Republican Lawmaker CONFRONTS Hegseth Over “Unlivable” Conditions At Texas Base!

追加: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Mr. Secretary, my Milcon VA subcommittee is aware of living conditions of the 68 W combat medic students at the Joint Base San Antonio.

[00:00:14]Frankly, they're very unacceptable and quite unlivable.

[00:00:20]Uh, as chairman of Milcon Committee, I'm deeply concerned that there appears to be no imminent path forward to fix these issues.

[00:00:30]>> That was not a Democratic senator. That was not a progressive critic of the Pentagon. That was a Republican congressman, a member of the Milcon VA subcommittee, a lawmaker whose job is military construction oversight, whose constituents include Fort Hood, one of the largest military installations in the United States. And he was telling Pete Hegseth to his face that soldiers training to be combat medics are living in conditions that are unacceptable, unlivable. His words. Not inadequate, not substandard, unlivable. And then, before Hegseth could fully process the housing question, the congressman moved to something that affects operational readiness even more directly, the zeroing out of funding for three major Army helicopter programs, Apaches, Black Hawks, Chinooks, all three zeroed out in the FY 27 budget, despite the Army saying these aircraft will operate for decades, including the Chinook, a helicopter with no replacement for heavy lift operations. Gone from the budget.

[00:01:36]This was a Republican congressman asking why the Pentagon is leaving soldiers in unlivable housing while simultaneously eliminating funding for the aircraft that keep American forces capable. Watch how Hegseth handled it.

[00:01:49]>> Start off with something something I'm concerned about.

[00:01:52]Uh, Mr. Secretary, my Milcon VA subcommittee is aware of living conditions of the 68 W combat medic students at the Joint Base San Antonio.

[00:02:08]Frankly, they're very unacceptable and quite unlivable.

[00:02:13]Uh as chairman of the MilCon committee, I'm deeply concerned there appears to be no imminent path forward to fix these issues.

[00:02:24]What actions is the department taking to improve and sure our soldiers receive safe and dignified housing not now and not in the years to come.

[00:02:38]Our budget cannot fix that.

[00:02:42]It means that we don't have enough money.

[00:02:44]You got all the money.

[00:02:46]What do you think about that?

[00:02:49]>> First of all, let's fix that. Whatever whatever unit that is, we want to know about it and we're going to get a team out there right away to address it. And we've used discrete examples like that to find the gaps in why we're not getting at it on a more at a more holistic fashion cuz we we've came in on a huge deficit of maintenance on barracks and housing. This This budget >> This budget funds that. It also We're also going to pursue MilCon reform because in too many places we're trying to build things around MilCon as opposed to using MilCon because MilCon is so bureaucratic and slow in its process.

[00:03:20]So, we look forward to working with you to to fix that, not just these dis this discrete barracks issue, but where we found them, we fixed it and then we've energized the system through a barracks task force to to flow money exactly where it needs to go.

[00:03:33]>> Notice what Heck said right there.

[00:03:35]Congressman Carter told him that combat medic students are living in unlivable conditions at one of the largest joint bases in the country. And Heck said, "Whatever unit that is, we want to know about it. We're going to get a team out there right away." Joint Base San Antonio, one of the most prominent military installations in the United States, home to medical training programs for the Army. The congressman who sits on the Milken VA subcommittee, the committee specifically responsible for military construction, had to brief the Secretary of Defense about conditions at a major Texas base. The Secretary of Defense was not already aware. He said, "Whatever unit that is."

[00:04:16]That sentence, "Whatever unit that is," is the most revealing moment of the exchange, because it tells you that the housing crisis at Joint Base San Antonio had not reached the desk of the person responsible for the entire Department of Defense. A Republican congressman on the Military Construction Committee had to bring it to him in a hearing, on camera, and then Carter moved to the helicopters. And that is where the readiness crisis became undeniable.

