Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
April 30, 2008
Pg. 4
By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writer
A senior Army official voiced regret yesterday for dilapidated conditions at barracks in Fort Bragg, N.C., captured on video by a soldier's father, and said the Army had launched housing inspections at more than 180 Army installations to correct any other shortfalls.
"We let our soldiers down," said Brig. Gen. Dennis E. Rogers, deputy director of operations at the Army's Installation Management Command.
"That's not how we want America's sons and daughters to live. There's no good excuse for what happened," Rogers said at a news conference at the Pentagon.
The dilapidated conditions came to light when Ed Frawley, the father of Sgt. Jeff Frawley, who returned this month from a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan, posted a video on YouTube.com of mold on the ceiling, peeling paint and a clogged bathroom drain at his son's barracks.
Rogers said that most of the problems shown in the video, taken nearly two weeks before it was posted, have already been repaired. But he acknowledged that the repairs should have been completed before the soldiers returned.
"We didn't do it right; we failed," he said. One factor, he said, was that the unit returned weeks earlier than expected.
Korean War-era barracks where Frawley and other soldiers are housed are scheduled for demolition along with 23 others on the base over the next five years, Rogers said, as part of the largest modernization of facilities in Army history. About 2,500 soldiers currently live in those barracks, which are to be replaced with new housing.
"Are our soldiers happy with living in the Korean-era barracks? No," said Tom McCollum, a spokesman for the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg. "No matter how hard we try, we can't put enough lipstick on this pig," he said.
An Army-wide housing inspection ordered this weekend has prompted other repairs, Rogers said. "On-the-spot corrections were made," he said, adding that he did not yet have a full report on maintenance issues at other living quarters. Still, he said he had been assured by garrison leaders that such problems are not affecting soldiers' "health, life and welfare."
Army housing is under strain as the Army carries out a permanent increase in its ranks as well as regular mobilizations of Army National Guard and Reserve units. That requires the use of old barracks as "swing space," Rogers said.
The Army's Installation Management Command has created a forum of senior noncommissioned officers, headed by Command Sgt. Maj. Debra L. Strickland, that will meet monthly to provide assessments of living conditions.
April 30, 2008
Pg. 4
By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writer
A senior Army official voiced regret yesterday for dilapidated conditions at barracks in Fort Bragg, N.C., captured on video by a soldier's father, and said the Army had launched housing inspections at more than 180 Army installations to correct any other shortfalls.
"We let our soldiers down," said Brig. Gen. Dennis E. Rogers, deputy director of operations at the Army's Installation Management Command.
"That's not how we want America's sons and daughters to live. There's no good excuse for what happened," Rogers said at a news conference at the Pentagon.
The dilapidated conditions came to light when Ed Frawley, the father of Sgt. Jeff Frawley, who returned this month from a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan, posted a video on YouTube.com of mold on the ceiling, peeling paint and a clogged bathroom drain at his son's barracks.
Rogers said that most of the problems shown in the video, taken nearly two weeks before it was posted, have already been repaired. But he acknowledged that the repairs should have been completed before the soldiers returned.
"We didn't do it right; we failed," he said. One factor, he said, was that the unit returned weeks earlier than expected.
Korean War-era barracks where Frawley and other soldiers are housed are scheduled for demolition along with 23 others on the base over the next five years, Rogers said, as part of the largest modernization of facilities in Army history. About 2,500 soldiers currently live in those barracks, which are to be replaced with new housing.
"Are our soldiers happy with living in the Korean-era barracks? No," said Tom McCollum, a spokesman for the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg. "No matter how hard we try, we can't put enough lipstick on this pig," he said.
An Army-wide housing inspection ordered this weekend has prompted other repairs, Rogers said. "On-the-spot corrections were made," he said, adding that he did not yet have a full report on maintenance issues at other living quarters. Still, he said he had been assured by garrison leaders that such problems are not affecting soldiers' "health, life and welfare."
Army housing is under strain as the Army carries out a permanent increase in its ranks as well as regular mobilizations of Army National Guard and Reserve units. That requires the use of old barracks as "swing space," Rogers said.
The Army's Installation Management Command has created a forum of senior noncommissioned officers, headed by Command Sgt. Maj. Debra L. Strickland, that will meet monthly to provide assessments of living conditions.