One of the Army’s largest installations has disbanded its teams responsible for routine and preventative maintenance of soldier housing, according to a service spokesperson, a move that comes amid a federal hiring freeze and deep cuts to the government workforce.
Fort Cavazos, Texas, home to the 1st Cavalry Division and 3rd Cavalry Regiment, phased out its “dedicated barracks sustainment team.” The decision leaves no staff to perform routine or preventative maintenance on troops’ living quarters.
“The Fort Cavazos senior commander directed that the dedicated barracks sustainment team be phased out,” Chris Haug, a base spokesperson, said in a statement. “Maintenance for soldier barracks remains a top priority, and urgent and life, health and safety work orders will continue to be addressed.”
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In practice, the move means non-emergency plumbing, electrical work and other upkeep may have to be ignored, as the sparse staff on the base will have to triage only emergency work.
The loss of the Cavazos maintenance team comes as the Army is bleeding out maintenance workers, though the full scope remains unclear, multiple service officials told Military.com.
The problem was spurred by President Donald Trump tasking Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, to wield his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to gut the federal workforce and dramatically reduce the size of the government, often leading to unforeseen consequences and collateral damage.
There has also been a broader erosion of the Army’s maintenance infrastructure. Long-standing issues with facility upkeep have worsened in recent years, even before being made worse by a wave of early retirements following Defense Department-wide cuts and an ongoing federal hiring freeze under the Trump administration.
The Army is facing a growing backlog of barracks maintenance, with an estimated $20 billion in deferred repairs and renovations, a figure that continues to climb amid rising construction costs driven by inflation.
At Fort Cavazos, soldiers have reported to Military.com they’ve endured persistent air conditioning failures and stifling heat that has stretched on for months.
Moreover, the issue will likely soon be compounded again by the Pentagon gutting $1 billion from the Army’s budget for maintenance of barracks and other facilities to fund the growing mission on the U.S.-Mexico border, where some 9,000 troops are currently deployed.
The money move took Congress by surprise and sparked bipartisan ire from lawmakers toward Army senior leaders in a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
During the hearing, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, struggled to endorse the transfer of money from barracks to the border, and conceded that maintenance of living quarters for junior enlisted troops will likely take a hit.
“Obviously, redirecting has an impact — you have to make choices,” George told House members when pressed. “If we took a billion dollars out of barracks, we’d be able to fix less barracks.”
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