[00:04:44]>> I represent Fort Hood, the home of the uh first air cavalry division brigade operating Apaches, Blackhawks, and Chinook helicopters.

[00:04:58]I'm concerned that the FY27 budget request does not support these programs, essentially zeroing out funding across the three platforms.

[00:05:11]Despite the Army stating that we're going to use these aircraft and they will operate for decades to come.

[00:05:19]With that, the Chinook has no replacement for heavy lift mission.

[00:05:26]Now, will the Department manage aviation modernization? And how will they do that without creating readiness problems and capability gaps in the future? What's the plan?

[00:05:41]Future Lift is not like the Chinook.

[00:05:47]>> Sir, I think it's a very fair point. I think it goes to the previous mindset of divest to invest that was an austerity point of view that we inherited at our department. Uh we've made some changes at the Army. We might have a slightly different view of the Army Transformation Initiative. Some of it is very good. There's a lot of goodness in there, but I think there are some things that assumed uh future platforms that may not be there yet. Take the Apache for example, which uh our our warfighters rely on and love.

[00:06:13]Take the Chinook, which is used all all the time. We need to make sure we've got something there for it uh before you divest or it it we're not investing in that capability. So, we look forward to reviewing that with you and ensuring that we don't have a gap.

[00:06:26]>> Yeah, because the budget doesn't have anything. It zeros out all three of those.

[00:06:31]As far as we read it.

[00:06:34]>> Well, then I I'd like to take I'll take another look at that with our team.

[00:06:37]>> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[00:06:39]>> The 68W military occupational specialty is the Army's combat medic. These are the soldiers who provide emergency medical care in active combat environments, who stabilize the wounded under fire, who are the difference between life and death for service members in the field. They train at Joint Base San Antonio, one of the military's major medical training hubs.

[00:07:02]And according to Congressman Carter, who chairs the MilCon VA subcommittee, whose job is specifically to oversee military construction and housing, those students are living in conditions that are very unacceptable and quite unlivable. Let's be precise about what that means. The MilCon VA subcommittee has oversight authority over the physical infrastructure of the military. Carter has access to information about conditions at military installations that most members of Congress do not have in this level of detail. When he says conditions are unlivable, he is not making a rhetorical point. He is making an assessment based on his committee's direct oversight function. And he added something that makes the housing crisis even more serious. He said there appears to be no imminent path forward to fix these issues. No imminent path forward at a major joint base for students training in one of the most critical medical specialties in the Army. In a department that is requesting a massive budget increase and claims to be the most supportive administration in history when it comes to the military.

[00:08:07]Hexeth's response, let's fix that. We'll get a team out there right away is the correct rhetorical response. But it contains a problem that Katus' question had already identified. Hexeth said, "Whatsoever unit that is, we want to know about it. Whatsoever unit that is."

[00:08:24]This is Joint Base San Antonio, a major installation with over 100,000 military personnel, retirees, and civilian employees. One of the most significant military hubs in the continental United States. The home of Army medical training. And the Secretary of Defense, in a hearing in front of the Milken Committee, said, "Whatsoever unit that is." He did not know. He was not aware.

[00:08:49]The housing crisis at Joint Base San Antonio had not made it to the desk of the person running the Department of Defense. This is the gap between the rhetoric of supporting the troops and the reality of institutional management.

[00:09:02]Supporting the troops means knowing the conditions they are living in. Means having systems that surface those conditions to leadership before a congressman has to bring them up in a hearing. Means having a maintenance and housing program robust enough that unlivable conditions at a major base are caught and addressed before they require congressional intervention. The barracks task force Hexeth referenced, the mechanism he described for flowing money exactly where it needs to go, clearly had not reached Joint Base San Antonio.

[00:09:31]Because the congressman on the military construction committee was describing conditions there as unlivable. Hicks has also said the department came in on a huge deficit of maintenance on barracks and housing. That is a legitimate point.

