A new US government report reveals the poor living conditions of some soldiers in their barracks across the US.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that young soldiers were forced to live in unsanitary conditions. According to Fox News, some of the barracks had cockroaches, toxic waste bugs and homeless people taking up residence there.
The findings of the 118-page report, released Monday, underscore that the Pentagon has failed to provide adequate oversight. Each barracks had its own problems to deal with.
The GAO report includes dozens of photos of military barracks visited by investigators
Several soldiers complained about dirty water in their barracks, adding that the water was unfit for consumption. Others complained about the failure of the air conditioning. Some buildings did not have secure doors. This led to the presence of squatters.
In one extreme case, barracks officials told GAO investigators that “soldiers are responsible for cleaning up biological waste that may remain in a room in the barracks following a suicide.”
Finally, GAO made 31 recommendations to the Department of Defense.
A GAO spokesman said the problems “we detail in our report are the result of chronic neglect and underfunding as military officials have chosen to allocate limited resources to facilities that were deemed more expensive to prioritize over barracks, as these linked to operational capabilities and mission preparation.
He added that the government needed to “develop a common strategy to improve conditions in the barracks.”