Today, we can officially announce that all 1,189 Soldiers who previously resided in the impacted Smoke Bomb Hill barracks buildings have been relocated to barracks facilities on post or moved off the installation into community residential housing.
U.S. Army and installation leaders made a determination that the 50-year-old barracks passed the point of economic diminishing return after years to extensive work to maintain them to our standard.
To make as much space as possible for Soldiers relocating from Smoke Bomb Hill, nearly 600 soldiers were provided financial support to fund their rent for off-posting privatized housing.
Barracks to barracks moves across Fort Bragg were detailed consisting of multiple inspections by each unit’s chains of command and personnel from the Directorate of Public Works to ensure all rooms were clean and maintained before Soldiers moved into them.
This would not have been possible without the efforts of Fort Bragg leaders, as well as the patience of each of the service members involved. Every unit across Fort Bragg met together frequently to find the rooms and space to accommodate our service members.
“Fort Bragg came together as a community to help our Soldiers during this challenging time, and this is just the beginning as we continue to invest in future quality of life improvements for our Soldiers,” said Command Sgt. Maj. T.J. Holland, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg’s senior enlisted advisor. “We also want to thank our world class community leaders who worked with our garrison leadership during this complex process to ensure our Soldiers are cared for. This is and will continue to be our #1 priority!”
Demolition of the impacted barracks and new construction will be announced at a later time.
“Our enduring obligation as Army leaders is to take care of our people, our Soldiers, and their Families,” said Mennes.
Oh, man, just wait until they find all the treasure in the walls and ceilings.
Back in the 80’s, one of my soldiers was fresh from Ft. Bragg and the 82nd, with a memorable story. Seems someone was stealing BDU’s from the barracks laundry rooms, all over the area. Then one day a First Sergeant wanted to relocate a telephone line in the orderly room, and sent a couple soldiers up a ladder into a attic crawl space or ceiling. There, to their surprise, they found piles and sacks and heaps of the stolen uniforms! They decided to not say a word to anyone, and for several days kept an eye on the access point to the hoard of BDU’s…until one day, they spotted someone sneaking up. At this point they ran down the halls, knoocking on doors and alerted the entire barracks. When the BDU thief came back down the ladder, most of the Company beat the hell out of him and tossed him off the front porch before the MP’s were called. Investigation revealed that the guy was some kind of kleptomaniac, focused on BDU’s. The patches and name tags recovered showed that he had been stealing and hoarding BDU’s since at least AIT and previous units. Not selling then in pawn shops – just an obsessive hoarding nut case!
So, indeed, who knows what will be found when those building are demolished? Probably a lot of vintage drug paraphanilia from the 82nd’s “Jumpin’ Junkies” , hollow Army, days of the 1970’s!
Course, the other barracks that 82nd has are just as bad, if not worse with ZERO action happening, in spite of multiple promises from leadership to address the issues.
Back in the 80’s, one of my soldiers was fresh from Ft. Bragg and the 82nd, with a memorable story. Seems someone was stealing BDU’s from the barracks laundry rooms, all over the area. Then one day a First Sergeant wanted to relocate a telephone line in the orderly room, and sent a couple soldiers up a ladder into a attic crawl space or ceiling. There, to their surprise, they found piles and sacks and heaps of the stolen uniforms! They decided to not say a word to anyone, and for several days kept an eye on the access point to the hoard of BDU’s…until one day, they spotted someone sneaking up. At this point they ran down the halls, knoocking on doors and alerted the entire barracks. When the BDU thief came back down the ladder, most of the Company beat the hell out of him and tossed him off the front porch before the MP’s were called. Investigation revealed that the guy was some kind of kleptomaniac, focused on BDU’s. The patches and name tags recovered showed that he had been stealing and hoarding BDU’s since at least AIT and previous units. Not selling then in pawn shops – just an obsessive hoarding nut case!
So, indeed, who knows what will be found when those building are demolished? Probably a lot of vintage drug paraphanilia from the 82nd’s “Jumpin’ Junkies” days of the “hollow Army” 1970’s!