WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report that found numerous military members who live in barracks are subjected to deplorable living conditions.
The report highlighted the issue and the difficulty the Department of Defense (DoD) seems to have in assessing and correcting the problems our troops are facing.
The GAO, which is referred often to as the “congressional watchdog,” is an independent agency that works for Congress, ensuring that taxpayer funding is spent appropriately and with a positive return on investment. They are tasked with locating potential spending pitfalls and offering suggestions on how to mitigate them.
As part of that mission, they became aware of alleged poor living conditions inside the military barracks that house our nation’s military. Some of those alleged living conditions caused the GAO to question the DoD’s “management” of the barracks.
During their assessment of the barracks, the GAO noted high-ranking service members at the ten facilities that were checked had what they deemed were “poor living conditions. “Poor living conditions contributed to reduced productivity at work," the GAO report said, "had negative effects on training, or negatively affected perceptions about serving in the military.”
Some of the poor living conditions highlighted in the report noted broken or malfunctioning heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. Water quality at roughly half of the barracks checked was another complaint that left the military members stationed there afraid to drink the water.
The report also stated, “We observed barracks in poor condition, including some with safety risks like sewage overflow and inoperable fire systems. And some barracks don’t meet DoD requirements for privacy or amenities.”
The report begs the question of why, in the United States, are so many of our service members forced to live in this type of environment. According to the GAO, the answer is simple: They say it's because those responsible for ensuring the safety of the barracks, the DoD, does not have reliable information.
The GAO wrote, "DOD doesn’t have reliable information about barracks conditions, or how these conditions affect troop morale. And while DOD spends billions of dollars annually on its facilities, it’s unable to identify how much funding goes toward barracks.”
The GAO went on to explain that the DoD recently requested roughly $15 billion to keep all military facilities operating for fiscal year 2024. But, they were unable to identify, to the GAO’s liking, how much of the total amount would be spent on fixing and maintaining the barracks.
Additionally, the GAO claims the DoD does not keep tabs on the conditions of the barracks. “DOD does not track information on the condition of barracks or facilitate collaboration on initiative to improve barracks," the organization wrote in its report. "Insufficient oversight hampers DOD’s ability to identify and address long-standing challenges in barracks conditions across the department.”
To address these issues, the GAO has developed 31 recommendations that they believe will assist the DoD with achieving the goal of ensuring the safety and well-being of the nation’s troops are paramount in terms of barracks housing. After the DoD reviewed the findings of the report, they agreed with 23 of them, however, only “partially concurred with 8.” The GAO noted the DoD only partially concurs with eight recommendations because those conditions, in some cases, are already being addressed.
As of now, all 31 recommendations are showing that they are open, in other words, they have not been addressed to the satisfaction of the GAO. The GAO reported that the status will be changed from open on their website once they receive notice that the DoD and military branches have taken some form of “response.”
The report highlighted the issue and the difficulty the Department of Defense (DoD) seems to have in assessing and correcting the problems our troops are facing.
The GAO, which is referred often to as the “congressional watchdog,” is an independent agency that works for Congress, ensuring that taxpayer funding is spent appropriately and with a positive return on investment. They are tasked with locating potential spending pitfalls and offering suggestions on how to mitigate them.
As part of that mission, they became aware of alleged poor living conditions inside the military barracks that house our nation’s military. Some of those alleged living conditions caused the GAO to question the DoD’s “management” of the barracks.
During their assessment of the barracks, the GAO noted high-ranking service members at the ten facilities that were checked had what they deemed were “poor living conditions. “Poor living conditions contributed to reduced productivity at work," the GAO report said, "had negative effects on training, or negatively affected perceptions about serving in the military.”
Some of the poor living conditions highlighted in the report noted broken or malfunctioning heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. Water quality at roughly half of the barracks checked was another complaint that left the military members stationed there afraid to drink the water.
The report also stated, “We observed barracks in poor condition, including some with safety risks like sewage overflow and inoperable fire systems. And some barracks don’t meet DoD requirements for privacy or amenities.”
The report begs the question of why, in the United States, are so many of our service members forced to live in this type of environment. According to the GAO, the answer is simple: They say it's because those responsible for ensuring the safety of the barracks, the DoD, does not have reliable information.
The GAO wrote, "DOD doesn’t have reliable information about barracks conditions, or how these conditions affect troop morale. And while DOD spends billions of dollars annually on its facilities, it’s unable to identify how much funding goes toward barracks.”
The GAO went on to explain that the DoD recently requested roughly $15 billion to keep all military facilities operating for fiscal year 2024. But, they were unable to identify, to the GAO’s liking, how much of the total amount would be spent on fixing and maintaining the barracks.
Additionally, the GAO claims the DoD does not keep tabs on the conditions of the barracks. “DOD does not track information on the condition of barracks or facilitate collaboration on initiative to improve barracks," the organization wrote in its report. "Insufficient oversight hampers DOD’s ability to identify and address long-standing challenges in barracks conditions across the department.”
To address these issues, the GAO has developed 31 recommendations that they believe will assist the DoD with achieving the goal of ensuring the safety and well-being of the nation’s troops are paramount in terms of barracks housing. After the DoD reviewed the findings of the report, they agreed with 23 of them, however, only “partially concurred with 8.” The GAO noted the DoD only partially concurs with eight recommendations because those conditions, in some cases, are already being addressed.
As of now, all 31 recommendations are showing that they are open, in other words, they have not been addressed to the satisfaction of the GAO. The GAO reported that the status will be changed from open on their website once they receive notice that the DoD and military branches have taken some form of “response.”
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