Amateur video exposes appalling conditions at Fort Bragg
By SilentPatriot Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 2:15pm
It's like Walter Reed all over again. The US defense budget last year was a staggering $439.3 billion dollars. Can't we spare a few bucks to ensure our soldiers don't have to live in such horrendous conditions? Magnetic yellow ribbons and flag lapel pins aside, "supporting the troops" means actually caring about them. Not only when they're off fighting your wars, but also when they come back. Kudos to the understandably outraged father who exposed the story -- via YouTube, no less.
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CNN:
The U.S. military is promising action to address conditions in a barracks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, after a soldier's father posted images on YouTube showing a building that he said "should be condemned."
"This is embarrassing. It's disgusting. It makes me mad as hell," Ed Frawley said of the building where his son, Sgt. Jeff Frawley, had to live upon his return this month from a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan.
Frawley's 10-minute video shows still photos from throughout the building, which appears to be falling apart and filled with mold and rust.
Brandon Friedman at VetVoice has more...
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Put a flag pin on the mold! Now THAT's patriotism!
"...Magnetic yellow ribbons and flag lapel pins..." Hmmmm. I wonder how far the money spent on these displays of cheesy braggadocio would have gone to help out the soldiers, had the dosh gone to a fund to fix stuff up for them, since our govt won't.
Just think, all that money, gone to China, for crap that is wasteful on so many different levels, instead of helping people in need...
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"It's a whole new world out there."
Yeah, where bloggers have to get the truth out because the corporate media ignores it.
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If we can move the soldiers to better quarters, we should keep this place as it is and use it for a holding cell next year for the whole Bush Crime Family while they await trial. Remember, it's not torture if it's not punishment, and it's not punishment until they admit guilt.
Even with these photos MSM still gives the army a pass. "They were supposed to repair this." Too bad Cindy Sheehan didn't own this base, that would have gotten their knickers in a knot.
This may be the tip of the iceberg.
Aren't there 160,000 troops coming home next year?
This administrations patriotism is for show only. When it come to actually serving or REAL support for the troops Like making sure the VA does it job for the troops and making sure they have what they need they a shown to be lacking.
They (NeoCons) like to make noise and brag just like their terrible friends of the xtian right are good at that.
I was a republican before bush senior took office, but I saw the direction they were going by embracing the crazies of the religious right and the mad-men of the Neocon/PNAC group and changed to an independent.
But you know what folks, much of these problems are on the American public for sitting by numbly watching NASCAR and Idol or FOX reality shows. It's embarrassing how little the American Public knows about what is going on in their world. If I wasn't right on this then there would be Outrage in the streets of America, and I don't see any yet.
Hey, we need that money so that it can be routed to war profiteers at Halliburton! Dick Cheney needs another solid gold toilet to give McSame to put in one of his wife's eleven mansions...
YourMom @ 6:
I think the troops should come home now and just forget this whole mess. As for staying in barracks like this, NO effin way!!! This shows the level of commitment for the military members who put their lives on the line. They would do well to turn the corner and say Forget it!! We quit!!! Now that would put a crimp in the Neocon's plans, doncha think?!
Easily spun into an excuse for more money for the military :(
"This is Obama's fault"
~right on!, Hillary spokeswoman
The result will be that the son of the whistle blower will either be court-martialled or sent to the front lines. The dad will find himself on the business end of an FBI investigation [and a new member of the 'no fly list'] and the problem will be declared 'fixed' after shrub makes one of his quickie photo-op tours of the place. Do you suppose he'll wear the codpiece for this one?
YourMom @ 6:
I agree. Most of the bases and posts that I live by have only a skeleton crew manning them and that has been that way for some time due to the overlapping deployments. I bet there are a lot of barracks in similar conditions.
Sorry, folks, but there's no news here. I LIVED in those exact barracks from 1983-1987 and you could have taken the same pictures/videos then. We just cleaned them and fixed them up as need and somehow got by.
If anyone has spent any time in the military they would know this is hardly new news.
It was a bad idea to put civilians in charge of the military. The Secretary of Defense is never the most qualified person. It always goes to some political hack that sees it as an opportunity to enrich his friends. Congress needs to pass a law that the Secretary of Defense must be a General on active duty.
