Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Fayetteville (NC) Observer
May 1, 2008
Pg. 1
By John Ramsey, Staff writer
Health inspections of aging barracks on Fort Bragg revealed mold, but “nothing that would indicate a health hazard,” an Army spokesman said Wednesday.
The inspection by Womack Army Medical Center’s preventive medicine department were part of an Army directive to check on barracks worldwide to ensure that poor conditions shown on a YouTube video aren’t widespread.
Ed Frawley, the father of an 82nd Airborne Division soldier, uploaded the video to YouTube last week. It showed images of peeling paint, exposed pipes, mildewed ceilings and showers, a broken toilet seat and a bathroom floor covered in sewage because of a clogged drain.
The barracks in the video house about 100 soldiers in C Company of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The unit returned home from Afghanistan on April 13 — three weeks early.
Since the video was shot, moldy ceiling tiles have been replaced, water fountains were installed and working, and paint chips were removed, said Tom McCollum, a spokesman for Fort Bragg.
“Those photos, though accurate, are a depiction of that moment in time,” McCollum said Wednesday. “There are no excuses for it. It was a breakdown not just in the process, but it was a breakdown in leadership.”
The video has been viewed more than 259,000 times and grabbed the attention of top Army officials.
Army Secretary Pete Geren visited Fort Bragg on Wednesday to see the housing facilities.
And Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers, who is responsible for maintaining barracks, spent all day Wednesday trying to get a handle on the worldwide barracks inspections, according to his spokesman.
The Army expects to know the results of inspections of thousands of barracks by the end of the week, said Ned Christensen, spokesman for the Army’s Installation Management Command.
Christensen said the Army historically hasn’t had the money to spend on facilities because the money goes toward missions and training to keep soldiers ready to fight. The Army — in its largest housing upgrade ever — is spending billions of dollars to build new barracks to replace the 1950s Korean War-era housing depicted in the video.
At Fort Bragg alone, there is $750 million in construction under way, and another $250 million expected to be awarded before the end of September. The Army Corps of Engineers has completed five new barracks, housing 3,550 soldiers, in the past two years.
But with limited space, one building must be finished before another can be built. The soldiers living in the barracks shown on the video are expected to move into new housing by summer 2009, and all 1950s barracks are expected to be eliminated by 2013.
Twenty-three of the old barracks remain on Fort Bragg, housing about 2,500 soldiers, McCollum said.
The Army walks a delicate line when it comes to the worn-out buildings, Christensen said.
“We’re trying not to spend too much money on old buildings, because they’re going to be demolished,” Christensen said. “We want to give them a livable facility without being inappropriate in how many resources we put into that.”
The Army is considering giving some soldiers at Fort Bragg housing vouchers to live off post until the new barracks are completed, Christensen said. But 18- and 19-year-olds are sometimes better off living with their units, he said.
The YouTube video has sparked political outcries. All three presidential candidates have weighed in.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday called for congressional hearings to get to the root of the problem. Her Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, took a shot at the Bush administration in a statement, saying “real accountability is needed.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, said in Pennsylvania on Wednesday that the first step should be for the secretary of defense to report the findings of the barracks investigation to Congress.
“It’s one of these things that is so unacceptable that it’s shocking,” McCain said, according to a statement from his campaign. “I have some confidence that it will be fixed, but it never ever should have happened in the first place.”
North Carolina congressmen have weighed in as well.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Republican Sen. Richard Burr said Congress has invested in Fort Bragg, but construction takes time. He said soldiers will endure buildings with problems until the new construction is finished in 2013. The older buildings’ age means they need constant attention, he said. Burr said putting troops in substandard housing is unacceptable, but he denounced Clinton’s request for hearings.
Democrats already are taking swipes at Republicans to gain political points over the issue, he said.
“I don’t believe a witch hunt is productive,” he said. “I’m not sure Senator Clinton’s ever been to Fort Bragg. I’d probably suggest she go down there and see it.”
Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole learned about the barracks video Friday after an Observer reporter asked questions. Her staff immediately notified Garen to ask him to take care of the situation. Burr and Dole sent staff members to check out the barracks Tuesday.
U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, issued a statement Wednesday that said Congress should review policies to make sure troops are receiving the housing they deserve.
And U.S. Rep Robin Hayes, a Concord Republican, said in a statement that he’s working with the Army and Congress to make sure soldiers have the best barracks possible, as quickly as possible.
Frawley, the father who shot the video, said he never expected this kind of attention. He never told anyone the video was on YouTube. He said he’s been inundated with interview requests since the story broke.
“In the last few days, this thing has gotten a little crazy,” he said.
Frawley said he doesn’t buy the excuse that the soldiers’ returning home early caused the situation, because he knew since January that they were coming home.
He said the Army has assured him the problems will be fixed, and he said he trusts them. But cleaning up those barracks is still “like polishing a turd,” he said. He said he doesn’t want to see anyone fired over the controversy.
“All I wanted was for a couple of people to get as upset as I am, and call their congressman” Frawley said. “If this can be a poke in the side of every congressman, so be it.”
