The cost for this phase, sir, per square foot, compares very favorably with the phase I costs except for the costs of construction rise that has occurred since that time. There has been about a 3-percent rise in construction cost each year, sir, in the past, which you will find most anywhere you go in the United States.

Senator INOUYE. I notice, General, many of your existing World War II facilities are being demolished in the event these items are allowed. May I request a report on whether you do recover any money from such demolition?

General SHULER. Yes, sir; I will place that in the record. I will say that normally these buildings, being as old as they are, built in World War II, 20 years ago, using whatever materials we could grab at that time, there was very rapid construction, a lot of the lumber was green, uncured. Usually we have to pay the contractor to demolish them and take the debris away. But there are some cases where the contractor will pay us for some residual value, and I will try to furnish for the record, sir, some information in this regard.

(The information referred to follows:)

The disposition of buildings and other improvements to real property which must be removed from land to make way for new military construction projects is handled under two procedures as follows: when property utilization requirements and planned military construction schedules will permit advance disposition of such improvements, action is taken to advertise and dispose of such improvements by invitations for competitive bids for sale of the improvements for removal from the site. When the timing is such that advance sales procedures cannot be thus employed the disposition is accomplished by providing for demolition and site clearance as a part of the new construction contract. Under the first procedure receipts from the sales are deposited into the Treasury. Under the second procedure the successful bidder on the construction contract takes into consideration any material benefits resulting from the salvage of improvements, which benefits are reflected in military construction costs to the Government. Normally the return to the Government from the salvage operations is very small due to the cost of labor involved in demolition and the age and deterioration of the improvements.

Senator INOUYE. Senator Tower?

Senator TOWER. Are there some instances where those buildings are 'sufficiently structurally sound where they can be sold and moved off the premises?

General SHULER, Senator, with this type of building I do not believe there are, sir. They are in such bad condition-they were built for a 5-year life expectancy. It has been 20 years. There are some places where the climate has been better than in other locations in the States, and some of these are in better condition. But I would not like to see the Army put another nickel into maintaining these buildings. It is just pouring money down a rathole.

Senator TOWER. Thank you.

Senator INOUYE. Please proceed, sir.

General SHULER. On page 72 is a repetitive item for rifle squad tactical ranges. This is the same, exactly the same type item we have already covered at Fort Jackson, sir, and it is for our Train Fire II type firing. It consists of the technique of the fire range, battle drill and assault range, squad attack range, and day and night defense range. This teaches the individual soldier to operate his weapons with his teammates in a squad, platoon, and company, and in larger units by very realistic field firing, sir. This is to build the ranges in order to do this.

Page 73 is a repetitive item for enlisted women's barracks with mess, We have a deficiency here for the enlisted women, sir, of this amount. We are requesting, and this will take care of, the women's requirements in this area. They are presently in old temporary enlisted men's barracks, sir.

The next item, page 74, we have a request for part of an enlisted men's barracks complex which you see is in the amount of $9 million, which is for 7 enlisted men's barracks instead of the total of 10; 3 of the 5 company messes instead of the total of 4; 3 battalion headquarters and classrooms, 5 companies each, instead of a total of 4, and the same thing for the administration and storage buildings.

The only reason we did not come in for a full complex here, sir, was a budgetary one. We had to go ahead on the second phase of the Signal School, and we did not think it was proper to put any more money this year into Fort Gordon, considering the needs of all the rest of our stations. So you can expect next year or the next we will be in for the remainder of this enlisted barracks complex, sir.

Senator INOUYE. What is the estimated cost of the final phase? General SHULER. The final phase, sir, would raise the total to about a little over $13 million. There will be a little over $4 million for the remainder, sir.

Senator TOWER. Mr. Chairman, we are just now beginning to see a rather considerable and general attrition on these old barracks throughout the country. Is that why we are being hit with so many of them right now?

