Fort Bragg: Barracks of Broken Promises

A buddy of mine just PCSd to Fort Bragg and was moved into the in-processing barracks. This is what he was welcomed with. Apparently the officer that was responsible for showing people to their rooms just made sure their key cards worked and dipped when it worked, not stepping foot in the room. Are there no barracks NCOs for in-processing barracks at Bragg? I’ve PCSd twice and the barracks NCOs made sure my room was spotless. Even in Korea I left my in-processing barracks room better than it was when I moved in. Obviously military barracks/housing is notorious for being shitty but this is a no shit unlivable environment. Who should this be reported to so bare minimum health standards are actually adhered to?

I’ll have a Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish with extra tartar sauce & a large fry.

Fort Bragg In-processing barracks

Published August 25, 2022:

Army Altering How It Inspects Barracks as Bragg Troops Are Evacuated from Moldy Housing

The news comes as Fort Bragg, North Carolina, officials have begun to move some 1,200 soldiers from the base’s mold-infested Smoke Bomb Hill Barracks in a seemingly unprecedented relocation effort almost guaranteed to stress-test garrison logistics and pour an influx of new renters into a local housing market already bursting at the seams.

Roughly 50 rooms in the 12 Smoke Bomb Hill Barracks were discovered to be infested with mold after a complaint from soldiers to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth in early July spurred inspections from Daly and Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston. The problem is mostly the result of leaky mid-20th century air conditioning systems, which are difficult to repair and costly to replace.

Fort Bragg is far from the only installation with moldy facilities. But the Smoke Bomb Hill Barracks were already set to be demolished in roughly five years. The Army decided to accelerate that timeline and now plans to demolish 12 buildings next year, while renovating five others in a $150 million plan.

Milwaukee Shipped in 4,500 Cops From Across the US to Suppress Protest at RNC + More

Contestations over the Republican National Committee’s efforts to foreclose avenues for lawful protest outside this week’s Republican National Convention (RNC) were already heated months before GOP delegates started booking their flights to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the convention.

Milwaukee Shipped in 4,500 Cops From Across the US to Suppress Protest at RNC

Related:

Fatal shooting of homeless man raises security questions about out-of-state police at RNC

Milwaukee officers will accompany all visiting police units after fatal shooting

Columbus police have killed more than 60 people since 2013

Columbus police shoot and kill more people than most of their peer cities, according to an analysis of police shootings data by the Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network.

ACLU of Wisconsin: Files open records requests seeking answers about police killing of Samuel Sharpe Jr. 

‘Gay furry hackers’ steal data from right-wing think tank in massive anti-Project 2025 cyber attack

A collective of “gay furry hackers” has claimed credit for hacking into the Heritage Foundation in opposition to its right-wing political and social proposals for next year, known as Project 2025.

‘Gay furry hackers’ steal data from right-wing think tank in massive anti-Project 2025 cyber attack

Related:

Gay furry hackers leak data of transphobic pastor & far-right news network

Is China really buying up U.S. farmland? Here’s what we found

Is China really buying up U.S. farmland? Here’s what we found

A review by NBC News of thousands of documents filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, however, shows very few purchases by Chinese buyers in the past year and a half — fewer than 1,400 acres in a country with 1.3 billion acres of agricultural land. In fact, the total amount of U.S. agricultural land owned by Chinese interests is less than three-hundredths of 1%.

Biden’s ally in Guatemala?

CHIUL, Guatemala − Life in Bartolo Báten’s village has been defined by corruption: A teacher who can’t get a job at the school until she pays a bribe. A water project that runs out of money before the pipes reached town. Sick residents who can’t afford the medicine that’s available elsewhere.

Insurgent candidate tells Guatemalans: Stay, don’t go to the U.S. This time, they’re listening. (archived)

Related:

Seven Decades After Guatemala Coup, Bernardo Arévalo Sees a Dramatic Rise (Will Freeman, CFR)

Arévalo and Semilla are centrists—but in a country where politics habitually skews right, they are often described as center-left. “Semilla has a social democratic element, but its program is centrist, and it also has some center-right followers,” said Lucas Perelló, a political scientist who has spent time studying the party’s formation. Arévalo says he wants to gradually universalize existing social assistance programs to include a greater share of poor Guatemalans, reduce the cost of medicines and healthcare, and link isolated parts of the country through new infrastructure—doable tasks, given Guatemala’s exceptionally low share of debt as GDP, and necessary ones, given the country’s soaring poverty and malnutrition rates.

On security issues, another major concern for Guatemalans, Arévalo promises to increase state presence in crime hotspots, reclaim jails from gangs, and use intelligence-gathering to dismantle mafias. He says Bukele’s anti-gang strategy is not applicable to Guatemala. He is also critical of human rights abuses in Venezuela and Nicaragua and Putin’s war on Ukraine and has no stated plans to recognize China over Taiwan. Asked for a leader he admires, he named the ex-president, José Pepe Mujica, of Uruguay, where he was born during his father’s exile.

2 US military veterans killed in Ukraine during intense fighting

Two U.S. military veterans were killed in Ukraine late last month as they fended off intense Russian attacks so their comrades could maneuver, according to Ryan O’Leary, a U.S. Army veteran who leads foreigners in Ukraine’s 59th Motorized Brigade.

2 US military veterans killed in Ukraine during intense fighting

H/T: Emil Cosman

Previously:

US Army Vet From Iowa Rats Out Ukrainian Corruption