“Then there’s the other part, soldiers should be responsible for keeping their quarters maintained and repaired regardless how old the building is.”
Clean yes, but how are soldiers to perform repairs? Do they have AC systems or new doors issued to them?
Every enlisted Army barracks I’ve seen has been pathetic. Not from abuse or lack of cleaning. Pathetic from the general condition of the buildings and their age. I’ve seen buildings condemned by the Air Force re-utilized as-is by the Army.
The Army does not place a priority on the living quarters of their soldiers.
None of our barracks has air conditioning. That's what the windows are for.
I’ve seen buildings condemned by the Air Force re-utilized as-is by the Army.
Uh well, that's the Air Force. I haven't seen such barracks, but the USAF has extremely high living standards. Those of us in the Army (and even some in the Air Force itself), call airmen Civilians in Uniform. When I was in Pensacola and lived in Navy barracks for 5 months - they were basically hotel rooms - the Air Force would have considered it substandard living conditions, if it wasn't for the big screen TV in their CQ.
THAT is the major reason why I didn't join the Chair Force. The Army is exactly the right branch for me. Although the USAF seems to have all the good-looking females :-)
Housing wasn’t always the best, but the Army did, overall, a pretty good job when I served.
I ETS’d in 95 to go to college, and went back in the Army in ‘97 having took all I could take of modern “liberals”. Anyway, I noticed a distinct downturn in the level of policing up litter on various bases.
I attribute this in some part because congress cut back defense spending so drastically and ill-advisedly in the late 80s and early 90s. (Because the “cold war” was over, ha ha)
Whole swaths of tasks formerly performed by soldiers, up to and including flag detail, were left wanting because their weren’t enough troops! As deployments and tasking increased 2 or 3 fold, civilian contractors were brought in at considerable expense for all kinds of stuff.
Incidentally, this is the impetus behind the lefties abhorrence of firms like Halliburton and others. The lefties don’t have a clue is the sad part - very few civilian firms have the personnel, experience and funding to operate in a combat zone. KBR, Dyncorps, and Halliburton are just about the only ones, period. Ironically the civilian contractors do the same job that soldiers once did, but at far higher costs. So blame congress.
For my part, the barracks weren’t always the greatest but the Army really did address “quality of life” issues for single and married soldiers with the best they had. Commanders and NCOs did a good job - what’s happening now is likely an issue of manpower - if barracks are left unattended and unoccupied because of deployments then that is part of the problem.