Chirch @ 14:
Once again, I have to agree. As I have said many times, this is the way it is usually even in the best of conditions and I, like you have lived in similar situations. Its probably even worse now with the number of deployments. I've seen civilian grounds keepers on some posts but little else.
the goverment there is a bunch of hypocrites...they sling the propaganda (all is well support the troops,watch that nascar race, american idol....etc)so thick and deep that you figure they'd at least be wearing gumboots.
If I were a soldier coming home to this I'd be going to the media. I hope what has been exposed doesn't get this sargeant blackballed
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 15:
It doesn't mean it's right, or that it ever was.
Shouldn't we be discussing more important things like Rev. Wright?
i know from personal experience that that's nothing.
i saw much, MUCH worse at Ft. Polk.
Nothing quite stings the military brass more than getting spanked by a civilian in the court of public opinion.
If you're going to join the military, go Air Force. We take better care of our troops than the Army.
If this is how we treat our own; what kind of conditions are we leaving for the Iraqi's that bush claims to love so much?
jkb @ 20:
I heard today on Single-Side-band radio that Wrights congregation is pissed at him for doing this sideshow shit and egoistic word-smithing. They (the congregation) were saying that his ego and his book are ruining a chance for America change its image.
I was in the USMC from 94-98, stationed part of that time in Camp Lejeune, NC.
I can tell you this video is not surprising at all. Our barracks were horrible, mold infested, faulty wiring, no fire alarms, just absolutetly deplorable.
Our boots and uniforms were in constant need of being replaced from the mold, at our own expense ofcourse, and anyone who dared to try and bring this up to the chain of command was reprimanded, given a page-11 (a negative part of your permanent military record), and then pretty much could expect to be shit on for the rest of their stay at the base.
This was, as you can notice by the years I served, during the Clinton era. And yes, this video is hardly new information. I do hope that something is finally done about it, but do not fool yourself. I can guarantee that the son of the guy who posted this video can expect many months of shit details in his near future.
Land of the free, home of the brave? Brave yes, free...not so much.
miss_kitty @ 19:
I agree. I never said it was right. I hated the "living" (I'm using the term loosely) situation we were forced to deal with while I served; run down barracks, ancient furnishings, unsafe ladders (stairs to you civilians), insects/pests everywhere, etc., etc.,
I stayed in the transient barracks just prior to reporting for duty on one particular post stateside and when I got to my room there was what appeared to be a twenty-two caliber bullet hole in the door and the shower light didn't work. Got up to take a shower in the dark and found that the shower only let out a powerful stream of scolding hot water. Plus, there was something funky on the shower floor so I made sure I wore my shower shoes. I eventually had to settle for the old sink and washrag bath which only had really cold water. Needless to say, I was awake after that.
If conditions were allowed to get that bad then they weren't addressing them at all. Considering millions are wasted replacing tires and fluids on mothballed airplanes built in the 50s you'd think they could try using the money for fixing sewage problems.
BannedConsumer @ 25:
I served 90-94 at NAS Jax and NAS Memphis. The conditions at NAS Memphis were deplorable. I actually went through the chain of command and requested a meeting with the base commanding officer (Full bird Captain, i.e. 0-6). He actually accepted the meeting and I got to sit with the command master chief (E-9) and the CO and listed the complaints of the living situation. He agreed with me, said he wants to do something about, but replied, "As far as the Navy is concerned, the living standards of the enlisted in Navy are about 1 inch above whale do-do". He was actually quite friendly about it and sympathetic to our situation.
Whether it's New Orleans or our own soldiers? The Republicans don't know how to get it done. Anything.
They can't govern and they hate people. It's that simple.
How about this ... lets cut the military budget and the military by 90%. Lets concentrate on continental defense and rely on cultivated positive relationships overseas for protection and stability.
Dont unplug that drain (which someone probably plugged by being stupid) - send the guy in the sink home.
I personally vote AGAINST EUS - Empire of the United States - and vote for ECM - the Empire of the Common Man.
Cut military budgets - reduce the killing machine and require civil cooperative collaborative behavior and policies.