General SHULER. Yes, sir. We put the heat on this as far as the Pentagon is concerned starting in about fiscal year 1963, and we have tried to get up to a rate where we could get this problem licked within about 10 years from fiscal year 1965. Many of these buildings are going to be either on the ground or condemned before that, Senator Tower. It is a real problem to us. In fact, the barracks are only one part of it.

The whole replacement program for World War II type construction runs a little over $3 billion worth, and we are trying to peck away each year at this problem before it just falls down around our ears and becomes an unmanageable problem.

Senator TOWER. This question may have been asked already and answered, but what is the expected life, let us say, of the barracks complex you contemplate building here?

General SHULER. These are permanent buildings, sir. They are reinforced concrete. I stated before, that as an engineer, I expect them to be around 75 years from now,

Senator TOWER. Very good.

sir.

Senator INOUYE. General, following the question asked by Senator Tower, I note that the total program of replacing World War II structures would take about $3 billion.

General SHULER. The total program would take about $3 billion, and we have got the level in the total program up to about $260 million requested this year. We have come up each year since fiscal year 1963. We would like to get up to $300 million so as to handle this thing within a reasonable number of years, 8 to 10 years. For instance, in fiscal year 1965, the level was $170 million that Congress gave us. In fiscal year 1964 it was $117 million. Now at the $117 million rate

you can readily see will take 20 to 30 years to lick this problem, and these buildings are going to be long gone before then, sir, so it is almost a necessity to do something each year to peck away at this problem. Senator INOUYE. At the rate you propose we should complete this replacement program within 8 to 10 years?

General SHULER. Yes, sir. If we could get up about $40 million more next year so as to attain a $300 million rate, and then maintain that, we would lick the problem on replacing our World War II temporary structures within 8 to 10 years.

Senator Tower. In other words, ultimately this has all got to be done, so we may as well program as much of it as we can now.

General SHULER. Yes, sir. I am only talking about our permanent stations in 50 States. We do not build permanent construction in any other places unless we have an earthquake or typhoon condition. Senator INOUYE. Please proceed, sir.

General SHULER. The next item, page 76 at Fort Gordon, is an enlisted men's service club. At present, sir, the World War II mobilization type buildings are used. They have outlived their useful life, and we feel we need this very badly. We have a deficiency here in this regard of 83,400 square feet. You do not have a single square foot of permanent type facility that we can use as an enlisted men's service club at this station.

Senator INOUYE. How many men will this club accommodate? What is the population?

General SHULER. 6,520 enlisted men will use this club, sir, not at one time, but will use it.

Senator INOUYE. Please proceed, sir.

General SHULER. Actually the design capacity is for 5,000 men, but the figure I gave you was the number of enlisted men that will be served.

FORT JACKSON, S.C.

General SHULER. The next station is Fort Jackson on page 77, we covered that earlier, sir, when Senator Thurmond was present this morning, as you will recall. So if I may skip over that, sir, we can continue on.

FORT RUCKER, ALA.

General SHULER. Page 83, sir, Fort Rucker in Alabama. This is our Army Aviation Training Center for all fixed wing aircraft and for advanced rotary wing training. We do primary rotary wing training at Fort Wolters in Texas. This is an extremely important station to us. Not only do we teach flying but we teach certain maintenance, as I explained this morning, that is, the organizational or first and second echelon maintenance of aircraft at this station.

Senator INOUYE. General, what is the present status of the funded authorization not yet in inventory?

General SHULER. The status, sir, of the $9,448,000 not in inventory yet is $631,000 completed, $6,186,000 under contract, under construction, and $2,631,000 to be awarded by the end of this fiscal year or the very start of the next fiscal year, sir.

Senator INOUYE. Please proceed, sir.

General SHULER. We are asking for three line items, aircraft maintenance facilities, bachelor officers' quarters, and a commissary store.

In the aircraft maintenance facilities, this will replace temporary type World War II buildings now used for administration, supply and maintenance of 878 Army type aircraft at this center.

The present buildings are not conducive to maintaining the strict standards required on aircraft maintenance operations. Most of the buildings are improperly lighted, improperly heated, and improperly ventilated, and not designed for the purpose.

