国会荣誉勋章获得者、五角大楼顾问称部分军人睡在车内以逃避恶劣环境
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作者:摩根·菲利普斯 | 福克斯新闻
发布时间:美国东部时间2026年11月7日凌晨5:30
肆虐美军营房的“数十年忽视”问题内幕
国会荣誉勋章获得者达科塔·迈耶详述官兵居住环境存在霉菌、无热水、空调损坏等问题,他正协助赫格斯塔德推动解决军队住房问题。
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部分军人已有一年没用到热水。另一些人则睡在车里,只为离开没有空调的营房。还有一些人只求能有石膏板、抹灰和油漆,这样他们就能自行维修。
这些都是国会荣誉勋章获得者达科塔·迈耶在执行国防部长皮特·赫格斯塔德赋予的任务时,在视察军事设施过程中所目睹的现状:解决被数十年忽视问题困扰的营房系统。
“我可以告诉你们,我见过的营房里只有几个是好的,”迈耶周四在接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时表示。
迈耶目前担任五角大楼营房特别工作组高级顾问,自接手该任务以来,已访问了陆军、海军、空军和海军陆战队的8个以上设施,并计划在今年年底前访问30个。
“我原本以为这只是一份专业工作,很快就变成了个人的事,”迈耶说。
达科塔·迈耶谈及服役经历,抨击针对全球反恐战争纪念碑的争议性设计
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作为五角大楼营房整改工作的一部分,相关人员检查了一处军事营房,其墙壁和 closet 内有明显的大面积霉菌和水损。(图片来源:达科塔·迈耶)
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2025年4月17日,在弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿的五角大楼,国会荣誉勋章获得者、中士达科塔·迈耶在一次重新入伍仪式上聆听发言。(亚历克斯·王/盖蒂图片社)
在某一处设施,迈耶回忆道,他问一名19岁军人,如果能“施展魔法”,会如何改变居住条件。
“如果能洗个热水澡就行,”迈耶回忆道。“这太令人心碎了。”
五角大楼的营房问题早于赫格斯塔德上任,且多次改革尝试均未能解决。
2023年美国政府问责局开展的一项全面调查记录了严重的健康与安全隐患,发现国防部缺乏自身营房状况的可靠信息,无法确定多少设施资金用于营房,且监管不足。
自那以来,国会和各军种已投入数十亿美元用于改善,包括海军陆战队的“营房2030”计划、海军非随行人员住房改造等举措。但严重问题依然存在。截至今年,美国政府问责局提出的31项建议中仍有12项未落实。
赫格斯塔德试图将工作集中在一个跨部门特别工作组下,并加快改进进度,迈耶表示部长已明确指出,仅发现问题不再足够。
“部长向我明确表示,他不希望我只是观察、研究,或者只是让情况变好。他希望我彻底解决问题,”迈耶说。“而这正是我们要做的。”
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在五角大楼评估军人居住条件的工作中,被访问的军事营房里,一张床上方挂着破损的天花板。(图片来源:达科塔·迈耶)
迈耶是唯一一位在获得国会荣誉勋章后重新入伍的英雄,他表示自己最初的要求之一是让赫格斯塔德赋予该特别工作组“权威角色”,而非单纯增设一层监管。
他说,目标是让团队有能力“走出去做决策、产生影响、推动变革,以及指导资金流向何处、以多快速度惠及官兵”。
独家:赫格斯塔德将在五角大楼重大改组中加倍削减将军和海军上将数量
迈耶认为问题并非仅仅是缺钱。他表示,资金短缺、持续决议以及多年的 deferred maintenance( deferred maintenance:递延维修,即推迟进行的维修工作)都是诱因,但层层叠叠的承包规则和官僚体系即使对相对基本的维修也可能造成拖延。
另一份监督机构报告发现,五角大楼更广泛的军事设施组合中存在2850亿美元的维修缺口,凸显了该部门基础设施挑战的规模。
“从承包层面看,人们更容易说‘不’,”迈耶说。
资金也是问题所在,迈耶指出,国会未能通过2027财年的全年国防拨款。五角大楼目前正根据持续决议运作至12月11日,该决议通常按前一年的费率为现有项目提供资金,同时议员们正在谈判更广泛的支出方案。
“当你无法获得预算,当你等待国会通过预算以落实资金时,这是个大问题,”迈耶说。
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在检查军人居住条件期间,一间营房房间有一个无面盆的水槽,洗手间天花板周围安装了临时照明设备。(图片来源:达科塔·迈耶)
但他也认为,五角大楼往往以已承诺或签约的资金数额衡量进展,而非以军人居住条件是否得到实际改善为准。
“我们的军人并非生活在预算线条里,”迈耶说。“他们生活在预算线条旨在改善的房间里。”
对迈耶而言,这意味着要离开华盛顿,直接听取那些受影响的军人的心声。
“站在五角大楼的地毯上,你无法解决或理解这些问题,”他说。“你必须走出去,和这些军人交谈。”
迈耶表示,他所听到的情况令人震惊,部分原因在于军人的诉求极少。
“他们想要的只是热水澡。想要个洗衣服的地方。想要个能锁的门。想要能在没有霉菌的地方睡觉。我是说,他们想要的只是灯泡。”
“他们愿意成为解决方案的一部分,”他补充道。
迈耶没有将责任完全归咎于设施指挥官,他表示许多人希望改善条件,但多年来营房环境恶劣已成为常态,他们的行动受到了体制的限制。
“我认为这是个多层面问题,很复杂,”他说。“各地指挥官都有想照顾好下属的,我到处都见过。但……他们仍得有能力去做。”
迈耶对前几任五角大楼领导层则宽容得多,他表示多年的投资和改革举措未能转化为军人足够的生活条件。
“别自欺欺人,”迈耶说。“过去……这对领导层来说不是优先事项。”
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在五角大楼改善军人居住条件的工作中,检查军事设施时,可见一台窗式空调以及明显的霉菌和水损。(图片来源:达科塔·迈耶)
前几届政府和军事领导人确实启动了营房改善工作,投入数十亿美元用于建造、翻新和维护,即便政府监督机构仍在记录严重缺陷。
迈耶表示,赫格斯塔德已将该问题列为个人优先事项。
“我们的国防部长将人员放在首位,这不是说说而已,而是通过行动践行,”迈耶说。
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迈耶已将自己的声誉押在此次努力能否成功上,他此前表示,如果营房问题未能解决,“只能怪一个人”——他自己。
