Fort Lewis money for repairs but nothing to repair?

Fort Lewis on list of barracks needing repair

By Donna Gordon Blankinship - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday May 10, 2008 15:12:54 EDT

SEATTLE — Officials at Fort Lewis were surprised to be on a Army list of eight installations that need to repair their barracks immediately in the wake of recent worldwide base inspections.

Base spokesman Joe Piek said the $7.4 million promised by the Army for immediate repairs at Fort Lewis will not come with a list of needed work, because an inspection of the base’s 105 barracks last week found no serious life, health or safety issues.

“The Army officials here at Fort Lewis who manage barracks were surprised by the characterization of the immediacy of the repairs,” Piek said Friday.

Army Secretary Pete Geren has said that $248 million in emergency funding has been appropriated to fix problems found during the inspections around the world.

The Army on Friday identified eight installations that will get priority attention: Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Wash; Fort Polk, La.; Fort Gordon, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Stewart, Ga.; the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York; Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland; and Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii.

The 86,000-acre base is in the midst of a $2.8 billion construction plan, which will add 6,000 new barrack spaces and renovate thousands more as well as pay for other construction, Piek said.

Another $1.9 billion is budgeted for base construction over the next five years, including facilities other than barracks.

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_lewis_badbarracks_051008/

The question is: Who put them on the list for more money when they were already getting money to do work on Fort Lewis?

Fort Lewis was born out of World War I. In 1917, the Pierce County Electorate voted to bond themselves for $2,000,000 to purchase 70,000 acres for donation to the Federal Government for use as a military base. Camp Lewis was the first military installation to be created as the result of an outright gift of land by the citizens themselves. Camp Lewis received its name from Captain Meriwether Lewis from the Lewis and Clark Expedition of the 1804 - 1806 Corps of Discovery exploration for a "Northwest Passage" to the Pacific Ocean. Read More...

Hospital - More than 120,000 Soldiers, Family members and Retirees fall within Madigan's 40-mile catchment area. Madigan is home to more than 3,124 staff members, which includes 360 Doctors, 527 Nurses and 166 Residents, 50 Interns and 18 fellows. Madigan also has a large Red Cross program, boasting approximately 300 Volunteers who donate more than 10,000 hours monthly.