Marines in hot barracks getting portable air conditioners

As the hot summer months approach, nearly 20,000 Marines live in barracks that lack working air conditioning. While plans are underway for a Corps-wide overhaul of barracks that will include climate control systems, many Marines may get some relief this summer with portable air conditioning units, Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Calros Ruiz said this week.

Marine Corps officials have authorized local commanders to purchase portable air conditioning units for Marines whose buildings lack good central air systems. Officials have identified 128 barracks across the force that do not have adequate air conditioning, most at Camp Pendleton, California.

“The temporary fix of [issuing] portables is continuing everywhere that’s needed,” Ruiz said on Tuesday during a media roundtable at the Modern Day Marine exhibition in Washington, D.C. “Commands will buy them. The Marines don’t have to buy them. They shouldn’t be buying them.”`

Ruiz said officials at the Camp Horno area of Camp Pendleton, where August temperatures routinely hit the 90s and months pass without rain, have been buying portable air conditioners so that Marines do not have to pay out of pocket for them.

The portable air conditioners are an interim solution for barracks, which commands are buying as their budgets allow, Ruiz said. 

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Across the force, a total of 19,600 Marines live in barracks that do not have air conditioning, Marine Corps officials told Task & Purpose.

Officials are also looking at which barracks need new air ducts and pipework installed to allow cool air to flow through the buildings, Ruiz said.

“The long term portion is deciding what barracks gets piping, because that’s the most expensive part,” Ruiz said.

A Corps-wide push for better barracks

The Marine Corps is in the midst of “Barracks 2030,” a multiyear plan to improve enlisted Marines’ living conditions, which includes providing barracks with air conditioning. The 11-year effort is expected to cost $30 billion to renovate and replace substandard barracks, according to Assistant Marine Corps Commandant Bradford J. Gering recent written testimony to Congress.

“In the last fiscal year, we completed four new barracks, began construction on eight others, awarded renovations for an additional 27 and outfitted 159 barracks with new furnishings,” Gering told lawmakers during an April 15 House Armed Services Committee Hearing on military readiness.

But Marines and other service members continue to live in barracks where air conditioning is either absent or broken, said Army veteran Rob Evans, creator of the Hots & Cots app on which military members post problems with on-base facilities.

“Roughly 10% of barracks reviews in our dataset involve [Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning] or cooling failures, and the resolution rate is near zero,” Evans told Task & Purpose. “The pattern is consistent: extreme indoor temperatures, work orders ignored, and maintenance offices citing seasonal policies that override actual conditions. We’ve seen cases where service members end up sleeping outside or in their cars to escape the heat.”

The Defense Department’s proposed budget for next fiscal year calls for spending $57 billion on military installations, including $8.8 billion for barracks improvements, such as heating and air conditioning repairs.

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