Navy Secretary "Shocked and Dismayed" at Condition of Base Housing on Guam
After the Secretary of the Navy inspected a block of aging barracks on Guam and was "shocked and dismayed" by their poor condition, the U.S. Navy's top facilities officer has ordered a worldwide review of the condition of all housing for unaccompanied servicemembers.
Vice Adm. Scott Gray, commanding officer of Navy Installations Command, has ordered a global review after the "baffling" discovery of substandard housing on Guam. Photos from the site show exposed wiring, crumblng concrete and visibly corroded plumbing. While concerning, the housing block in question is not Navy-operated: it is maintained by the Air Force.
“The conditions shown in the photos are a failure of leadership across multiple echelons of command,” Gray said in an email obtained by the Project on Government Oversight.
Gray ordered each command to inspect all barracks housing by May 27, and asked them to use the "Washington Post test" to determine if the facilities are up to par - regardless of whether the housing is Navy-owned or belongs to another service.
"If the pictures you have taken or the results of your assessment conducted of a particular facility were published online tomorrow, would you be able to personally justify Sailors living there?" Gray asked commanding officers to consider.
According to Task & Purpose, Secretary Phelan was irate when he saw the condition of housing at Andersen Air Force Base's Palau Hall, which is home to a mix of sailors and marines. Phelan suggested that the on-base golf course was in far better shape than the barracks.
At the secretary's urging, a new Marine Corps housing complex at the base opened a month early, and 73 servicemembers from the dilapidated hall were allowed to move in.
It is not the first time that scandalous - or even dangerous - living conditions have been reported in enlisted housing. Inadequate berthing was an identified factor in a string of three suicides aboard the carrier USS George Washington in 2022.