thedrifter
03-17-07, 09:49 AM
Conway warns Congress of substandard housing
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 17, 2007 8:25:37 EDT
About 66,000 Marines — more than half of the 118,000 billeted — live in substandard housing, the service’s top officer told Congress on March 13.
Commandant Gen. James Conway outlined the dire housing situation before members of the House Appropriations military construction subcommittee as he went to bat for the fiscal 2008 defense budget that sets aside $1.86 billion for Corps facilities and infrastructure.
That request includes $1.04 billion for military construction, $467 million for facility sustainment, $117 million for restoration and modernization and $240 million for public-private family housing.
“In terms of [bachelor enlisted quarters] ... we have actually put ourselves against the wall. For decades, we have looked for combat readiness, not for quality of life for young single Marines,” Conway told lawmakers.
“Now, we find ourselves well below acceptable living standards for our troops,” he said.
Much of the Corps’ barracks infrastructure is antiquated, Conway said. The service has 43 bachelor enlisted quarters built between 1920 and 1940, he said.
Pressure to add barracks will only increase as the Corps builds up its personnel to 202,000 by 2011. The Corps will need to build barracks for more than 16,000 leathernecks as it increases its end strength, Conway said.
“Garrison life will become all that much more important” after Iraq and Afghanistan, Conway said. “Quality of life, quality of the barracks — all those things are morale issues. It will simply be exacerbated when this long war is over.”
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 17, 2007 8:25:37 EDT
About 66,000 Marines — more than half of the 118,000 billeted — live in substandard housing, the service’s top officer told Congress on March 13.
Commandant Gen. James Conway outlined the dire housing situation before members of the House Appropriations military construction subcommittee as he went to bat for the fiscal 2008 defense budget that sets aside $1.86 billion for Corps facilities and infrastructure.
That request includes $1.04 billion for military construction, $467 million for facility sustainment, $117 million for restoration and modernization and $240 million for public-private family housing.
“In terms of [bachelor enlisted quarters] ... we have actually put ourselves against the wall. For decades, we have looked for combat readiness, not for quality of life for young single Marines,” Conway told lawmakers.
“Now, we find ourselves well below acceptable living standards for our troops,” he said.
Much of the Corps’ barracks infrastructure is antiquated, Conway said. The service has 43 bachelor enlisted quarters built between 1920 and 1940, he said.
Pressure to add barracks will only increase as the Corps builds up its personnel to 202,000 by 2011. The Corps will need to build barracks for more than 16,000 leathernecks as it increases its end strength, Conway said.
“Garrison life will become all that much more important” after Iraq and Afghanistan, Conway said. “Quality of life, quality of the barracks — all those things are morale issues. It will simply be exacerbated when this long war is over.”