May 1, 2008
Pg. 1
By John Ramsey, Staff writer
Health inspections of aging barracks on Fort Bragg revealed mold, but “nothing that would indicate a health hazard,” an Army spokesman said Wednesday.
The inspection by Womack Army Medical Center’s preventive medicine department were part of an Army directive to check on barracks worldwide to ensure that poor conditions shown on a YouTube video aren’t widespread.
Ed Frawley, the father of an 82nd Airborne Division soldier, uploaded the video to YouTube last week. It showed images of peeling paint, exposed pipes, mildewed ceilings and showers, a broken toilet seat and a bathroom floor covered in sewage because of a clogged drain.
The barracks in the video house about 100 soldiers in C Company of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The unit returned home from Afghanistan on April 13 — three weeks early.
Since the video was shot, moldy ceiling tiles have been replaced, water fountains were installed and working, and paint chips were removed, said Tom McCollum, a spokesman for Fort Bragg.
“Those photos, though accurate, are a depiction of that moment in time,” McCollum said Wednesday. “There are no excuses for it. It was a breakdown not just in the process, but it was a breakdown in leadership.”
The video has been viewed more than 259,000 times and grabbed the attention of top Army officials.
Army Secretary Pete Geren visited Fort Bragg on Wednesday to see the housing facilities.
And Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers, who is responsible for maintaining barracks, spent all day Wednesday trying to get a handle on the worldwide barracks inspections, according to his spokesman.
The Army expects to know the results of inspections of thousands of barracks by the end of the week, said Ned Christensen, spokesman for the Army’s Installation Management Command.
Christensen said the Army historically hasn’t had the money to spend on facilities because the money goes toward missions and training to keep soldiers ready to fight. The Army — in its largest housing upgrade ever — is spending billions of dollars to build new barracks to replace the 1950s Korean War-era housing depicted in the video.
At Fort Bragg alone, there is $750 million in construction under way, and another $250 million expected to be awarded before the end of September. The Army Corps of Engineers has completed five new barracks, housing 3,550 soldiers, in the past two years.
But with limited space, one building must be finished before another can be built. The soldiers living in the barracks shown on the video are expected to move into new housing by summer 2009, and all 1950s barracks are expected to be eliminated by 2013.
Twenty-three of the old barracks remain on Fort Bragg, housing about 2,500 soldiers, McCollum said.
The Army walks a delicate line when it comes to the worn-out buildings, Christensen said.
“We’re trying not to spend too much money on old buildings, because they’re going to be demolished,” Christensen said. “We want to give them a livable facility without being inappropriate in how many resources we put into that.”
The Army is considering giving some soldiers at Fort Bragg housing vouchers to live off post until the new barracks are completed, Christensen said. But 18- and 19-year-olds are sometimes better off living with their units, he said.
The YouTube video has sparked political outcries. All three presidential candidates have weighed in.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday called for congressional hearings to get to the root of the problem. Her Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, took a shot at the Bush administration in a statement, saying “real accountability is needed.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, said in Pennsylvania on Wednesday that the first step should be for the secretary of defense to report the findings of the barracks investigation to Congress.
“It’s one of these things that is so unacceptable that it’s shocking,” McCain said, according to a statement from his campaign. “I have some confidence that it will be fixed, but it never ever should have happened in the first place.”
North Carolina congressmen have weighed in as well.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Republican Sen. Richard Burr said Congress has invested in Fort Bragg, but construction takes time. He said soldiers will endure buildings with problems until the new construction is finished in 2013. The older buildings’ age means they need constant attention, he said. Burr said putting troops in substandard housing is unacceptable, but he denounced Clinton’s request for hearings.
Democrats already are taking swipes at Republicans to gain political points over the issue, he said.
“I don’t believe a witch hunt is productive,” he said. “I’m not sure Senator Clinton’s ever been to Fort Bragg. I’d probably suggest she go down there and see it.”
Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole learned about the barracks video Friday after an Observer reporter asked questions. Her staff immediately notified Garen to ask him to take care of the situation. Burr and Dole sent staff members to check out the barracks Tuesday.
U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, issued a statement Wednesday that said Congress should review policies to make sure troops are receiving the housing they deserve.
And U.S. Rep Robin Hayes, a Concord Republican, said in a statement that he’s working with the Army and Congress to make sure soldiers have the best barracks possible, as quickly as possible.
Frawley, the father who shot the video, said he never expected this kind of attention. He never told anyone the video was on YouTube. He said he’s been inundated with interview requests since the story broke.
“In the last few days, this thing has gotten a little crazy,” he said.
Frawley said he doesn’t buy the excuse that the soldiers’ returning home early caused the situation, because he knew since January that they were coming home.
He said the Army has assured him the problems will be fixed, and he said he trusts them. But cleaning up those barracks is still “like polishing a turd,” he said. He said he doesn’t want to see anyone fired over the controversy.
“All I wanted was for a couple of people to get as upset as I am, and call their congressman” Frawley said. “If this can be a poke in the side of every congressman, so be it.”