[00:09:44]Military housing and barracks maintenance has been chronically underfunded across multiple administrations. The deferred maintenance backlog is real and significant. But here is the problem with that defense. This administration is requesting a budget increase of historic proportions, and the argument that the maintenance deficit was inherited while soldiers at Joint Base San Antonio are living in unlivable conditions, and the budget may not be sufficient to address it, suggests that the budget priorities within that massive increase may not be aligned with the basic obligation to house service members in dignified conditions. Then Carter moved to Fort Hood and the helicopter programs. And this is where the readiness question became systemic rather than facility-specific.

[00:10:30]Fort Hood is home to the First Air Cavalry Division Brigade, operating Apaches, the Army's primary attack helicopter, Black Hawks, the Army's primary utility helicopter, Chinooks, the Army's heavy lift helicopter. These are not niche platforms. These are the core rotary wing assets of the United States Army. The Apache provides close air support and anti-armor capability.

[00:10:54]The Black Hawk carries troops, MEDEVAC patients, and supplies across the battlefield. The Chinook, the largest helicopter in the Army's inventory, lifts heavy equipment, artillery, and large numbers of troops in ways no other platform can. In the FY27 budget, the Pentagon's proposed spending plan for fiscal year 2027 essentially zeros out funding across all three programs.

[00:11:20]Carter has said it directly, "The budget does not support these programs."

[00:11:25]Essentially zeroing out funding across the three platforms. Despite, and this is the critical point, the Army stating that these aircraft will operate for decades to come. The Army itself has assessed that Apaches, Blackhawks, and Chinooks will remain in service for an extended period. These are not programs being retired because the aircraft are worn out or technologically obsolete.

[00:11:49]They are programs being zeroed out in a budget while the Army simultaneously says it will continue flying them. That creates a gap. If you are going to fly these aircraft for decades, you need to fund their sustainment, their maintenance, their upgrades, their spare parts, their training. Zeroing out the funding does not retire the aircraft. It starves them, makes them progressively less ready, creates maintenance backlogs that degrade operational capability. And the Chinook problem is particularly acute. McCarthy said it plainly, "The Chinook has no replacement for heavy lift mission. No replacement. The Army does not currently have a platform that can do what the Chinook does." There is no next-generation heavy-lift helicopter in production that can step in. If you zero out funding for Chinook sustainment and modernization while the Army continues to operate the aircraft, you are creating a readiness crisis without an exit. McCarthy's response to the helicopter question contained an admission that deserves more attention than it received. He said, "I think it goes to the previous mindset of divest to invest. That was an austerity point of view that we inherited at our department." Divest to invest is a Pentagon strategy that became prominent under the previous Army leadership. The theory is that you divest older platforms, reduce investment in legacy systems in order to free up resources to invest in next-generation capabilities.

[00:13:16]The logic is sound in theory. You cannot fund everything. Trade aging platforms for transformational technologies. But McCarthy is acknowledging on the record that the current budget reflects an inherited austerity mindset that he believes may have assumed future platforms that may not be there yet.

