Army officials are struggling to find housing for soldiers who have remained in moldy barracks deemed to be unlivable.
A recent inspection found that a dozen Vietnam-era barracks in the Smoke Bomb Hill area at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, did not meet heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) standards.
On Aug. 12, a spokeswoman said no soldiers had been moved yet, but said the Army hoped to start within the next 30 days.
Military.com reported Wednesday that officials are struggling to take inventory of how many barracks rooms it has available for the 1,200 soldiers set to be evacuated.
"The movement of so many soldiers could spur major logistical headaches for much of the rest of the decade and balloon demand for rental property in a housing market already at the breaking point," the outlet said, basing its take on interviews with a half dozen soldiers.
Officials have tried to inventory the number of safe, available rooms but cannot get an accurate number, one source told Military.com.
"A lot of units had less rooms than were shown on paper," the source said, adding that there are 700 to 900 available rooms.
The number of available rooms, however, changes frequently due to issues that include inaccurate counts from different units and difficulty with tracking whether rooms are serviceable or in use, the outlet said.
One source told Military.com that some unit leaders are suspected of lowballing how much space they have available to prevent soldiers from other units mixing in with their own.
Finding adequate housing could create other problems, such as troops being scattered — which would require figuring out how to get troops to early morning physical training with their units, back to the barracks to shower and then back to their units for the workday.
Potential round-the-clock shuttle services would increase costs and traffic on base.
Soldiers at the installation are confused and unsure where they will be living.
"My problem is there's no communication on the process, not even a timetable being set so we could possibly make some sort of plan or arrangements, even if it changed," a junior enlisted soldier told Military.com. "Obviously, a lot of people are anxious to leave these barracks."
A recent inspection by Sgt. Maj. Michael Grinston found the barracks have suffered from mold issues, largely the result of half-century-old air conditioning, that leaders seemingly have known about for years, Military.com reported.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.