With focus on barracks, dining, childcare, Army taking decisive action to improve quality-of-life

WASHINGTON - Upgrades to HVAC systems and dining facilities, along with childcare access and spouse employment challenges, were among the main topics at an Association of the United States Army family forum held Oct. 12 in Washington.

The Army established an HVAC Task Force to improve the quality and condition of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in barracks across the force as part of its ongoing effort to upgrade Soldiers' living conditions, the Army's top civilian leader announced.

Poor HVAC conditions have caused mold and crumbling structures at some Army barracks, said Acting Secretary of the Army Adam R. Telle during an Association of the United States Army family forum held Oct. 12.

The Army has set aside $121 million for barracks HVAC upgrades, with a goal of awarding a contract to make upgrades on a national scale by spring 2027.

The task force was first announced Oct. 12 by Telle; Jordan Gillis, the assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment; and Marine Corps Sgt. Dakota Meyer, special assistant to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

"When we talk about modernization, we think about missiles, or helicopters, or tanks," Telle said. "But modernization also applies to quality of life. We have to use the same aggressive 'make everything better, every day' approach to our barracks and to our housing and to all parts of quality of life, like we do for our weapon systems; we have to use those same principles."

Telle, Gillis and Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael R. Weimer recently visited Fort Benning, Georgia, to examine barracks conditions.

"If you can tackle HVAC, you can solve more than 50% of the mass of the problems of barracks," Telle said. "And, as everyone said, the Army is all about scale."

Dining facility upgrades

Weimer said that in recent years, Soldiers on meal cards reportedly did not use dining facilities at high rates. However, this has changed at select Army installations.

He added that the campus-style dining pilot program at Fort Carson, Colorado; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Drum, New York; and Fort Hood, Texas, has shown significantly higher usage numbers than traditional dining facilities, with 90% of meal card holders using the new venues. Weimer said Army culinary specialists have been gradually pulled from dining facilities to meet mission requirements, and the current contract system for dining facilities has not met Soldier needs.

"The reason [campus-style dining] is a completely different experience is because our traditional dining facility ecosystems have been failing for years," Weimer said. "So, we knew the change to campus-style dining is absolutely the solution to this."

Similar to college cafeterias, the new dining venues offer Soldiers a wider variety of options, longer and more flexible hours, upgraded seating and free Wi-Fi. Weimer said Soldiers at the pilot installations have even remained on post to eat at the campus-style dining venues on holiday weekends.

"That is unheard of for those of us who have been in uniform," he noted.

Improving access to childcare

To help lower wait times at on-post childcare facilities and reduce costs for those who must seek more expensive off-post care options, Weimer said the service has set a goal to staff 90% of its child development centers' capacity.

Weimer added that the service raised employee salaries and is assisting staff with permanent change of station moves to retain current CDC staff members. He said the next step is to help employees secure a new CDC position at their next duty station by contacting other Army and joint base CDCs.

"Maximizing our staffs to ensure that we're maximizing the capacity of each one of our child development centers is our No. 1 strategy right now," Weimer said. "We struggle to keep our employees sometimes because they'll have the credentials after serving in a couple of our CDCs, and you can go outside the installation and get hired quickly."

Weimer said the service is also seeking alternative solutions to provide better access to care at installations with high numbers of Soldiers working alternative shifts, such as drill sergeants, medical professionals or military police.

"This is a wicked challenge," he said. "We hear you; we also hear our drill sergeants and our medical folks, and all our folks that work odd shifts, because that's the other piece too. … So, we're trying to come up with unique solutions."

Since the hiring freeze on CDC employees lifted in March 2025, commanders can now hire directly for critical needs, including CDCs.

Improving PCS support

The Army began reassessing how to improve housing for Army families after the War Department ended the military's housing contract with HomeSafe Alliance in June 2025. As part of that assessment, the department extended the window to file itemized claims in the Defense Personal Property System from nine months to 12 months after the delivery date.

Army Maj. Gen. Lance Curtis, commander of the Army Transportation Command and the Personal Property Activity, encourages service members to use the PCS call center, launched by the PCS Joint Task Force in August 2025. Soldiers can call 833-MIL-MOVE or email [email protected] for assistance. They can also log on to www.ppa.mil, a multipurpose website that consolidates moving assistance and required paperwork.

"For the first time, we have a one-stop shopping website," Curtis said. "It has every single form. It has links to YouTube on how to do something the right way. Any question you could have, start to finish, to include the claims process, you can find on that website."

Finding stability for spouse employment

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher C. LaNeve said the Army has been actively working with other military branches to provide more full-time and part-time employment options for military spouses.

Military spouses face employment challenges when service members move to a new duty assignment, having to apply for new positions or relicense in a new state to maintain their professional standing. LaNeve said the Army is exploring different job options, including teleworking and remote work, to help address these problems.

On Aug. 3, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the Military Spouse Commission to improve the quality of life for military spouses and families and to strengthen readiness.

Chaired by Jennifer Hegseth, wife of War Secretary Hegseth, the commission will advise the president on policies related to military families and spouses. The commission will engage directly with military spouses on quality-of-life challenges and make recommendations on housing, health care and childcare.