Video of Fort Bragg barracks draws attention to troops’ living conditions

[thedrifter]

Thursday, May 1, 2008
Video of Fort Bragg barracks draws attention to troops’ living conditions


By Estes Thompson, The Associated Press
Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Wednesday, April 30, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. — A video shot by the father of an 82nd Airborne Division soldier that shows poor conditions such as mold in a barracks at Fort Bragg caught the attention Friday of a U.S. senator and high-ranking Army officials.

Ed Frawley, a dog breeder from Menomonie, Wis., posted the narrated video on YouTube.com on Tuesday after traveling to North Carolina to welcome his son, Sgt. Jeff Frawley, home from a 15-month tour in Afghanistan.

The video shows peeling paint, mold, a bathroom drain plugged with what appears to be sewage and a broken room door lock, conditions that Frawley described as disgusting and embarrassing. “The instant you walk through the front door, you know you are in a building that should be condemned,” he said.

In a Stars and Stripes interview on Tuesday, Frawley said he hoped he wouldn’t be perceived as anti-military; just that he saw a situation that needed to be fixed.

“I had a CNN truck in my driveway this morning. I talked with my son later, and he said all the soldiers were watching it and were thanking him. … Gen Dick Cody called me and talked to me for 30 minutes. He’s a good guy. I’m a business man, and I know when someone’s trying to get one over on me. He said there’s going to be changes.

“I wasn’t looking to get anyone fired. I just want it fixed.”

The Army held a media roundtable Tuesday to discuss the matter.

Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers, Deputy Director of Operations and Facilities Headquarters, Installation Management Command, said that as the Army’s facilities manager, “I’m the guy responsible … for the shortfalls in the Fort Bragg barracks.

“Folks, we let our soldiers down, and that’s not like us,” he said. “That’s not how we want America’s sons and daughters to live.”

Rogers said that many of the conditions in the video have been fixed, but that Army leadership has directed all garrison commanders to walk through all Army barracks facilities, worldwide, starting this weekend, “and make an assessment that soldiers are housed to Army standards.”

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., said she contacted the Army secretary after learning of the barracks’ condition. “Our servicemembers deserve safe, clean housing,” she said. “If this video posting accurately portrays living conditions for our soldiers, this is wholly unacceptable and it must be immediately corrected.”

Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., whose district includes Fort Bragg, agreed. “Although the military continues to be stretched thin during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no excuse for substandard housing for our soldiers,” Etheridge said.

Maj. Tom Earnhardt, spokesman for the 82nd Airborne, said the conditions are “appalling and unacceptable,” but said the post must use the buildings that the Army provides.

One problem was that maintenance and repairs weren’t complete because the soldiers in C Company, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, came home three weeks ahead of schedule, he said. The barracks had been empty, except for brief periods, since the company left Fort Bragg.

Stars and Stripes’ Pat Dickson and Lisa Burgess contributed to this story.

Ellie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46vYZFU1Dew

[Katzman]

They should come to my old barracks! Or how about 1/10s when the SgtMajMC was there...

[MotivatorOfTheGuard]

Towards the end there, looks like they were looking for excuses as to why the barracks were in such dissaray.

How about, you shut your mouth, and go fix it. Marines would have had that place fixed before the phone calls were made. Welcome home Marines, take an hour for liberty, buy cleaning supplies, field day formation at 1800

[Katzman]

Towards the end there, looks like they were looking for excuses as to why the barracks were in such dissaray.

How about, you shut your mouth, and go fix it. Marines would have had that place fixed before the phone calls were made. Welcome home Marines, take an hour for liberty, buy cleaning supplies, field day formation at 1800

Exactly. All the mold takes is a green scrub pad and some fricken bleach. Damn!

[SGT7477]

Looks like they should of had field day long time ago we use to have to say stand by in the shower too when we flushed the toilets in the old barracks in LeJeune the memories,lol.

[sparkie]

Sterling Homes, O'side,long,long ago. Not sure if it was torn down, or the roaches ate it. Peeling paint? Heck, that place had moving paint.

[yellowwing]

Sounds like the barracks the army gave us for the Rifle Range at Fort Benning. It tooks us three hours to make it squared away. 300 Marine man hours is a lot of cleaning!

[SGT7477]

Sounds like the barracks the army gave us for the Rifle Range at Fort Benning. It tooks us three hours to make it squared away. 300 Marine man hours is a lot of cleaning!

The saying still holds true, The Marines have been fixing the army's mistakes since 1775,lmfao.

[yellowwing]

Yes, remember that group of soldiers we rescued that their unit just forgot about on the way to Baghdad?

[Big Jim]

When I was on Camp Foster with India Btry, 3/12, we lived in a barracks that was CONDEMNED by the Army!! We exercised some elbow grease and some bleach and we moved in!! The Bn. Armory was attached to the Bldg. wth an old scullery that had roaches as big as western belt buckles crawling out of it sometimes!! We MADE it work!!! Frikkin Army...!! Sheesh!!

[Big Jim]

Yes, remember that group of soldiers we rescued that their unit just forgot about on the way to Baghdad?

Yeah...I heard about that...I've run into many a Marine who had jumped branches from the Army to our beloved Corps. They recognized the dedication and faithfulness!!

[yellowwing]

Our Lads found them in a busted down humvee and getting pretty thirsty. There is just no excuse for that!

[gneissguy]

When I heard about the Army barracks, I was appalled by the whiny noises coming from professional soldiers. Does the Army not have field day? Utes, buckets, scrub brushes. Bleach for mold, comet for stains, cigarettes for air freshener.

I do remember the mass exodus out of the barracks some evenings by those who knew that the quarters NCO was getting ready for field day before the rest of us. I never seemed to get the word before the corp. or sgt. was at the squad bay entrance designating volunteers!

ah well, the good old days. The older I get, the better I was!!! ;-)

Semper Fi to all.

[SlingerDun]

....I was appalled by the whiny noises coming from professional soldiers

Condemnable BullShiat...ifin the CG of that outfit owns a set of cajones they're frosted by now and he'll put those 'heroes' to work scrapin paint and rippin out dry rot. Then you'd hear some whining 4 shore, man this sucks, i didn't join the Army to scrape paint and yard pipe, why can't they hire Bob Villa's crew.

They have the appalled drama queen "Dad Frawley the puppy breeder" to thank for that. Though one would think that a brigade (or whatever the Army calls it) of young unskilled labor with the help of a few contractors and a Home Depot account should be able to revamp that building in short order.

[sscjoe]

Based on the video, the condition of that barracks was deplorable. Any military personell should not have to be responsable for cleaning up that place. The OIC of that brigade should be replaced for not acting in the welfare of his troops. Be it Marine Corps or Army whould any of you like to have any of your sons or daughters living in those conditions. Wat past field daying