Marines made to fix Busted Barracks!

[BOP]

As the military as a whole grapples with how to fix substandard living conditions for troops, Marines at Camp Pendleton, California are being encouraged to paint their rooms, patch holes in their walls, get rid of mold, and make other home repairs themselves. “Self-help requests allow Marines to not only fix minor damages in their rooms quickly, but also develop smaller scale home repair skills,” according to a video about the program that was shared on Reddit. The program allows Marines to request approval from their barracks or area facility managers to fix problems in their rooms and then acquire the tools and other materials to make the repairs, BUT lets see how that goes.

 

[Sneakers]

?
Maybe I've got it wrong, but didn't "old school" Marines pride themselves (when strongly encouraged by the CO) on a neat and orderly barracks? And did all the cleaning, repairs, etc.. themselves anyway? So why is this such a big deal?

And there would have been hell to pay if anything was in disrepair.

 

[SamSpade]

The Marines I knew in college were - among other things - exceedingly proud of having immaculate dorm rooms and spotless uniforms.

 

[NOTSMC]

That man has anger issues.

I was a Navy brat for 18 years. From time to time, we lived in base housing. Every Navy base we were ever on had a self-help place where you could check out tools to repair things in the base house you were assigned to. Don't get me wrong, every house we lived in was handed over in pristine condition thanks to base housing inspections before you transferred but if holes were in the wall, or you wanted to paint, self-help provided the tools necessary to complete the job, including the paint which was usually some variation of battleship green. It was called being self-sufficient and the Navy encouraged it.

Then I enlisted and lived in the barracks, we were expected to clean and keep our living quarters in good repair and that included the common living area, kitchen, and bathrooms.

In fact I learned to spackle with my pinky finger while I was in the Navy.

 

[TPD]

That man has anger issues.

I was a Navy brat for 18 years. From time to time, we lived in base housing. Every Navy base we were ever on had a self-help place where you could check out tools to repair things in the base house you were assigned to. Don't get me wrong, every house we lived in was handed over in pristine condition thanks to base housing inspections before you transferred but if holes were in the wall, or you wanted to paint, self-help provided the tools necessary to complete the job, including the paint which was usually some variation of battleship green. It was called being self-sufficient and the Navy encouraged it.

Then I enlisted and lived in the barracks, we were expected to clean and keep our living quarters in good repair and that included the common living area, kitchen, and bathrooms.

In fact I learned to spackle with my pinky finger while I was in the Navy.

Did the self help center provide all the spackle you wanted or was there a limit? Did you have to provide ID to check out the spackle?

 

[black dog]

I know when my son was stationed at 29 Palms they would hit Camp Pendleton at least twice a year to float their LAV's for 3-4 days each time.
He would say the chow was good and the housing they would use was sometimes on the beach, never any complaints that I recall.
All of the bachelor quarters he stayed in over his enlistment, were pretty nice and clean.

 

[NOTSMC]

Did the self help center provide all the spackle you wanted or was there a limit? Did you have to provide ID to check out the spackle?

I don't think it was like the spackle we have today, more like plaster of paris or something like that.