• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

         I am Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Alford L. McMichael. I am privileged to have this opportunity to appear before you today to speak to the condition of our facilities and the impact these facilities have on our Marines and their families. As I speak to you today, there are approximately 172,600 Marines on active duty. Of that total, over 114,000 are in the operating forces and nearly 30,500 are forward deployed, forward based, forward stationed, or deployed for training around the world. The Marine Corps family also includes just over 163,000 family members. This translates to approximately 68,500 spouses and 94,500 children; the rest are other family members whose primary care is entrusted to a Marine. Looking after our Marine Corps family is elementary to Marines --we have a proud history of taking care of our own. The Marine Corps views quality of life as a force multiplier and a readiness component. As Sergeant Major Lott said in testimony earlier this year "even in peacetime, much of the work our young Marines do is inherently dangerous and involves great responsibility. Concerns about family safety and finances can impact the Marine's ability to concentrate on his day-to-day mission." I whole-heartedly agree--an integral part of our quality of life hinges on the condition of our facilities.

I should note that the programs I will discuss, and the associated funding levels may change as a result of the Secretary's strategy review that will guide future decisions on military spending. The Administration will determine final 2002 and out year funding levels only when the review is complete. I ask that you consider my comments in that light.

Our installation commanders are extraordinarily committed to doing the best they can for the Marines, Sailors, family members and civilian Marines in their charge. I've talked to Marines doing extraordinary work in maintenance spaces that were cold, wet, drafty and completely unsuitable. I've visited the spouses and children of these Marines in family housing that should have been demolished twenty years ago but remain standing because we have no other choice. Seldom do I hear a complaint. Marines and their families find a way to get the job done and will do the best they can with what they have.     

Though the Marine Corps has strategic plans and goals in place for our Facility Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization, active and reserve military construction (Military Construction and Military Construction, Naval Reserve) and family housing programs, most of these programs have not been adequately resourced. 

Our first quality of life promise to Marines is that we will never fail to give them the training, leadership and equipment that will allow their safe return home from combat. The Marine Corps has had to make some very tough choices on how to allocate its total funding. Thus, for understandable reasons, short-changing facilities and infrastructure for combat readiness has been the lesser of two evils. We have sustained our combat readiness at the expense of other quality of life programs beneficial to our Marines and their families because we've had no other option. These have been painful decisions because, ultimately, combat readiness is more than just a trained, well-equipped Marine. A deployed Marine in harm's way will do anything asked but should not have to wonder whether the family left behind is adequately cared for while he or she is doing the nation's bidding.

The Marine Corps is proud of its reputation for making do with less. Our "make-do, can-do" credo has always served us well, but it has also produced a systemic problem for our infrastructure. "Make do" facilities continue to support our "can-do" philosophy.     We have Marines working successfully, in inadequate facilities. I can't sit here and tell you we will fail because facilities are inadequate. Marines will do what they have to in order to meet the mission. We will continue to make our recruiting and retention goals because the Corps is so much more than bricks and mortar. At the same time, we have to ask ourselves if we are doing the right thing by the young men and women who make the sacrifices necessary to wear the eagle, globe and anchor. The Marine Corps needs a prolonged commitment to facilities and infrastructure.

            Now, I would like to give you more detailed information in each of the Marine Corps' four major funding areas where recapitalization and modernization initiatives in infrastructure and facilities are programmed: Facility Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization; Military Construction; Military Construction Naval Reserves; and Bachelor and Family Housing.   

FACILITY SUSTAINMENT, RESTORATION AND MODERNIZATION 

Facility sustainment funding is critical to keeping our buildings functional. Our decaying infrastructure has not been replaced at an appropriate rate. As a consequence, the Marine Corps must use an increasing percentage of its facility sustainment funds to bind together old, inadequate buildings rather than to maintain newer and more economical structures. As a result, we have a significant number of facility sustainment projects that must be deferred for lack of funds. Deferral of facility sustainment projects directly impacts the living and working conditions in barracks and mess halls in highly visible ways. However, the deferral of less obvious repairs, like steam plants, runways, sewer lines and roads, in many cases will have a greater impact on quality of life than specific building projects. These supporting infrastructure requirements can no longer be ignored.

            We have many success stories with barracks revitalizations. Enlisted Marines living in the Regimental Area of Camp Lejeune are having eight barracks renovated. The renovations will provide an economical, energy efficient air-conditioning system that will provide much needed relief during the hot summer months. The electrical systems will also be upgraded. This will result in a reduction of power outages, and it will allow Marines to plug-in modern conveniences such as computers and televisions. 

