Serving in the United States military used to represent the ultimate form of bravery and honor. However, due to woke ideology and misallocated funds, our armed forces are no longer held in as high regard as they once were. More tragically, many of our service members are now living in squalor.
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that many barracks inspected across the country have subpar living conditions for our troops. These conditions expose them to toxic water, sewage, and frigid temperatures. As expected, these poor living conditions are taking a toll on our service men and women and are cited as impacting our military's readiness.
From Just the News:
According to the report, high-ranking service members at all 10 facilities visited by the GAO said the "poor living conditions contributed to reduced productivity at work, had negative effects on training, or negatively affected perceptions about serving in the military."
Additionally, officials at all 10 sample barracks said the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems were "broken, malfunctioning, or non-existent," according to the report, titled, "Military Barracks: Poor Living Conditions Undermine Quality of Life and Readiness."
All of the barracks inspected were located in the U.S., including four installations in the Washington, D.C. area and other installations across the continental United States including Fort Carson, Colorado (Army); Joint Base San Antonio, Texas (Air Force); Naval Base Coronado and Naval Base San Diego, California (Navy); and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and Camp Pendleton, California (Marine Corps).
Service members at half of the inspected barracks said there were issues with water quality. For example, in one discussion group the accountability office held, service members said tap water in their barracks was often brown and did not look safe to drink.
In another example, an installation visited by the watchdog had recently closed barracks after legionella bacteria, which causes potentially fatal Legionnaires' disease, was found in the building plumbing systems. GAO officials also said that only barracks with health care patients undergo water testing that could reveal legionella. They do not test water in other buildings "because they are not required to."
Officials at three of the 10 barracks told the watchdog that "service members are generally responsible for pest control, or for removing hazardous material from barracks, such as mold and sewage. Further, officials at one installation told us service members are responsible for cleaning biological waste that may remain in a barracks room after a suicide," the report said.
As of 2019, about 40% of active-duty service members were satisfied with military housing on base, including barracks, according to a survey cited in the report. The military manages nearly 9,000 barracks worldwide, and last fiscal year nearly 280,000 service members lived in barracks.
The government office made 31 recommendations to the Defense Department, most of which deal with updating standards and keeping better track of facilities. The Defense Department agreed with 23 of the recommendations and partially agreed with eight, and all recommendations are still open and will be updated when the agency takes actions in response to the recommendations.
Our government should be absolutely ashamed that our brave men and women are forced to live in conditions like this.
Perhaps, instead of sending billions of dollars overseas, our government could allocate some funds to provide our military personnel with the support they deserve.