当被问及“解决”实际意味着什么时,迈耶给出了一个比五角大楼任何 metrics( metrics:衡量标准)都更简单的标准。
“人们居住的地方,我也愿意让我的女儿们住进去,”他说。
American war hero details dire living conditions US troops face as Hegseth taps him to ‘fix’ it
The Medal of Honor recipient and Pentagon adviser says some service members are sleeping in cars to escape conditions
https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/morgan-headshot-2.jpg By Morgan PhillipsFox News
Published November 7, 2026 5:30am EST
Inside the ‘decades of neglect’ plaguing US military barracks
Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer details troops living with mold, no hot water and broken AC as he takes on Hegseth’s push to fix military housing.
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Some troops have gone a year without hot water. Others are sleeping in their cars to escape barracks without air conditioning. And some are asking for little more than drywall, spackle and paint so they can make repairs themselves.
Those are among the conditions Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer says he has encountered while touring military installations on a mission from War Secretary Pete Hegseth: Fix a barracks system plagued by decades of neglect.
“I would tell you that there’s only a couple that I’ve seen that are good,” Meyer told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday.
Meyer, who serves as senior adviser to the Pentagon’s Barracks Task Force, has visited more than eight installations across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps since taking on the assignment and plans to visit 30 before the end of the year.
“What I thought was gonna be a professional job very quickly turned into personal,” Meyer said.
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Extensive apparent mold and water damage cover walls and a closet inside military barracks inspected as part of the Pentagon’s barracks overhaul.(Courtesy of Dakota Meyer)
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Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Dakota Meyer listens to remarks during a reenlistment ceremony at the Pentagon on April 17, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.(Alex Wong/Getty Images)
At one installation, Meyer recalled asking a 19-year-old service member what she would change about her living conditions if she could “wave a magic wand.”
“If she could just have a hot shower,” Meyer recalled. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking.”
The Pentagon’s barracks problems long predate Hegseth and have survived repeated attempts at reform.
A sweeping 2023 Government Accountability Office investigation documented serious health and safety hazards and found that the department lacked reliable information about the condition of its own barracks, could not determine how much of its facilities spending went toward them and provided insufficient oversight.