From an operational perspective, facility sustainment makes our jobs easier. At MCAS Beaufort, we are repairing hangar doors. Right now, our Marines must use ground maintenance trucks to open and close the hangar doors. Facility sustainment funding will repair the doors by restoring the mechanical opening system. This will free up the ground maintenance trucks to be used, as they were intended, on airfield support. Each small improvement,is a step toward an improved quality of life and readiness. 

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION

Military construction is the Marine Corps' primary funding source for infrastructure recapitalization and modernization. Since the Marine Corps cannot address every facilities requirement with military construction, many projects are deferred. When new construction is deferred, we know that, in the short term at least, Marines will still find a way to accomplish the mission, and restoration and modernization funds will be used less efficiently to keep the buildings minimally operational. However, in the long term, continued deferral has a profound effect on readiness and retention.

The military construction projects we will likely request this year are not luxury or "nice-to-have" facilities. On the contrary, these projects replace buildings that are literally falling apart, unsafe, overcrowded, or technologically obsolete. With these projects, we will give some Marines the modern facilities they need to accomplish their mission. Additionally, we seek to build training facilities that will allow Marines to ready themselves for combat in this high-tech age. We'll also be able to make things a bit more tolerable for Marines and their families, who sacrifice so much already, by providing more of them decent living quarters and childcare. With these facilities, Marines will be more deployable. Without them, quality of work, quality of life, and readiness for many Marines will continue to be seriously degraded.

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, NAVAL RESERVE 

Maintaining Marine Corps Reserve facilities is a daunting task since the Marine Forces Reserve is comprised of 32,702 Selected Marine Corps Reserve personnel and 5,200 active and Active Reserve personnel stationed at 185 sites, dispersed throughout 47 states. The challenge for the Military Construction, Naval Reserve (MCNR) program for exclusive Marine Corps construction is how to best target limited funding to address $205 million in deferred construction projects. Over 75% of the reserve centers our Marines train in are more than 30 years of age, and of these, 35% are more than 50 years old.

BACHELOR AND FAMILY HOUSING

            Providing quality bachelor and family housing is critical to maintaining Marine morale and quality of life. The Marine Corps is committed to improving quality of life for all of its Marines. We believe our investment in housing will increase productivity and satisfaction with the Corps. Quality living conditions must continue to be emphasized to attain, retain, and sustain the nation's "force in readiness." We cannot continue to house our Marines and their families in inadequate quarters. The President's focus on military housing is most welcome. My comments below do not reflect the impact of additional funding the President has proposed for housing. At this time, we do not know how much of this funding will be allocated to the Marine Corps.

Bachelor Housing

            There are approximately 172,600 Marines on active duty today and about 50% of those are young, single, junior enlisted personnel. Providing appropriate and comfortable living spaces that positively impact the morale and development of these young men and women is extremely important to the Marine Corps.   

            The Marine Corps primarily houses junior enlisted personnel in pay grades of E1 through E5 in our barracks. Our goal is to provide barracks configured in the 2x0 standard. The 2x0 standard means two Marines share a room with a private bath. Although the Department of Defense standard for barracks construction provides the opportunity for 1+1 construction, which means private rooms with a shared bath, we consciously made the choice in 1998 to have two Marines share a room. While we would ultimately like to provide noncommissioned officers in pay grades E4 and E5 with private rooms, we believe our most junior personnel in pay grades E1 through E3 should share a room with another Marine. We strongly believe this approach provides the right balance between privacy desired by Marines and the Marine Corps desire to provide companionship, camaraderie and unit cohesion. This balance provides the atmosphere we believe is right to train and develop Marines. Building to the 2X0 standard also allows us to more rapidly address inadequate barracks within funding constraints. 

The Marine Corps maintains over 93,000 bachelor enlisted housing spaces worldwide. Of that number, approximately 7,800 still do not meet Department of Defense adequacy standards. This is significantly less than the roughly 16,000 inadequate spaces we reported in 1996. With the help of Congress, we have been able to exceed our barracks construction funding goal of $50 million per year for the past several years. We have been able to invest an average of $65 million per year in barracks construction since 1996. One hundred percent of that funding has supported enlisted personnel. While we still have much to do to eliminate all inadequate barracks, Marines can already see signs of progress and know we are working to provide them with quality housing.      

