{"id":5909,"date":"2023-09-28T05:03:38","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T05:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=5909"},"modified":"2023-09-28T05:07:55","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T05:07:55","slug":"war-veteran-congressman-mike-gallagher-blasts-biden-pentagon-following-government-report-detailing-dire-living-conditions-of-military-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=5909","title":{"rendered":"War Veteran Congressman Mike Gallagher Blasts Biden Pentagon Following Government Report Detailing Dire Living Conditions of Military Members"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/war-veteran-congressman-mike-gallagher-blasts-biden-pentagon-following-government-report-detailing-dire-living-conditions-of-military-members\/mkittle\/2023\/09\/28\/\">https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/war-veteran-congressman-mike-gallagher-blasts-biden-pentagon-following-government-report-detailing-dire-living-conditions-of-military-members\/mkittle\/2023\/09\/28\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) served in some of the roughest places in the world as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps.<\/p>\n<p>The Wisconsin Republican and Iraq War veteran said military life is challenging enough; U.S. troops should at least expect decent living conditions.<\/p>\n<p>A new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/gao-23-105797\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\">report<\/a> by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) details the deplorable living conditions of some military members, forced to live in barracks bombarded by roaches and bed bugs, burst pipes, and even toxic waste. In some cases, service members have had to deal with squatters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny American who serves our country does so knowing they won\u2019t be staying at the Ritz, but they rightly expect a basic and safe standard of living. This GAO report reveals this is far from the case in many instances,\u201d Gallagher said Wednesday following the report\u2019s release.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. military barracks house hundreds of thousands of service members. Many of them are subject to subpar living conditions, according to the GAO report, which examines how the Department of Defense is managing barracks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found several health and safety risks,\u201d states a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/video\/gao-military-barracks-poor-living-conditions-undermine-quality-life-and-readiness\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\">GAO video <\/a>detailing the concerns.<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"GAO: Military Barracks - Poor Living Conditions Undermine Quality of Life and Readiness\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NSduqAU8jkk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>Among the more severe issues, service members have been subjected to exposed sewage, mold, broken or no heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and inoperable fire systems.<\/p>\n<p>According to the 118-page report, GAO inspectors visited 12 military installations and interviewed service members. In some cases, they described unliveable conditions, from bed bugs and roach infiltrations to sweltering quarters, even broken windows and doors allowing squatters to occupy rooms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDOD doesn\u2019t have reliable information about the condition of barracks or the effects on troop morale,\u201d GAO notes.<\/p>\n<p>Gallagher called the living conditions of America\u2019s service members a \u201ctotal disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the Department of Defense takes pride in the well-maintained golf courses and new EV charging stations at its installations, it has turned a blind eye to the living conditions endured by servicemembers, which can include collapsing ceilings, mold and mildew, and even squatters raiding servicemembers\u2019 personal possessions,\u201d said Gallagher who served seven years on active duty in the United States Marine Corps, including two deployments to Iraq. He serves as chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/armedservices.house.gov\/subcommittees\/cyber-innovative-technologies-and-information-systems-118th-congress\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\">Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation<\/a>,<\/p>\n<p>Gallagher said the situation warrants further investigation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongress must implement more rigorous oversight into the Pentagon\u2019s prioritizations and work to pass a defense appropriations bill that gives sufficient funding to improve servicemembers\u2019 quality of life,\u201d the veteran said.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n<p><em>M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for <strong>The Star News Network.<br \/>\n<\/strong>Photo \u201cMike Gallagher\u201d by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo\/?fbid=596817658927369&amp;set=a.324390932836711\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\">Mike Gallagher<\/a>. Background Photo \u201cMilitary Barracks\u201d by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/skinnylawyer\/5270813014\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\">Scarlet Sappho<\/a>. CC BY-SA 2.0.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/war-veteran-congressman-mike-gallagher-blasts-biden-pentagon-following-government-report-detailing-dire-living-conditions-of-military-members\/mkittle\/2023\/09\/28\/\">War Veteran Congressman Mike Gallagher Blasts Biden Pentagon Following Government Report Detailing Dire Living Conditions of Military Members<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\">The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/war-veteran-congressman-mike-gallagher-blasts-biden-pentagon-following-government-report-detailing-dire-living-conditions-of-military-members\/mkittle\/2023\/09\/28\/ U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) served in some of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5910,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5909\/revisions\/5910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}