{"id":28910,"date":"2024-05-01T18:57:31","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/05\/01\/how-the-marine-corps-barracks-got-to-be-so-bad-according-to-2-generals\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T21:08:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T21:08:48","slug":"how-the-marine-corps-barracks-got-to-be-so-bad-according-to-2-generals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/modern-day-marine\/2024\/05\/01\/how-the-marine-corps-barracks-got-to-be-so-bad-according-to-2-generals\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Marine Corps\u2019 barracks got to be so bad, according to 2 generals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Now that the Marine Corps is engaged in a sweeping effort to fix problems in its barracks<\/a> buildings, Marine leaders have offered some explanations for how the barracks got to be substandard in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Marine Corps\u2019 budget chief sees it, one reason was years of spending more on weapons systems than on quality of life.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor too long, because we were taking risk in those types of initiatives in order to buy the weapons systems, they became more and more in disrepair,\u201d Lt. Gen. James Adams, the deputy Marine commandant for programs and resources, said about the barracks at a panel discussion Wednesday at the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were ending, the Marine Corps began to prepare for the next big conflict, which it anticipated might be a faceoff with the powerful Chinese military in the Indo-Pacific. In 2020, then-Commandant Gen. David Berger launched the Force Design initiative to update the Corps\u2019 structure, training and platforms for that potential fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the barracks were in bad shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Government Accountability Office report in September 2023 found widespread problems<\/a>, such as mold and water issues, in barracks across the military. Media reports in ensuing months highlighted dilapidated<\/a>, moldy<\/a>, vermin-infested<\/a> and otherwise insufficient<\/a> barracks in the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commandant Gen. Eric Smith, who took the helm of the Corps in summer 2023, has made improving the barracks a top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the Barracks 2030 initiative, the Marine Corps plans to consolidate Marines in the better buildings and demolish the worse ones, install professional barracks managers and spend more money on restoring barracks. In February, the Corps ordered each barracks room to be inspected<\/a> \u201cwall to wall\u201d so it could gather data about the problems and fix some of them immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\t