Marine Corps orders 'wall-to-wall inspection' of all barracks following reports of squalid living conditions

The Marine Corps announced Wednesday that it will conduct a "wall-to-wall inspection" of all its barracks following recent reports of squalid living conditions.

"Effective immediately, Marine Corps Installations Command will conduct an environmental, health, and safety inspection of all Marine Corps barracks to ensure service compliance with its commitment to its residents to provide a safe, secure, clean, and consistent living standard across the unaccompanied housing enterprise," according to a press release by the Marine Corps.

Major General David Maxwell, MCICOM Commander, stated that the service-wide inspection would allow the Marine Corps to get a complete assessment.

"The benefit as we transition to professional management will be that we have a point of reference for the condition of each barracks. This will enable our senior leaders to understand the totality of issues regarding their facility and get to quickly solving their problems," Maxwell explained.

The Marine Corps noted that it aims to "improve our Marines' quality of life" by investing in the barracks.

Installation Commanders, leaders outside the chain of command responsible for the barracks, will be in charge of conducting inspections by March 15, 2024.

Assistant Commandant General Christopher Mahoney called it a "wall-to-wall inspection," claiming it would provide "a good baseline understanding of the condition of all our barracks so we can identify and allocate resources accordingly."

"We're going to take a look at every single barracks room, every squad bay, to ensure the health, well-being and safety of each and every one of you," Mahoney vowed.

According to Commandant General Eric Smith, the barracks are over 30 years old on average.

Photos shared in 2021 by a Marine showed moldy barracks in North Carolina's Camp Lejeune. Last month, pictures posted to Reddit purported to show mold and a dead rodent at California's Camp Pendleton.

A September Government Accountability Office report revealed that the Department of Defense's military barracks pose "potentially serious health and safety risks," Blaze News previously reported.

Following the inspection of 10 campuses, the GAO found that service members frequently dealt with "clogged showers, broken door locks, broken elevators, and apparent mold growth." As of March 2023, about 17,000 Marines were living in "substandard barracks," the report stated.

The GAO recommended that the Marine Corps update its "minimum standards for assignment to barracks to ensure they reflect DOD guidance on health and safety standards for barracks once DOD's minimum standards have been clarified."

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