[00:13:34]That is a significant concession. He is saying that the Army's budget zeroed out funding for Apache, Black Hawk, and Chinook programs in anticipation of next generation replacements that have not materialized. The replacement was assumed. The legacy platform funding was eliminated, but the replacement did not arrive on schedule, which means the Army is now in a position where it has committed to flying aircraft it is no longer adequately funding because the budget assumed those aircraft would be replaced by platforms that are not yet ready. That is a readiness gap created by a strategy that moved too fast. That divested before it had invested. That eliminated the bridge before the new road was built. And Hexith said it himself, some of the Army transformation initiative is very good, but there are things that assumed future platforms that may not be there yet. Carter's concern that zeroing out three major helicopter programs while the Army continues to operate them will create readiness problems and capability gaps is confirmed by the Secretary of Defense's own characterization of the situation. Carter specifically singled out the Chinook, and it is worth understanding why. The CH-47 Chinook is the Army's primary heavy lift helicopter. It can carry approximately 10 tons of external cargo. It is used to move artillery pieces, artillery that cannot be transported any other way by air, to deliver large numbers of troops in a single lift, to supply forward operating bases in terrain that ground vehicles cannot reach, to recover downed aircraft. There is no other platform in the Army's current or planned inventory that can perform these functions at the same scale. The future long range assault aircraft, the next generation rotary wing program the Army has been developing is a medium lift replacement for the Black Hawk, not a heavy lift replacement for the Chinook. There is no Chinook replacement program. The Army has extended the Chinook's service life multiple times. The current plan is to operate the aircraft into the 2060s. If you are going to operate a helicopter platform into the 2060s, you cannot zero out its funding in 2027. You need to fund its block two modernization. Its engine upgrades, its avionics improvements, its sustainment, the things that keep a 1960s designed aircraft relevant and capable in a 2060s threat environment. Carter made exactly this point, and Hegseth, to his credit, acknowledged it rather than dismissing it. He said, "We need to make sure we've got something there for the Chinook before you divest." And he committed to taking another look at that with his team. But take another look is not a budget commitment. In the FY27 budget, the one currently being considered, zeros out the funding. The commitment to review it does not change the document that is currently being voted on. This hearing matters for a reason that goes beyond its specific policy content.

[00:16:35]Congressman Carter is a Republican. He represents Fort Hood. He chairs the milk and VA subcommittee. He is not a critic of the administration looking for attack angles. He is a member of the committee that oversees military construction.

[00:16:50]Doing his job, and his job required him to tell the Republican Secretary of Defense that soldiers are living in unlivable conditions at Joint Base San Antonio, and that the Republican budget is zeroing out funding for three major helicopter platforms that the Army itself says it will operate for decades.

[00:17:08]These are not partisan attacks. They are documented, specific, committee-based findings from a lawmaker who who this administration and represents the communities most affected by these decisions. When a Republican on the military construction committee says the housing conditions are unacceptable and the helicopter funding is zeroed out, that is a bipartisan accountability moment. It cannot be dismissed as political opposition. It is institutional oversight from within the party responsible for the decisions being scrutinized. And HASC if his response is, "Whatever unit that is, let's fix it, take another look with the team, reveal the gap between the administration's rhetoric about supporting the troops and the operational reality of how those troops are being housed and equipped."

[00:17:54]Supporting the troops means knowing conditions at major installations before congressman tells you in a hearing. It means budgeting for the A-craft the Army says it will fly for decades. It means having a path forward for housing improvements before a committee member calls them unlivable. Pull back, look at the full picture. An administration requesting the largest defense budget in American history, asking for hundreds of billions of dollars more in supplemental appropriations, claiming to be the strongest supporter of the military in the country's history, and a Republican congressman on the military construction committee telling the Secretary of Defense that combat medic students are living in unlivable conditions at Joint Base San Antonio, and that the budget zeros out funding for Apaches, Black Hawks, and Chinooks, the three primary helicopter platforms of the Army, despite the Army's plan to operate them for decades. HASC if did not know about the housing conditions before the hearing. He committed to fix something he was finding out about from congressman. The helicopter funding gap was confirmed by his own characterization of the budget as reflecting an inherited austerity mindset that assumed platforms that are not there yet. The gap between the rhetoric and the reality is not a partisan conclusion. It is the documented finding of a Republican oversight committee in a Republican controlled Congress in a hearing where the Secretary of Defense acknowledged in his own words that the budget may not adequately fund the aircraft the army intends to fly. Congressman Carter came with specific concerns. He got commitments to look into things. Those commitments are now on the record. What happens next? Whether the housing at Joint Base San Antonio gets fixed, whether the Chinook funding is restored, whether the Apache and Black Hawk programs get the sustainment resources they need, is the real test of what supporting the troops actually means in practice. The hearing put the question on the record. The answer will come in the next budget and the one after that.