Author name: Common Defense

The military’s backlog of neglected building maintenance has ballooned to an estimated $285 billion, more than doubling in five years as aging barracks, hazardous workplaces, and chronic staffing shortages continue to threaten readiness.

A recent Government Accountability Office report paints a bleak picture of infrastructure management across the sprawling military enterprise.

The August 21 report faulted the Pentagon for repeatedly failing to request enough money from Congress to cover known facility repairs, upgrades, and construction.

The military services funded roughly 80 percent of identified maintenance needs, missing the War Department’s own 90 percent target.

The War Department controls more than 736,000 facilities across the globe, ranging from barracks and administrative offices to maintenance shops and operational buildings.

Deferred maintenance on those properties totaled about $137 billion in fiscal year 2020, according to the government watchdog.

“Since that time, DoW reported that its deferred maintenance requirements increased to an estimated $285 billion in fiscal year 2025, a significant and growing risk to the department’s ability to support its mission,” the report said.

That breathtaking increase represents more than an accounting headache because deteriorating facilities can directly affect training, retention, health, and combat preparedness.

The GAO also found that roughly one third of buildings on American military installations are more than 50 years old. At Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California, investigators encountered structures that had been standing for more than 80 years.

Part of one building that installation officials wanted demolished had tested positive for mold and asbestos, yet another portion remained occupied after testing negative.

Workers inside were apparently not reassured by the distinction and purchased their own air filters to protect their workspace.

“Although that part of the building had been condemned, officials said the other part of the building tested negative for mold and asbestos and remained in use for these services,” the report stated.

“Occupants reported discomfort with the building’s condition and had personally supplied additional air filters to safeguard their workspace.”

The maintenance crisis is also being aggravated by serious trouble hiring and retaining qualified workers, particularly at “remote and isolated installations.”

Officials from five bases told investigators they were forced to recruit from small local labor pools while operating with “limited incentives” to draw skilled workers from elsewhere.

At Andersen Air Force Base and Naval Base Guam, officials reported using the H 2B visa program to hire foreign nationals from the Philippines and other countries.

Those workers supplemented civilian crews responsible for facility maintenance and construction, revealing how thin the domestic maintenance workforce has become at strategically important Pacific installations.

The GAO recommended that the War Department assess how construction delays and repair backlogs threaten military missions and the quality of life of troops.

That should be basic management, especially when service members are being asked to live and work in buildings affected by mold, asbestos, failing utilities, and decades of deferred repairs.

The War Department agreed fully or partially with most recommendations but rejected calls for additional oversight.

Officials specifically opposed providing annual reports explaining how the department was meeting revised maintenance standards, an oddly defensive posture when taxpayers are staring at a $285 billion backlog.

The GAO pushed back, saying the War Department is required to “set appropriate workforce levels to accomplish its responsibilities or to take appropriate steps within existing workforce levels.”

In plain English, the bureaucracy cannot simply acknowledge that it lacks workers and money, then carry on as if cracked barracks and condemned rooms will repair themselves.

American troops have endured substandard housing and deteriorating facilities for years, despite repeated promises of improvement from Washington. The Pentagon has requested $57 billion in the next fiscal year’s budget to address infrastructure problems, but the latest findings show the repair hole has become far deeper than that request.

Rob Evans, an Army veteran who operates the Hots & Cots application, said many problems identified in a 2023 GAO barracks investigation remain unresolved.

The application allows military personnel to document and share problems involving housing, dining facilities, and other services on installations.

“Three years later, the department wide version of that same gap is the headline finding: DoW still isn’t requesting full funding for maintenance it already knows it needs,” Evans said.

“Congress has said for years that failing to fix this hurts recruitment and retention, and now GAO is saying the same thing.”

The report exposes years of bureaucratic neglect that cannot be solved with another glossy strategy document or carefully worded promise.

If military leaders expect troops to maintain aircraft, ships, vehicles, and weapons at demanding standards, Washington should at least provide buildings that are safe, functional, and worthy of the people defending the country.