Tuesday, April 29, 2008

82nd Airborne Barracks, Ft. Bragg


Brandon Friedman has an update on those barracks that returning vets from Afghanistan were staying in. He took part in a conference call with the DOD.

BG DENNIS ROGERS: I'll tell you right now before we even start: I assume responsibility for the shortfalls in barracks maintenance which were referenced in the video by Mr. Frawley. We let our soldiers down. And I note that a number of you are veterans, or most of you are veterans, and you served. So you know that there is no excuse for that. We let our soldiers down. --VetVoice.com
Yes, you did General. The important news here was mentioned by CSM Strickland.
The Rear Detachment was documenting what the work orders were to bring that barracks back up to standard. They didn't really, I think, turn their full attention to it until they realized they had a shortfall in time--because they had ownership for several other barracks and they were in worse condition. So they were spending a lot of their energy there.

Whenever they got 72 hours notice, trust me, they hit high speed.
Worse condition? Thats hard to imagine. Let me clue you guys in. I actually lived in those barracks. The story was that there were going to be torn down, possible remodeled and we would move to modern barracks on Smoke Bomb Hill. Of course this was in 1981. My unit was probably responsible for that paint job, 20 years ago. Republican Congressman, Republican Senator, and 3 Republican Presidents later. We see, as usual, the Republicans just want to drape themselves with the troops. They do nothing but screw them over in favor for their corporate buddies.
$800 Million
Spent on incomplete, unlivable, never going to be used in our lifetimes, embassy in Baghdad. Why don't we ship these guys to the middle east and put them up in the U.S. embassy in Baghdad?