... I know that's asking alot of thugs ... but that is what I want. (Even if those here on the 'left' are more focused on maintaining the killing machine than building a safe international neighborhood through cooperation and collaboration).
I want our farmers going overseas not our maladjusted reprobates who think killing is just ok.
There you have it. There are many veterans on this thread alone (including myself) that can attest that none of this is new. Videos like this come as a shock to many civilians I know but to us vets, its the same old same old unfortunately.
Our barracks was infested with bats. At night, if you were lucky, you would only hear them squealing inside the base boards.
if you weren't so lucky, one might fly around and land on your chest while your sleeping.
i've seen really big guys reduced to blubbering idiots.
funny, but really not funny.
Ed Frawley is a traitor to his nation. He should not question our governments decision to spend the 439 billion dollar budget on things other than our soldiers!
A true Republican would never let his child go into the armed forces anyway.
In the mid-80s I was stationed at Pope AFB (which is essentially surrounded by Fort Bragg) and because my boyfriend was a Green Beret I was in those barracks A L-O-T. I can tell you that they were unappealing then, but it didn't look nearly as bad as the video. Fortunately for me, Air Force Bases are more maintained than Army, Navy or Marine posts/bases. It makes your heart sink to imagine them having to live there after being at war.
This is further proof that rethuglicans and other warmongers merely provide 'lip service respect' for the
cannon fodder... I mean the troops that they so willingly send to invade sovereign nations.7 Numbers that Prove George Bush is Destroying America.
$50 billion - How much the Iraq War was estimated to cost before the invasion.
$1.4 trillion - How much the Iraq War is now estimated to finally cost.
$10 billion - How much money is unaccounted for in Iraq and post-Katrina.
47 million - how many Americans are living without health-insurance.
5 million - how many Americans lost health insurance under George Bush.
$3.5 trillion - how much national debt has risen under George Bush.
27% - how much of our debt is owed to foreign countries.
Haulin' Oates @ 33:
Among other things, we had roaches the size of bats. We would have to go buy pesticides and roach traps on our own as attempt to take care of it.
anon @ 31:
No, not me, I'm with YOU. I'm all about the truth and lasting peace! However, I think too many here believe that standing for peace without war first & truth without apology makes you part of the derisively named 'far left'.
You can't make money by fixing up these places. Instead, lets sell weapons to the world! How much is the Army's advertising budget this year?
in nyc and chicago some judges put the slum-landlords in
their own rundown property until it's fixed.
it's time that bush and cheney were both taken out of their
fucking posh quarters and made to live in the disgusting
conditions that they foist on our troops.
fuck both these bastards.
Joe O. @ 17:
if you lived in this kind of conditions, then you are guilty as well for your SILENCE.
dadams @ 41:
Thats easy to say but not so easy to do.
Screw the soldiers and their conditions. Show us how the victims of the soldiers (hired killers) suffer and die. Let all the military
and soldiers eat shit and die!!!!!!!!!
Our soldiers need to wise up and have a massive mutiny.
This country is long over due for another revolution.
I've never been one to defend the misuse of the defense budget or the criminality of the current administration, but there are several bases this year that are having new barracks built. The military budget for new facilities nationwide is several billion dollars. However, it is a shame we are more focused on building in Iraq (poorly at that) than we are at home.
Underground Pirate @ 43:
I hope the moderators ban you.
The slogan "Defending our Country" is for suckers, and the criminal intent.
Wake me up when our shores are being invaded !!
The conditions are disgusting. Yes, something needs to be done. But, also ask yourself how
many citizens are living in conditions like this. I understand what the soldiers have done and, yes, they deserve to have clean, up-to-date working facilities and the very best health care but, we can't ignore the fact that millions of people leave under these conditions every day. They also deserve better. This is, after all, America, supposedly the best country on earth (according to the Bushies).
dadams @ 41:
spoken like someone who has never served.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.
It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.
It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement.
We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat.
We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.
The Chance for Peace
by Dwight D. Eisenhower
April 16, 1953
Haulin' Oates @ 48:
I served and never had to live in crap like that. Your stupidity is amazing.
I'm sure Halliburton will get a no-bid two billion dollar contract to fix it.
