FORT BRAGG (AP) ó More money is available for three new barracks complexes at a North Carolina Army post, including one President Bush visited after it was featured in an online video, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
Fort Bragg will get $127 million more this year to replace aging barracks for the 82nd Airborne Division, the Fayetteville Observer reported.
One building was the subject of a video posted on YouTube by a paratrooperís father who was upset at the conditions, including mold and standing water in a bathroom.
Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., whose district includes the post, says the additional funding will move soldiers out of old housing as soon as possible. The replacements had been scheduled for 2011.
ěWith this emergency funding now headed to Fort Bragg, we will be able to move soldiers out of the older living quarters that have needed extensive emergency repairs, and into the best housing possible in the shortest time possible,î Hayes said.
Hayes wrote letters to Republican and Democratic leaders in the House to request the money.
The video taken by Edward Frawley received attention in April and Bush visited the barracks in May. Frawley said he wanted to show the conditions his son returned to after 15 months in Afghanistan.
The video showed peeling paint and mold, a torn toilet seat and a soldier trying to unplug a floor drain that appeared to be clogged with sewage. The barracks had been repaired by the time Bush came.
With the additional money, Congress has appropriated $645 million for construction at Fort Bragg during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. The post received $200 million in 2006 and $339 million in 2007, said Glen Prillaman, chief of Fort Braggís master planning division.
The post is planning to put the three barracks projects out for bids before Sept. 30.