The top enlisted leader of the Marine Corps wants to be in the bulldozer that knocks down the first “crappy” barracks that Marines live in.
Sgt. Maj. Carlos Ruiz, who took the mantle of top enlisted leader of the Marine Corps over five months ago, said Monday that having quality barracks for Marines is “basic human rights.” He also said that Marines are responsible for keeping clean the spaces they currently have as the Corps works to replace and refurbish housing.
The effort, according to Ruiz, is called Barracks 2030 and is meant to get the roughly 17,000 Marines — as of March — out of substandard living conditions and into proper quarters. When that may happen is still a question, to include one of funding, but the commandant of the Marine Corps previously estimated that it could take a decade to fix the problem.
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“It is basic human rights. It is dignity. It is a home,” Ruiz said Monday on the Moments in Leadership podcast, a program that interviews senior leaders in the military, to include the former Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Troy Black. “So, we don’t blink an eye to buy things and platforms. It’s time not to blink an eye and invest in our people.”
Ruiz’s appearance on the podcast, which was about an hour and a half, touched on several topics, to include quality-of-life efforts that the Marine Corps is…
