(The Center Square) – An app that allows U.S. service members to anonymously post photos of the conditions in military barracks and dining facilities includes images of mold, mice, maggots, cockroaches, brown tap water and broken AC units, among other problems.
The app, called Hots&Cots, allows registered users to post photos and rate facilities with up to five stars. Founder Rob Evans created the app more than a year ago after a Congressional watchdog called attention to longstanding problems with housing for junior enlisted service members. He said the goal is to push the U.S. Department of Defense to improve conditions, something it promised to do after the 2023 report.
Photos posted on Hots&Cots show maggots at the Army’s dining facilities at Fort Liberty in North Carolina along with thermostats with a reading of 90 degrees indoors. At Fort Moore in Georgia, one user posted a photo of brown water coming out of a bathtub. Another shows moldy cream cheese at a dining facility in New Jersey.
The U.S. Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the photos posted on the app.
The site includes dozens of photos of moldy or inedible offerings at military dining facilities across the country. Thermostat photos with uncomfortable temperatures also are common on the site. So are moldy beds. One video on the site shows a service member returning from overseas to a bed covered in mold.
The Center Square wasn’t able to independently verify photos provided to the site, but Evans said the site reviews posts for accuracy.
Evans, a veteran, said he started the app after the 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office.
The 118-page report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office laid bare the conditions of the barracks that house some military service members. The report detailed sewage backups, rodent infestation, mold and inoperable fire suppression systems among the safety hazards that U.S. service members living in barracks face. The report found that such conditions undermine military readiness.
After that report, Brendan Owens, assistant secretary of Defense, Energy Installations and Environment and Chief Housing Officer, said the department had failed the troops and vowed to make improvements.
Evans, a veteran, said he started the app after the 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office.
The 118-page report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office laid bare the conditions of the barracks that house some military service members. The report detailed sewage backups, rodent infestation, mold and inoperable fire suppression systems among the safety hazards that U.S. service members living in barracks face. The report found that such conditions undermine military readiness.
After that report, Brendan Owens, assistant secretary of Defense, Energy Installations and Environment and Chief Housing Officer, said the department had failed the troops and vowed to make improvements.
The GAO report, which included photos of the conditions in some barracks, prompted Congressional hearings and a Pentagon pledge to do better.
The GAO report, which included photos of the conditions in some barracks, prompted Congressional hearings and a Pentagon pledge to do better.
The report also noted that the U.S. Department of Defense doesn’t know how much it spends to maintain barracks or how much money would be needed to fix them.
In March, Pentagon officials said that the $849.8 billion President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Defense Budget included money to improve military housing.
More recently, in August, the Pentagon launched a new feedback system to help address problems with military housing. The Department of Defense launched the DoD Housing Feedback System, an initiative designed to boost transparency and accountability in privatized military housing. The system allows active-duty service members, and their authorized dependents, to submit feedback on their existing leased unit.
The U.S. Department of Defense also did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding how the Housing Feedback System has worked since its launch.
Evans said he runs the site’s day-to-day operations for free, but does allow people who value the app to buy him coffee.
By Brett Rowland | The Center Square
