Medal of Honor recipient Meyer tours 30 bases to fix troop barracks

Some U.S. troops have gone a year without hot water, and others sleep in their cars to escape barracks with no air conditioning. That is what Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer says he has found since War Secretary Pete Hegseth tapped him to fix the military's barracks.

Meyer, a senior advisor to the Pentagon's Barracks Task Force, told Fox News Digital on Thursday that he has toured more than eight installations across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps and plans to reach 30 before the end of the year. He said he has seen only "a couple" of barracks he considers good.

The stories are blunt. Meyer described mold, broken air conditioners and troops who ask only for drywall, spackle and paint so they can repair rooms themselves. At one base, he said, a 19-year-old service member told him that if she had a "magic wand" she would ask for a hot shower. Meyer called it "absolutely heartbreaking."

The problem is not new. A 2023 Government Accountability Office investigation found serious health and safety hazards and said the department lacked reliable data on barracks conditions and had weak oversight. Twelve of GAO's 31 recommendations remain outstanding this year, and a separate watchdog review found a $285 billion maintenance backlog across the Pentagon's wider facilities.

Meyer said money alone is not the answer. Continuing resolutions, deferred maintenance and contracting rules make it "easier for people to say no," he argued, and commanders often lack the authority to act. Congress has not passed full-year defense appropriations for fiscal 2027, and the Pentagon is running on a continuing resolution through Dec. 11.

One of Meyer's first requests was that Hegseth give the task force an "authoritative role" rather than add another layer of oversight, so it can direct funding and speed delivery. He said Hegseth wants results, not more studies. Asked what "fixed" means, Meyer said troops should be living in places he would be comfortable with for his daughters. If the barracks are not fixed, he said, he is "only one person to blame."