[Prodigal Son]

This article is very loaded for slant. Cinder block buildings without latrines? Standard military accommodation. Communal showers? Standard military amenity. Having to move about on a "crutches only" profile? Standard military procedure. I've had to do this myself. Ripped out both anterior cruciate ligaments at the same time. Still had to show up for formation at 0630 hours, although I could not walk. Still bathed in a communal shower and peed in in a communal toilet. And you know what? Latrines smell like urine because that's where soldiers go to leave their urine.

The one soldier quoted in this article says he had experienced "side pain" and has just managed to get a 20% for... Knee problems.

The one who wrote this article is fishing- pure and simple.

[MineralMan]

"Cinder block buildings without latrines? Standard military accommodation"

Not at any US base where I was stationed. Every barracks had latrines indoors. What bases were you at that didn't? When?

[Terabitten]

Cinder block buildings without latrines? Standard military accommodation. Communal showers? Standard military amenity.

These were standard military amenities - in the 1950s and 1960s. This is no longer the Army standard in housing single soldiers. The rest of the Army uses dormitory-style barracks once you get out of basic training.

I'm in the Georgia National Guard, and my mobilization station is Ft. Stewart. We train there at least three times a year, not including Annual Training. I lived in these same barracks for three months (December 00-February 01) during my unit's train-up to go to Bosnia.

The conditions in these barracks are deplorable. One entire company in my battalion contracted scabies due to the unsanitary conditions. Those barracks in the National Guard Training Center at Ft. Stewart are an insult to our soldiers.

But then again, I'm just a dumb-@$$ grunt -- what do I know?

[Leisler]

"...has just managed to get a 20% for... Knee problems."

Every straight leg, and especially Airborne, has knee problems after a few years.