video which has not helped with the public’s understanding of the situation today.
7. What is the long term schedule to have all of these old barracks
vacated?
This particular unit is scheduled to occupy new barracks in the summer of 2009. By 2013, all Korean War-era barracks are planned for complete replacement with new barracks.
8. Has additional resources been allocated to address the barracks issue?
Yes. After an Army-wide review subsequent the Frawley video, IMCOM allocated $3 million to Fort Bragg to be used for Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization (SRM).
9. Are there any further projects at Fort Bragg ongoing or planned that will enhance the soldier’s quality of life?
Absolutely. Ft. Bragg is one of five Army posts chosen to participate in a pilot project approved in 2007 called the Army’s Residential Communities Initiative. It entails privatizing housing areas for single Soldiers of certain ranks (E-6 and above). We have turned over on-post family housing to Bragg Communities, LLC, the public-private partnership between Ft. Bragg and Picerne Military Housing. While the housing exists on post, it is owned by an independent company. The cost of this housing is based on square footage, not the Soldier’s Basic Housing Allowance (BAH) rate. The rent for single Soldier housing will not exceed the BAH rate for an E6/SSG.
Each housing area is part of a residential community that includes a clubhouse, pool, fitness and business center, and pretty much everything you would find in a high-quality apartment community or home owner’s association. The new single Soldier apartment community will be completed early next year.
10. Please feel free to add any additional information.
I just want to summarize that a great deal has been done here at Ft. Bragg to improve the living conditions of our single Soldiers. The construction efforts and funding for them is unprecedented. In the past two years we’ve completed construction on five barracks complexes on post providing them with 3,435 modern, spacious accomodations. Currently we have an additional 2,238 barracks spaces in various phases of construction.
Eighty percent of the 82nd Airborne Division has been moved out of the Korean War era barracks.
Category: Politics, Support the troops
Idle curiousity here? Do Army officers have an MOS?
Way to go, Danny! I knew you’d get the straight poop.
Thanks for the follow-up.
Army officers have an Area of Concentration (AOC).
Now, we have the skinny on it, but shall we hold our breath waiting for the Mudstream Media to bring the sheeple up to date. Just today, in discussion at the restaurant, a dipstick claimed that: “The military has had to drastically reduce its enlistment standards to get people in.”. I asked him where he heard that gem. Yep- on the TV news. I am a supporter of the troops, I read all that I can find, both in good print and online. I am on Eglin AFB regularly, and usually at the Swamp School for the Army RANGERS, (of which COB is/was one). I see no sign of a “drastically reduced standards situation”. In fact, the soldiers and airmen that I see are far and above that dipsticks mental capability. An argument would be very one sided, what with him being unarmed and all.
Thanks COB, for the enlighenment. We knew it was like that, but now we have it from the source.
nuf sed
Ponsdorf,
Army officers do have a branch (MOS for enlisted folks).
Enlisted MOS’s are far more specialized than Officers. For instance in my day there was one duty code for Infantry officers, 11A. There were four enlisted MOS’s for Infantry alone, 11B, 11C, 11H and 11M.
Years ago Public Affairs was considered a “Functional Duty”; it is now a career path of its own.
My son was stationed at Bragg when this all went down. He said there were barracks inspections twice a week by his BN CSM and BDE CSM. Part of the problem is, to be fair to the legs, “naps’, if you perfer, instead of rebuilding the 82nd’s Korean era barracks, work was started at the same time on replacing barracks that were 20 years newer in what used to be 3rd and 7th group areas there along Ardenness.
During my career, I lived in delapidated, condemned barracks, so I know what it’s like. I also know that living conditions were never top priority. That took a back seat to combat readiness and training; missions considered far more important than barracks renovation.
The Army is trying to build new ones as fast as possible, but there are drawbacks. The lowest bidder contracters cut a lot of corners. At Ft. Campbell for instance, barracks that weren’t even one year old had flooding and leakage problems, along with mold.
Hopefully, all of the WWII/Korean/Vietnam era barracks will be extinct.
Before everyone high fives themselves, it still doesn’t sell.
“Yes. Work began in January of 2008, but was uncompleted.”
They day they left for deployment the facility should have been inspected, problems should have been identified, and work on known problems should have started. However, as demonstrated, it wasn’t a priority. The ‘they returned early’ still doesn’t sell except to the gullible. Truth is that they waited too long as proven by the non-completion of the fixes well before the troops returned. It should have been scheduled to be done well before the return to allow for an adequate INSPECTION by the chain of command [which we all know means pre-inspection and pre-pre-inspection by each of the elements in the chain]. Suddenly it became a priority, as exemplified by the release of monies for servicewide upgrades, which of course begs the question, why were these monies available before hand? Because it wasn’t treated as that important.
All of which gets us to another unavoidable point – THAT WHICH DOES NOT GET INSPECTED DOES NOT GET DONE. The survey in January is not what we’re talking about. It’s the command follow up or lack there of. Amazing isn’t it that after the proverbial crap hit the wall or in this case floated to the top, that it, along with all such housing, got the attention of the command chain all the way to DA and the need for servicewide order to conduct such inspections. Everyone is skating over why this wasn’t in place to begin with and why it took such a directive to be issued for it to happen.
Sorry, its CYA for a functional deficiency of failure to inspect and dereliction of duty. The barracks were just the symptom.
My 82nd Airborne son-in law (Whom I am EXTREMELY proud of…does it show?) is no longer on post at Bragg, as he is married and lives off post with my daughter, but it seems to me that the media somehow gets the wrong idea, as usual.
We blame the MILITARY for substandard conditions, when whom we should be blaming is the Civilian Contractors that lie, cheat, shortcut to a fault, and every other way do the military and therefore the country a grave disservice.
I was military in the 70s and 80s, it was the same then. The problem is not the military. It is the contractors. We are aghast at the 600 dollar toilet seat news story, yet the entire contracting process is driven by more sweetheart deals and Congressional lobbyist efforts than the regular civilian would believe.
The entire system needs revamping. From the bottom up, the top down, and everywhere in between. Let’s leave our military alone. Let them do their jobs.
Once again a blogger doing the job that the MSM is apparently incapable of.
Whups, looks like I just outted myself as a sock puppet.
I wonder when Don would have the CoC do all of that since they were with the Soldiers on the other side of the world engaging in combat. And remember the entire Division was deployed during this time. The problem lies with the lack of money and the centralization at IMCOM.
Appreciate the dialog; one error in fact you may want to consider fixing: Operation Just Cause H-Hour was 200100 DEC 1989; not 1990.
Good Catch Gumby; It was 1990 when the Regiment returned.
COB6
I lived in those type barracks for many years as a part of the 82D. Not sure why those Soldiers (THE NCO) had to put that B.S on TV. All post have self help shops, and all can get many things to repair barracks. No to menion a 1SG and a few CSM’s around to get things done. By the time the NCO had to get the info in the news he and his fellow NCO’s could have fixed the problem, while their multi million dollar barracks were finished.
ALL THE WAY !