Family Housing

            Marine Corps families are an important component of readiness. Family housing is a critical Quality of Life issue because it impacts both retention and readiness. The Marine Corps has over 74,000 active duty families. These families frequently relocate, disrupting school for children and employment for spouses. Providing adequate, safe, quality housing options for families is critical to the morale and readiness of the Marine Corps. Again, at any given time, over 30,500 Marines are forward deployed away from their families. These separations often last for six or more months. Marines worried about the safety of their family members, their ability to pay bills including basic food and shelter costs, or whether their children are getting a quality education, will have a far more difficult time focusing on their jobs and mission than Marines whose families are adequately housed and cared for.    

Sixty-four percent of Marine Corps families live off post in the community. Thirty-six percent live in housing provided by the Marine Corps or another Service. Of those who live in military housing, 26 percent live in Marine Corps owned, leased or privatized housing. More families would prefer to live in military housing for a number of reasons including economics, safety, schools and community support. There are thousands of families on waiting lists today.   

In today's constrained funding environment, the Marine Corps must rely heavily on private community assets to shelter our families and privatization programs to offset existing and projected shortages.

We have 25,015 owned, leased or public-private venture family housing units worldwide. Much of the inventory we own is in poor condition and needs major renovation or replacement. Our 2000 family housing master plan identified 13,830 inadequate housing units with the majority of those units requiring significant revitalization or replacement. Our 2001 master plan will show an increase in our inadequate units based on recent PPV feasibility studies at MCAS Beaufort.

The good news here is that we have made significant strides to improve our inventory over the last several years. With your support, we have spent an average of $86 million per year fixing existing inventory with over 92 percent of that funding addressing enlisted personnel requirements.

We are extremely enthusiastic about the opportunities available to improve our housing through use of the 1996 Military Housing Privatization authorities. We awarded our first PPV using these authorities on 10 November 2000. The project at MCB Camp Pendleton, a 712-unit project that is already being managed by our private sector partner, will ultimately renovate 200 homes, replace 312 units and build 200 new homes. We broke ground on the project on 4 December 2000 and the first of the new homes should be available late this summer. Not only will we provide excellent quality homes with adequate storage and garages, this project will also provide a community recreation center, ball fields, and tot lots. In other words, we will create a "neighborhood" for Marines and Sailors at Camp Pendleton. This project is the first of several PPV initiatives we have underway. We are extremely pleased with the caliber of proposals we are seeing, the quality of the homes we will get and the level of customer service that will be received by the families who will live in these homes over the next 50 years. Our second project involves exchanging excess units at MCLB Albany GA and using their value to replace 100 badly deteriorated homes at MCB Camp Lejeune. This project is in the final stages of negotiation with the developer. We are working to reach a final business agreement soon.

Our third project is at a Reserve site in Stewart NY. There, we will turn over 129 excess homes and improve 171 homes we need to retain to support military families in the region. That project has been advertised and negotiations should be finalized by July 2002.

A fourth project proposed for MCAS Beaufort and MCRD Parris Island SC will provide 1,645 new and newly renovated homes. Our goal is to improve or replace 1,505 existing homes and build a minimum of 140 badly needed new units. Congress has been notified of our intent to solicit proposals.

Combined, these Marine Corps PPV projects will improve or replace a total of 2,288 homes, build a minimum of 340 new homes, and will dispose of another 548 inadequate units that are excess to our needs. Ultimately these projects will make a huge difference to our Marine Corps families.

We are also partnering with the U.S. Navy at Belle Chase, Louisiana and in Southern California in support of Navy PPV initiatives that will significantly benefit Marines and Sailors at both locations. These two projects renovate or replace another 2,286 homes and provide 1,107 new units desperately needed to support Sailors and Marines at these locations.

These are truly good news stories. However, PPV only works where private investors can make a reasonable profit. At some installations, low BAH rates and/or facilities condition mean that a business case cannot be made for PPV and traditional military construction is the only option. While privatization will not make good business sense at every location within the Marine Corps, it will ultimately help us address much of our housing requirement. We will be reviewing opportunities for additional privatization in the near future. We appreciate your support in extending the PPV authorities to permit us to take advantage of these critical and extremely beneficial tools.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the Committee for its strong support of the Marine Corps infrastructure program and the benefits this has provided and will continue to provide to the Marine Corps in terms of improved readiness and quality of life. Congressional support in the past reflects your deep appreciation for the relationship between facilities, warfighting capability, and quality of life. There is no question that replacement and modernization of inadequate housing, community support and operational facilities can improve mission capability, productivity, readiness, and sustainability. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I will be pleased to answer any questions you may have.

---