I'm sure Americans would rather not have decent healthcare, jobs or good roads and bridges. The wealthy need another tax break, just talk to any republican, they will tell you lies all about it.
"And you thought Afghanistan was a shit hole"
The Bush barracks.
Nothing new, the American barracks were falling apart in Germany but German barracks were heated and quite nice. So here we tell our soldiers how much we appreciate them and treat them like animals when they return. For shame, America !
McCain the Liar @ 50:
Wonder where he served? Burger King? McDonalds? Or more upscale...like the local diner.
The army should put them up in the neighborhoods filled with foreclosures caused by Bush and Greenspan's tax cuts and Bush and McCain's 100 years war.
Get real! We all know that defense appropriations exist solely for the benefit of corporate America....God knows we can't be stealing money from their coffers merely to help a bunch of whining soldiers who obviously hate America. In the words of our Glorious Vice-Fuerher, "So?!?".
The rug they want to sweep it under has mold on it. As Donald Rumsfeld said, "You fight the war with the military you have, not the military you might want." I wonder where the Blackwater mercenaries stay when they return homeside.
That must've been one hell of a kegger to make the loo look like that.
You get what you vote for, you vote for conservatives who held sway over the government for most of the past 8 years and you get slum lords.
Let's see, now...
Using flawed (possibly outright falsified) intelligence to justify starting a trumped-up war under false pretenses...disregarding the recommendations of military experts with regard to the number of troops required to accomplish the stated objective...failing to provide sufficient amounts of appropriate equipment...omitting the names of military personnel who died outside a combat area from the official list of casualties...cutting veterans' benefits...enacting stop-loss policies...housing injured troops in slumlike conditions...have I missed anything?
"Support the Troops", my backside!
Where is John McCain who has voted against every bill that is trying to help the returning VETS, come on lets get the word out, e-mail these stories to every news papers in the country, beleive they will start ti listen and the cable and network news out let will began to see they are no longer useful and will die a quick death.
Big deal! You guys ever see Marine Corps barracks? They're way older, underfunded, and the only difference is that Marines take care of them. You know the only way a toilet seat gets bent out like that? A soldier gets drunk and does it. How do drains clog and mold grow on bathroom walls? No one ever cleans them. Yes they're old and underfunded, but to get them into this state requires the men who live there to treat them like a frat house.
Liberal AND Proud @ 54:
So what you're saying is you have to be a dumbshit to be a marine. Cause only dumbshit animals would live in a place like that.
I'm so sick of the meme "hero" being used 24/7 regarding anyone in uniform. I've worked on a military base for years and let me tell you, the vast majority of soldiers are just kids who signed up for all the usual reasons. Very very few of them are actual heroes. Constantly putting them on a pedestal is disgusting.
Nice.
jkb @ 20:
...............or Brittany Spears or Paris Hilton? come on ~ B&P are much nicer to look @
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 46:
Waaah waaaah waaaah! Go hire a soldier to kill me. You know, they will do anything for money!
Home Depot has offered to help
I like that little sweet tart getting all riled up, who knew all these bimbo supermodels reading the teleprompter could be so outraged, yeaaaaaaaaaa........ baby!!
Republicans wear flag pins (made in China) while our Troops live in fetid filth !
Sheila, people enlist for many reasons...but giving up their rights and lives for promises made to them. They deserve to have the promises kept, one of which is a decent place to sleep while protecting you and your family. Which of your sons or daughters is serving ? The CO of Ft Bragg had to know troops were returning, maintain the sleeping quarters especially after being in hot, miserable conditions tour after tour.
You should be ashamed of yourself !
Thank you for this video. I link to it at my website. It encapsulates our ineptness so perfectly. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this should be the cover of a five million page epic called "Militarism Run Amuck in a Supposed Democracy"
Andrew Moore
What is wrong with you posters that have forgotten our troops were lied and misled into an illegal war bush sent Americans into. Where is your indignation that troops are being treated so badly in these barracks and in the hospital when they are wounded ? Is this the country you want to live in ?
texaslady @ 72:
Do you think we somehow are unaware of this?
The greatest injustice is that we are taking young men and women who volunteered for service and sending them to fight and die for a lie, and someone elses financial gain.
