This barracks building for junior enlisted personnel is being renovated and will be returned to use by October at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni as part of the Whole Room Program. (Greg Tyler / Stars and Stripes)
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan — To show off their major renovation project, housing officials here are giving before-and-after tours of Iwakuni barracks.
Cpl. Holly Benton is in one of the “before” rooms. With five months left in a stint with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12, she said she already looks forward to moving out. Her female-only barracks floor has a “gang head,” or communal restroom and shower area. “It’s really an old building, for one thing, and it’s not very well maintained,” Benton said. “Look at the walls … and the little mini-fridge in my room hasn’t worked since I moved in.”
Contrasts with renovated barracks are dramatic: No more sharing a bathroom with everyone on the floor. Larger rooms. New beds, comfortable chairs. Microwaves, coffee pots and American-sized refrigerators in the rooms.
“We want to make these living quarters ... a comfortable place in which they might actually look forward to spending some time at the end of a hard day of work,” said Bachelor Housing Director Bill Salter.
Kirby Franklin, manager of bachelor housing for permanent residents, said, “We want personnel to feel like these facilities are ... nice enough that they wouldn’t hesitate inviting Mom and Dad inside.”
The living-quarter improvements are under way for many permanently based single officers and enlisted servicemembers, and personnel billeted here via the Marine Corps’ six-month Unit Deployment Program.
Headquarters Marine Corps is funding the multimillion-dollar renovations, officials say. The upgrades are being guided by the Marine Corps’ Whole Room Concept, which calls for housing only two servicemembers per room, with a shared bathroom.
WRC standards also assure Marines and sailors have specific amounts of living space based on rank.
Housing officials said upgrades at each barracks facility cost from $1 million to $4 million. Renovations include new walls where needed, paint, electrical systems, fire sprinkler systems, heat and air conditioning, bathroom lavatories and showers, new vanities, mirrors and carpeting.
Old furnishings are moved out and new furnishings are moved in, housing officials said. And in some completed facilities, servicemembers get daily maid service.
Iwakuni’s Housing Director Sue Kear, Salter and Franklin said help from the air station’s military commands has helped speed the work. They particularly lauded contributions by Marine Sgt. Chad Vanetten.
Said Vanetten: “One thing we did was unload six fully loaded trucks of new furniture in six hours, then loaded and dumped more than 19,000 pounds of old furniture from the old barracks buildings.
“Another time ... I put together a 40-man crew. Without any of our Marines experiencing interruptions in their regular work, we moved 250 Marines and sailors in 96 hours from older quarters to renovated barracks.”
Vanetten said he told housing officials, “whatever help they need during the renovations, I’m there for them. These barracks improvements really enrich the quality of life for our Marines and sailors ... it makes them … much more motivated.”
This barracks building for junior enlisted personnel is being renovated and will be returned to use by October at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni as part of the Whole Room Program. (Greg Tyler / Stars and Stripes)
Kirby Franklin, an official with Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni's Bachelor Housing Division, shows some of the new furnishings that were recently placed in one of the renovated barracks buildings as part of the Marine Corps' Whole Room Program. (Greg Tyler / Stars and Stripes)
Bachelor Housing Division official Richard Marquez fluffs the pillows on a double bed Wednesday in a room designated for bachelor officers rated 0-3 and below at a recently renovated barracks at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. (Greg Tyler / Stars and Stripes)
Bill Salter, director of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni's Bachelor Housing Division, in one of the renovated barracks buildings. (Greg Tyler / Stars and Stripes)
Bill Salter, director of Iwakuni's Bachelor Housing Division, shows some of the closet space in one of the renovated barracks rooms. (Greg Tyler / Stars and Stripes)
