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THE ARMY'S SERGEANT MAJOR IS ABOUT TO FACE CONGRESS ON QUALITY-OF-LIFE ISSUES.
HE MAY HAVE A LOT TO ANSWER FOR.



Sergeant Major of the Army Michael R. Weimer during the Change of Command for
Gen. James C. McConville on Summerall Field at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall,
Va., Aug. 4, 2023. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Ethan Scofield)
Military.com | By Steve Beynon
Published January 24, 2024 at 5:56pm ET

Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Weimer will make his Capitol Hill debut next
week as senior enlisted leaders from each service are set to testify on
quality-of-life issues for troops, and he will likely have his work cut out for
him.

The testimony comes at a time when the Army is beset with growing concerns,
complaints and a wave of press coverage due to dilapidated living conditions for
many junior soldiers, limited access to healthy food, and other issues that
directly affect quality of life in the service. The other military services face
similar challenges, but the Army is the largest -- and often most visible --
branch.




Weimer will testify Jan. 31 before the House Armed Services Committee's military
quality-of-life panel, a recently assembled bipartisan group of lawmakers eyeing
the services' accountability for issues that affect the lives of troops and
their families. Enlisted leaders are likely to face tough questions about the
seemingly deteriorating conditions on bases.

Read Next: Some Military Patients Left Without Heat for a Week at Texas Base
During Blast of Frigid Weather

The Army has been weathering a barrage of grievances from its rank and file and
media coverage of many of its barracks -- often for moldy conditions
particularly prevalent in the humid weather of North Carolina, Georgia and
Hawaii. In some cases, soldiers with mold exposure have been hospitalized for
respiratory issues.

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When Weimer testifies, it will be under a cloud of problems that have publicly
surfaced and been widely shared across the internet.

Soldiers frequently take their concerns about living conditions outside of their
chain of command or formal reporting mechanisms. Those complaints are often made
to the press, including this publication, and more frequently to social media --
making them public and sometimes viral.

They are amplified by the online community U.S. Army WTF! Moments and the Army
forum on Reddit -- alongside newly emerging platforms such as the Hots & Cots
app, which is akin to Yelp for the military and deals with barracks and dining
facilities.

"Some of it is an easy button," Kenneth Ramos, digital outreach for U.S. Army
WTF! Moments, told Military.com in an interview. "We don't hate the Army at all;
we want to cut through the bureaucracy."

Those posts regularly get thousands of views and often demand the attention of
the Army.

Soldiers interviewed by Military.com shared common concerns that their
leadership does not take their issues seriously or that, even when they do,
leaders are often powerless to remedy the situation. Garrison leadership can get
a soldier a new room, but failing infrastructure can be a persistent issue
across installations. New construction is planned out years in advance.

For many soldiers, going to social media or the press is a direct mechanism to
bring attention to a problem in ways junior enlisted troops otherwise have
little power to do. In many cases, issues with mold or food cannot be easily
solved at the unit level.

The Defense Department does have an online system to file complaints, but
soldiers have raised concerns that the system is archaic and doesn't allow
uploads of photos or videos, making reporting problems more difficult.

"I know it isn't getting fixed," one junior soldier who recently published
photos of their moldy barracks told Military.com. "It was just nice to have
attention on it. Maybe it helps someone later, but it was nice to just have it
acknowledged."

Robert Evans, a former noncommissioned officer in the Army Reserve and North
Carolina National Guard, designed an app called Hots & Cots in October. So far,
it has more than 2,000 downloads and dozens of posts on poor-quality barracks
and food.

"I wanted to find a way to try to make the military better than it currently
is," Evans said in an interview with Military.com.

But despite the barrage of media coverage and soldiers airing grievances online
about the quality of Army barracks and food, the service has not articulated any
plans for meaningful changes. Weimer, facing Congress, may be under pressure to
outline how the service plans to move forward.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told Military.com in an interview in October
that the service is eyeing fully funding barracks maintenance, which would add
only about $300 million across the rest of the decade to the Army's budget for
basic maintenance. For years, the service has been diverting significant funds
from maintenance to other priorities.

The Army held a barracks summit with key leadership in December to review
potential short- and long-term plans on soldier quality-of-life issues -- with
barracks at the core.

But the service has not been publicly transparent about the standards it hopes
to achieve. Military.com had a long-planned tour of barracks at Fort Belvoir,
Virginia, meant to set an example of quality living conditions for the service.
It was abruptly canceled by public affairs officials hours before the
publication was set to visit the installation.

Those new Belvoir barracks, at least until December, were seen in the force as
the service's flagship living quarters for junior enlisted troops. The barracks
sport dorm-style private rooms and a common area with in-room laundry machines,
individual heating and air, and a kitchen. That model was going to serve as a
North Star for future barracks construction and remodeling.

Quality-of-life issues served as the center of gravity in the Army in recent
years, up until the change of senior leadership to Weimer and Gen. Randy George,
who was confirmed as the Army's chief of staff in September.

But the mantra of "people first," from the service 's previous senior leaders --
Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and Sergeant Major of the Army Michael
Grinston -- was effectively replaced with "discipline" overnight, a term that
Weimer frequently uses.

In the first notable joint message from senior leaders to the force, introducing
themselves, none of the priorities of that new team included measurable goals on
quality-of-life issues.

Related: The Army's New Enlisted Leader Is All About Discipline. He Wants an App
for That in Every Soldier's Pocket.

Story Continues
Related Topics: Military Headlines Army Enlisted Leaders Military Life


STEVE BEYNON



Steve Beynon is a reporter for Military.com based out of the Washington D.C.
area whose detailed investigations have covered urgent issues impacting
soldiers. Read Full Bio

© Copyright 2024 Military.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be
republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written
permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com,
please submit your request here.
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