It's truly sickening, and no, this is not the country I want to live in. I dont know what the fuck is wrong with most other people other then a great majority are distracted to the point of inaction by the constant barrage of media propaganda and the real pressing concerns of trying to survive and pay the bills in a country being run into the ground by liars, thieves, and war criminals.
We are all sick of these people, but the levels of outrage vary. The more you know, the more pissed off you get. Alot of people are just too stupid to care, others really dont care.
who loves you baby? we do!1
While this is inexcusable, I thought the newsperson was a bit breathless in her outrage. This is, in fact, the U.S. Army and not a cruise ship. She might be shocked to know that when in the field, troops can't build campfires, often cannot pitch tents, often don't even have sleeping bags. At least not in the army that I knew.
ha ha the bush plumes are rakeing up a billion bucks for the military!!!!!the mexican military!!!!had enough yet?
i thought not!
Note the use of the passive voice by the "Pentagon correspondent" when he describes how American soldiers are getting fucked ove. Another shill for Cheney-co, even the bimbette was calling him out.
The truth is that "Bush's base", previously known as the military-industrial complex, are so busy stuffing their faces at the trough that they couldn't care less about the safety and well-being of our soldiers, who they hold in contempt in spite of their rhetoric.
BBK@62: You mean the marine barracks weren't like Gomer Pyle,
USMC? Who knew?
I agree with one of the posters above,however: ifyou're gonna go, go Air Force.
I lived for awhile in the enlisted barracks at Nellis AFB,
before moving off base,in 1975.Not The Hampton Inn, but clean, safe, and liveable.
Dnurse
>I’m sure Halliburton will get a no-bid two billion dollar contract to fix it.
They did and they did. War is first and foremost about profit. Unless you're a patriotic believer. In which case, sign on the dotted line for a free world tour.
Wowzers! I can't believe Cantessa actually told a story that matters. There is a GOD!
"Jeez can't we just stash them in a hotel 6 or something"
... but she still manages to look like a joke!
These two news anchors are pathetic. They point out how the Internet exposes this disgrace. Yet they have no interest in investigating and exposing this disgrace as part of their ongoing journalistic duty to America. The two anchors are pieces of shit.
It's time for the troops to quit whining. They can have body armor or decent living conditions. There's no way that fiscal hawk George W. Bush is going to add to the
budget deficit (caused by the former administration) by wasting money on both.
Running the credit cards up, running the country down into the ground. There'll be nothing left after these pigs get through.
Seems the Bush administration found the money and will to construct the World's biggest embassy in a war zone complete with swimming pool and tennis courts. One would think that the soldiers living conditions stateside just might be a priority, but then this is the Bush administration we're talking about.
I have a friend who was stationed at Fort Sam Huston prior to shipping out to Iraq. He sent me photos of the conditions there, and explained how they had three working toilets for over 150 people in the barracks. Anyone who thinks these issues are limited only to Fort Bragg or Walter Reed are incredibly naive.
64 Sheila
71 texaslady
I actually agree with both of y'all.
Maybe I should run for office.
odanny @ 73:
The war's now, what, five years old? As far as I know, the enlistment tour in the Army is three years, and the tours for the Navy, Marines and Airforce are four. So, by my calculation, anyone who's in the military today either volunteered or re-enlisted after it became obvious to every sentient being on the planet that this was an illegal, immoral and ultimately pointless endeavor. Given the absence of a military draft, doesn't that mean that these people are enablers of administration policy, and that, without them, there wouldn't be a war? As a two-time veteran of Viet Nam (and an anti-war organizer after), I'd ask if, instead of demanding that the rest of us "support the troops," it isn't time that we ask that they start supporting us by refusing to serve in an unjust cause.
This is an interesting thread with many interesting posts.
Two observations are:
The Pentagon is totally incapable of maintaing a barricks . Mold is a serious help hazard and if the Pentagon is that clueless then one has to question how they manage the US military.
The problem has been around for a long time and CO's have surely been in these barracks and seen the conditions. It could be a culture issue. The CO's attitude is ," I had to live in these conditions so why not the next guys".' ,
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