The $700 billion Defense Authorization Bill which President Trump will sign today includes a key provision for San Antonio...new residence halls for trainees at Lackland Air Force Base, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Robert Rubio of the 37th Training Wing tells 1200 WOAI's Michael Board that the current barracks were built in the 1960s, and are inadequate to meet today's training requirements.
"As we increase the number of young men and women we bring into the Air Force, we must build higher quality dormitories and classrooms for our Airmen," Rubio said.
When the current dorms were built, for example, there were no women in Air Force Basic Training. That has changed significantly, with women now making up a third or more of many trainee flights, and the dormitories must accommodate that new generation of Airmen.
Rubio says, just like colleges are upgrading their dorms to meet today's standards that young people require, the military needs to do the same.
He says attempting to keep the existing nearly sixty year old dorms up to standards is just too expensive.
"They have enormous operating costs and are very expensive to repair to maintain baseline quality of life standards," he said of the existing facilities.
The bill also grants an across the board 2.6% pay raise for military members, the largest military pay raise in a decade.