Bush's bad barracks tour
President Bush is in Fayetteville today to visit Ft. Bragg and inspect Army barracks -- including the site of the infamous "bad barracks" pictures the father of an 82nd Airborne trooper posted after units returning from the war found overflowing latrine facilities that gave soldiers an unwelcome welcome.
The Associated Press reported:
"FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) - President Bush will tour the 82nd Airborne Division barracks where a paratrooper’s father shot video of substandard conditions, including sewage standing in a bathroom.
"Division spokesman Maj. Tom Earnhardt said Wednesday that Bush will tour the barracks during his Thursday visit to Fort Bragg. Bush is visiting the post for the division’s All-American-Week.
"Earnhardt said conditions at the barracks have “vastly improved” since the video was taken and posted online.
"Once on the Internet, the video spurred a widespread examination of conditions at Army barracks. The Secretary of the Army ordered an inspection of 148,000 Army barracks rooms and said the military would spent $248 million on repairs."
Those "vast improvements" would be welcomed by any soldier who spent hard time at Ft. Bragg. Conditions were bad at the barracks where I took my basic combat training 39 years ago in Company B, 10th Battalion, 2nd Basic Combat Training Brigade ("Bravo, Bravo, B-10-2; First You See the Rest, Now You See the Best!"). The barracks were left over from World War II training units. They were two-story firetraps built of pine, floored in some kind of red linoleum that never would take the shine the drill sergeants wanted. The barracks were covered in innumerable coats of white paint and so treacherously flammable that each platoon kept a fire guard patrolling inside the building all night long.
Of course, those were days when smoking was practically encouraged, so there was always a smoldering butt somewhere. A little pack of cigarettes came in every carton of C-rations, a carton of cigarettes sold for a buck or two at the PX and during short breaks Drill Sergeant Warner, a tough little runt with a heart of mold, would bark, "At ease! Smoke 'em if you got 'em. If you don't got 'em, get 'em from your neighbor. If you don't smoke, start!"
Basic was a good word for everything that happened there in the spring of 1969. We privates had no privacy. In the latrine, toilets were spaced about two feet apart. There were no partitions. You got to know your Army buddies pretty well.
I drove through Ft. Bragg about 10 years ago trying to find the old training company grounds and finally concluded that the Army had wisely torn down the old frame barracks. That would surely qualify as a "vast improvement." But I bet the low-crawl pit is still there somewhere waiting to provide recruits with a miserable, filthy experience in traveling on your stomach. Watch out, Mr. President. Those drill sergeants have no mercy.
