Posted on 04/29/2008 8:39:36 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an interview today that she will call for a congressional hearing in response to an online video showing poor living conditions at barracks on Fort Bragg.
The Fayetteville Observer first reported last Friday that the father of a soldier uploaded a video to YouTube showing peeling paint, exposed pipes, mildewed ceilings and showers, a broken toilet seat and a bathroom floor covered in sewage because of a clogged drain. Since last week, the video has logged more than 91,000 views on YouTube.
In a phone interview this afternoon with the Observer, Clinton said from Indiana that she asked Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to hold a hearing on Fort Bragg’s barracks and the broader issue of the conditions troops are returning to on installations across the country.
“Something went terribly wrong here,” Clinton said. “We’ve asked these young soldiers to risk their lives and bear brutal living conditions ... and when they return home, the least we can do is offer them decent, clean living conditions.”
Clinton said the Pentagon needs to be held accountable.
“We need to get to the bottom of why it happened in the first place,” she said. “What was the breakdown in oversight that allowed the soldiers to return to these squalid conditions.”
Clinton — who faces off with Barack Obama in next Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary in North Carolina — said this issue shouldn’t become a political one.
The short-term solution should be for the military to allow soldiers a housing allowance to live off-base, or to move more quickly on completing new barracks.
The Army is building barracks, expected to be completed by 2013, that will replace all of the 1950s Korean War-era housing.
“The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country” applies to politicians, as well, IMO.
The Beast is a lying sack of crap. The Clintons hate anyone wearing a United States military uniform. Hell, they hate this country.
She is just kissing A$$ to get votes!
How about de-funding pork projects, so our soldiers can take care of the plumbing, Jr. Senator from NY?
Hell, we should ask Senator Carl Levin (D, Michigan) to personally visit Ft Bragg and fix these items. God knows there’s no industry in Michigan.
And they are in the process of replacing the Korean War era buildings. So, why is she making a big thing out of this?
Also, as with many problems Hillary is outraged about, I would like to know if the conditions there were the same during the Clinton administration. And if so, why the heck didn’t Bill do something about it????????
Most excellent point. She could divert some of her earmark billions in spending requests to aid our troops.
Hillary is a hawk now..
Aging Barrack? Yea, he looked pretty hang dog today.
Didn’t the Clintoons object to military uniforms being worn in the White House during their reign of Liberal BS???
Yes.
Surely someone from Ft Bragg can tell us which barracks these are.
This story really brought back great memories for me. When I was with the 82nd our barracks were the old yellow shantys with the red dyed floors, They were 2 stories tall and built in WWII. They were knocking them down in the “old division Area” and building new 2 man apartment style ones in the “new division area”. I brought my father in to see the inside of our old barracks back in 1973 when he came down to visit me and he couldn’t believe the Army had us living in those buildings. He felt they weren’t fit to live in. Hell it didn’t bother me any, or anyone else I knew of. I thought I read that the buildings in Question were Korean war era barracks. I can’t say I ever saw them unless some of the old buildings we lived in are still standing, and that’s them. I served with the 12th group special forces in the 80s, and they still had some of those old buildings standing, but that wasn’t at Bragg.
That’s what I was trying to get a sense of; which housing these pics are of?
In 1984 when assigned to the 101st as a sigint analyst, I was sent to Ft Bragg for a week-long paper war. I was assigned to the 75th Ranger. I spent the majority of the week trying to convince those guys that what was happening wasn’t real. Just kidding. They were crazy though. :)
I spent the week living in those old white stick barracks. That’s what I was thinking of looking at those pics.
There is no excuse for not having the living quarters up to snuff after a very long deployemnt. However, I can understand why better if they were old barracks rather than new.
The soldiers in the barracks presumably take turns maintaining the building, at least the living areas, on a regular basis when they are living there. But let's say that all the soldiers living in the building get orders for extended temporary duty elsewhere, leaving nobody to maintain the building.
The problem is that normally high humidity and rain in the area means that corrosive forces must constantly be checked by the soldiers living in the barracks. But when the soldiers aren't there, nature tears the building to pieces.
On the other hand, the damaged toilet seat that is seen in pictures of the barracks was probably an act of vandalism.
Given that the barracks got messed up by unchecked acts of nature, Senator Clinton's interest in the building is arguably an overkill. The Army just needs to savvy up to the idea that you just can't ignore unoccupied buildings in some climates.
Finally, another Freeper pointed that some of the needed maintenance work on the building would take minimum expense and that the soldiers themselves could splurge to take care of the minor stuff. However, given the possibly crude living conditions that the soldiers have perhaps had to put up with for extended periods of time before returning to their home-sweet-home barracks, I don't blame them for being a little bit under the initiative curve for fixing the barracks if this is the case, especially if it's on their nickel too.
Unless things have changed 99% of the professional soldiers live off base. The ones serving a single hitch are the ones living in the barracks.
These are just flop houses to them. This whole Barracks issue is just another political football. Would they all like to live in New Barracks? Sure! But They would also all prefer to be driven around in Cadillacs too as opposed to the backs of trucks. These guys spend half their time sleeping on rocks out in the field, They’re just happy to have a bunk to sleep in. I don’t remember anyone ever complaining about the barracks needing a fresh coat of paint. If they did, they’d be the ones painting it. These guys were never promised new and immaculate living conditions, They were however promised free Health care for life. Whenever I see a VA doctor, every visit/medical expense that is not from a service connected injury is billed to my private insurance company (Insurance I pay for). This federal law applies only to Veterans with private insurance. Some free health care!
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