YourCorps

[FIVEFACTS]
F-53B OPERATING COSTS
1 The Marine Corps head of aviation believes the military can cut the operating cost of the F-35 if it learns from the MV-22 Osprey. 2 At the Paris Air Show, Lt. Gen. Robert Schmidle said cutting operating costs for the Marine Corps F-35B jump-jet variant, has become a top priority for the program. 3 The Marine Corps brought down the Ospreys per-hour flight cost by 20 percent, he said. Thats what officials are trying to do now with the F-35. 4 One way Marines saved: Doing most F-35 repairs on location, rather than sending broken parts to depots. 5 The Corps is eyeing the possibility that Ospreys could be used to fuel or arm F-35s, which would extend their range.

Corps empowers BEQ managers to keep new living quarters nice and orderly
I was in a brand new barracks a couple weeks ago doing a pre-inThe Marine Corps is working to spection, she said. We had a chair protect its $2.5 billion investment missing and an insert to a desk is in new residential facilities by re- missing. [The Marines] looked at forming how it selects and trains me like, theres supposed to be a barracks managers and redefining chair in here? The Marine Corps uses a comwhats expected of them. Forthcoming revisions to the Ma- puterized system to track mainterine Corps housing order will re- nance issues and barracks quire managers to run a tight ship property and deter negligence. But the problem, Simmerand have the time and exman said, is that too perience to stay on top of many barracks mantheir responsibilities, Maagers arent trained to rine officials say. By the Is your barracks a use the system properend of July, installation sanctuary or a barracks managers across three-ring circus? What ly, and often arent invested enough in their the service will have com- would you like to see roles to learn the basics pleted a six-part course changed? Send us a of barracks managecovering management ba- letter to the editor: sics, from checking in new marinelet@marine ment. Theres a high turnMarines to conducting rou- corpstimes.com. over of barracks mantine inspections and inventory control. So by the end of this agers, she said, noting that often year, barracks dwellers in the U.S. these jobs are filled by noncommisand overseas can expect to see sionedofficersorstaffNCOsawaitmore emphasis on the where- ing separation from the service or abouts of room furniture, mainte- otherwise nondeployable. Theyre nance issues and the upkeep of usually in the billets for six months with no training. their living spaces. The Corps older barracks, built in the 1950s and 60s, are fairly New tools for NCOs spartan, with little to protect or to Thats about to change. The updestroy. But some of the new bar- dated housing order will create a racks, such as the Bachelor Enlist- specific job description for bared Quarters Package 5 that opened racks managers. It will be similar aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., in to a B-billet, she said, bringing an 2011, are luxurious by comparison, end to haphazard management featuring rugs and wooden furni- styles and minimizing turnover. ture in living quarters and overUnderthenewplan,enlistedbarstuffed chairs and stone picnic racks managers will be corporals tables in common areas. And some and sergeants with a minimum of items are already going missing, two years in the Corps. Theyll hold said Mary Simmerman, director of the billet for a minimum of one year the bachelor housing division at and receive training twice anCamp Lejeune, N.C. nually. By Hope Hodge
hhodge@militarytimes.com
LANCE CPL. ADAM JOHNSTON/MARINE CORPS

A boss for the barracks

[TELLUS]

By the end of this year, barracks dwellers in the U.S. and overseas can expect to see more emphasis on the whereabouts of room furniture, maintenance issues and the overall upkeep of living spaces. Modern barracks rooms, like this one in Bachelor Enlisted Quarters Package 5 at Camp Pendleton, Calif., include contemporary fixtures such as automatic LED lights and up to three sinks. Officials want to ensure the Corps new facilities stay nice and well maintained.

LEAVE NO BUNNY BEHIND

If you havent seen the photographs yet of a Navy corpsman feeding baby bunnies, its probably just a matter of time. A Reddit user posted them online, and they went viral after the website Buzzfeed picked them up. In comments on the site, he says he is a corpsman who found the four baby bunnies while raking the volleyball court near his barracks. When he realized that the mother rabbit had died, he picked up the babies, put them in a box and took them home to bottle-feed them. The story has a happy ending: when the rabbits were a few months old, the corpsman brought them to a wildlife rescue site so they could live on their own.

RESPONSIBILITIES
An overview of a barracks managers duties: n Room assignments and terminations. n Receiving, investigating and resolving occupant complaints. n Maintaining daily use reports, occupancy reports and work productivity indexes. n Conducting routine building and grounds maintenance inspection. n Initiating repair/improvement projects for the barracks. n Maintaining key control accountability. n Initiating requests for administrative and operational supplies to the Supply/Logistics Division.
SOURCE: MARINE CORPS ORDER 11000.22

[ONLINEVIDEO]
Marines train in Jordan as part of joint exercise Eager Lion, which wrapped up June 20. Watch them fire missiles and parachute from aircraft at militarytimes.com/videonetwork. Keywords: Eager Lion

EAGER LION

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SMALLER VESTS

The Corps is ordering body armor in three new sizes for shorter Marines. Page 20

Marine Corps Times July 1, 2013

With a dedicated role for barracks managers, Simmerman said, these Marines have more of a sense of accomplishment in what theyre doing. Greater continuity and dedication, she said, will be very beneficial. Barracks managers will use computerized checklists to inventory

room furnishings and accurately track occupancy, producing monthly reports that should help the Corps reach its 2+0 occupancy standard of two enlisted troops to each room and bathroom. Additionally, when used properly, the system can pinpoint Marines with ahistoryofwreckingtheirroomsor damaging furniture, enabling managers to alert the command and put a stop to such problems. At a few barracks aboard Camp Lejeune, officials also are testing a scanning system that will embed information directly into furniture via a bar code label, making it easier to track where barracks inventory has been and where it belongs. The updated housing order is expected to be finalized in the coming months, Simmerman said. With its publication will come new installation-specific desk guides, which will be issued to each barracks manager so the information they need is always within reach. N

CUTTING SCORES

See who made the cut. Page 23

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