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Marines get new barracks at Camp Pendleton

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Navy Corpsman Peter Ruggiero, who spent months living in the dust and dirt of Afghanistan, looked at his new barracks room and was impressed.

“I feel like I’ve just checked into a Comfort Inn,” said Ruggiero, 21.

Marine Lance Cpl. Vincent Shafer, 19, wanted to be succinct in his description of his new digs, with the private bath, walk-in closet, microwave, refrigerator and space for a television and computer.

Photos: New barracks

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“It’s so, so … contemporary,” he said.

Marines from the fabled “Old Corps” might grumble at the comforts being provided with the new enlisted barracks. But officers are unmoved by any such complaining.

“Áfter 10 long years of war, you have certainly earned the right to live in these facilities,” Col. James Clark, commander of Marine Logistics Regiment 17, told Marines at a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony.

In 2006, the Marine Corps decided it needed to replace the enlisted barracks at all of its bases. Most of the buildings dated from the 1950s and ‘60s — some back to World War II.

“We had young Marines returning from war to the barracks and telling us they had better housing when they were in Iraq,” said Brian Sanders, head of military construction for the Marine Corps.

The Marine Corps Barracks Board, composed of officers, senior enlisted and senior civilian officials, convened to design a modern barracks. The group’s design bore little resemblance to the past.

The days of Marine Corps barracks life as shown on the television show “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” are over, Clark said. “Nobody wants to go back to living in a big room with 40 other guys,” he said as Marines nodded in agreement.

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Larry Bangert, a former Marine who served in Vietnam and now lives in Encinitas, remembers those days at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune, N.C.: one large room per squad, bunk beds, gang showers, foot lockers, one television for 120 or so guys, constant arguments over what to watch, daily inspections, no privacy.

He likes the new push for better housing. “These guys do three and four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. They deserve a little comfort when they come home,” he said.

On a recent move-in day, the Marines were lugging seabags, rucksacks and boxes of clothes and other belongings. It could have passed for the beginning of fall semester at your local college — except there were no parents to supervise them.

Cpl. Carlos Valle, who has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, scanned his room and declared himself pleased — and a bit surprised. “Everything is so new,” said Valle, 24. “This is not what we’re used to.”

The two-person rooms, at 220 square feet, could pass for college dormitories. If a Marine has too much stuff for his closet, there is more space beneath his lift-up mattress — giving rise to the appellation “coffin rack” to describe the bed.

In the common areas are pool tables, a computer room (with Wi-Fi), laundry facilities, a large kitchen, fireplaces, and 60-inch high-definition televisions (with theater seating with drink holders).

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Outside: horseshoe pits, tennis courts, a nine-hole disc golf course, roller-hockey court, sand volleyball court, basketball courts, putting green, barbecue grills, shaded picnic area, amphitheater, bicycle storage rack and a “boot wash” where Marines can clean their gear so they don’t track mud into their rooms.

In the spirit of “green,” solar panels are on the roof; toilets and landscaping use recycled water; a monitoring system turns off lights when rooms are not in use.

Plans for Camp Pendleton call for six housing “packages,” each of three or four buildings, all located near training and shopping areas. Five of the packages have been completed; construction is rapidly underway on the sixth.

By the end of 2012, the Marine Corps figures to have spent $2.5 billion on barracks buildings to accommodate 25,000 enlisted Marines at 11 bases in the U.S. — from the biggest bases at Twentynine Palms, Calif.; Camp Pendleton; Camp Lejeune, N.C.; and New River, N.C.; to the smallest at Barstow; Yuma, Ariz.; and Albany, Ga.

At Camp Pendleton, the barracks are for unmarried Marines from private to sergeant. Married Marines or single enlisted Marines of higher rank get housing allowances to rent off-base. There is on-base housing for families, based on rank.

At the ribbon-cutting, Brig. Gen. John Broadmeadow, commander of the 1st Marine Logistics Group, was asked if the new barracks won’t undercut the ethos that says Marines bond together as a fighting unit through shared hardship and danger.

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“They get enough of that when they’re forward,” he said, a reference to Afghanistan where many of the Marines and corpsmen have already done one or more deployments and will soon return.

Photos: New barracks

tony.perry@latimes.com

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