Congress and the military services have since committed billions toward improvements, including initiatives ranging from the Marine Corps’ “Barracks 2030” to a Navy overhaul of unaccompanied housing. Yet serious problems persist. As of this year, 12 of GAO’s 31 recommendations remained outstanding.
Hegseth has sought to centralize the effort under a department-wide task force and accelerate improvements, with Meyer saying the secretary has made clear that identifying problems is no longer enough.
“The secretary has made it clear to me he doesn’t expect me to observe this, study it, or to make it better. He expects me to fix it,” Meyer said. “And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
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A damaged ceiling hangs over a bed in military barracks visited as part of the Pentagon’s effort to assess living conditions for service members.(Courtesy of Dakota Meyer)
Meyer, the only Medal of Honor hero to reenlist after receiving the award, said one of his first requests was for Hegseth to give the task force an “authoritative role,” rather than simply create another layer of oversight.
The goal, he said, was to give the team the ability “to go out and make decisions, to be able to have impact, to be able to make change, and to be able to direct where that funding goes and how fast it gets to our service members.”
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Meyer argued the problem is not simply a lack of money. Funding shortfalls, continuing resolutions and years of deferred maintenance have all contributed, he said, but so have layers of contracting rules and bureaucracy that can slow even relatively basic repairs.
A separate watchdog review found the Pentagon facing a $285 billion maintenance backlog across its broader military facilities’ portfolio, underscoring the scale of the department’s infrastructure challenges.
“When you look at the contracting aspect, it’s easier for people to say no,” Meyer said.
Funding is also part of the problem, according to Meyer, who pointed to Congress’ failure to enact full-year defense appropriations for fiscal 2027. The Pentagon is currently operating under a continuing resolution through Dec. 11, which generally funds ongoing programs at prior-year rates while lawmakers negotiate a broader spending package.
“When you can’t get a budget, when you’re waiting on Congress to pass a budget, to be able to get the funding there, I mean, that is a huge issue,” Meyer said.
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A barracks room shows a sink without a basin and makeshift lighting installed around a bathroom ceiling during an inspection of service members’ living conditions.(Courtesy of Dakota Meyer)
But he also argued that the Pentagon has too often measured progress by how much money has been obligated or put under contract, rather than whether troops actually see improvements in their living conditions.
“Our service members don’t, they don’t live in our budget lines,” Meyer said. “They live in the rooms that those budget lines are there to impact.”
For Meyer, that has meant getting out of Washington and hearing directly from the troops living with the consequences.
“You can’t fix these problems or understand these problems by standing on the carpet of the Pentagon,” he said. “You’ve got to go out there and talk to these service members.”
What he has heard, Meyer said, is striking partly because of how little troops are asking for.
“They’re asking for a hot shower. They’re asking for a place to wash their clothes. They’re asking for a door that locks. They’re asking to be able to go to sleep in a place that doesn’t have mold. I mean, they’re asking for light bulbs.”
“They’re willing to be part of the solution,” he added.
Meyer stopped short of placing the blame solely on installation commanders, saying many want to improve conditions but have been constrained by a system that has normalized poor barracks for years.
“I think this is a multidimensional problem, and it’s complex,” he said. “I think that you have commanders out there that want to take care of their service members. I’ve seen that across the board. But … they still have to have the ability to do that.”
Meyer was far less forgiving of previous Pentagon leadership, arguing that years of investments and reform initiatives had failed to translate into adequate living conditions for troops.
“Don’t kid yourself,” Meyer said. “In the past … it wasn’t a priority to the leadership.”
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A window air-conditioning unit and apparent mold and water damage are seen during inspections of military facilities as the Pentagon works to improve service members’ living conditions.(Courtesy of Dakota Meyer)
Previous administrations and military leaders did launch barracks improvement efforts and devoted billions of dollars to construction, renovation and maintenance, even as government watchdogs continued to document serious deficiencies.
Meyer said Hegseth has made the issue a personal priority.
“We have the Secretary of War who is putting people first, and he’s not just saying that, he’s doing it through his actions,” Meyer said.
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Meyer has put his own name on whether the latest effort succeeds, saying previously that if the barracks aren’t fixed, there is “only one person to blame” — himself.
Asked what “fixed” would actually look like, Meyer offered a simpler standard than any Pentagon metric.
“People are living in places that I would be okay for my daughters living in,” he said.