Over 400 aircraft are worked on daily, and this will assist us, sir, in this mission. We have a requirement for 101,300 square feet, and we do not have one single permanent structure, sir, of this variety at this station. I think this is a very important item, sir.

This, of course, cleans up the requirements. This request is for this total deficiency I cited.

Senator TOWER. General, this is wholly maintenance. This does not overlap with the activity at Corpus Christi?

General SHULER. Corpus Christi handles the fifth echelon, the rebuild, and it is the only facility we have that does that. There is no overlap.

Senator TOWER. Yes.

General SHULER. The next item at Fort Rucker, sir, is on page 86, and is a bachelor officers' quarters. This is a repetitive type item. We have a 301 space deficiency. This would give us 120 spaces. This is an isolated station, sir. The nearest town is Ozark, a small town which is 10 miles away from the station.

These bachelors are living as best they can in very dilapidated and inadequate facilities, sir. This morning Colonel Johnson used the figure; was it $36,000?

Colonel JOHNSON. Yes, sir.

General SHULER. Of an investment we have in an officer who has been trained and has completed his first 2 years in the service, which is $36,000. We want this man to stay with us, and one of the important things we think is a decent place for him to live.

The fact that he is not married is of his own choosing, and we feel he should be treated equally with married officers.

Senator INOUYE. Proceed.

General SHULER. The next item at Fort Rucker is a commissary store. I believe we have only two commissary requests in this program. As I say, this is an isolated location. The nearest town that has any size at all is Dothan, 17 miles away, which is 32,000 population. This will give us, sir, an opportunity to provide proper commissary services for the personnel here.

The present store we are using is contained in a converted warehouse building which, due to its basic construction, does not provide sufficient space for our display of merchandise, or for the food preparation and processing area. We do not have proper storage areas, and the continued operation of this store in its present location is impractical from the convenience, efficiency and expense standpoint.

The installation has opened a store annex in an old former stable and increased sales hours up to 60 hours per week. However, we still have congestion and overcrowding. We feel this is a very legitimate request, sir.

Senator INOUYE. I note in your basis of requirement you state that the commissary is located 2 to 4 miles from the housing area which has

made it necessary to open a temporary commissary annex in the family housing area.

If this item is granted, will it mean that the branch store will be closed?

General SHULER. Yes, sir. We feel that we can get a proper size commissary in one location, so we are not overcrowded, and that is the reason why we opened the annex, and it was more convenient to open it in the family housing area than to open it some other place on the post. We will close up the annex and operate out of this one efficient facility, sir.

Our normal setup is one, only one commissary, sir, involved on a station where a commissary is allowed. It would be pretty abnormal to have two, although I would say at, for instance, at Fort Hood, where we have probably the largest population of any of our stations, we may require two. We have two Army divisions stationed there, I would say counting civilians, military dependents on station, that would pretty well approach 80,000 people, and that is a very large population. There might be an excuse there for more than one commissary, but we have no request in this program for Fort Hood.

Senator INOUYE. The existing facility, the annex facility, would be used for storage if this item is granted?

General SHULER. There would be three buildings here which will be returned for badly needed warehouse space. I would like to check the building numbers before I answer about the annex. Building No. 2207 will be demolished, it is one of the buildings to be demolished, so it is not an adequate building.

FORT STEWART, GA.

General SHULER. The next station is Fort Stewart in Georgia, on page 88. We are asking here for two items, a new hospital and a heating and air conditioning plant. The hospital is a repetitive item which we have already covered. It is for 38 beds.

Here again, we are replacing an old World War II temporary type hospital that is very spread out. There are 77 one-story buildings constructed in 1941. It is spread over 37 acres. It is very inefficient. It is a fire trap.

This would give us a modern hospital, sir, to serve this station, not only the military personnel but the retired military and the military dependents living on post and off post as we can, sir.

Senator INOUYE. General, if I may go back to the commissary, I have been advised that the commissary at Fort Bliss was converted by the use of surcharge funds. Is this procedure often used?

General SHULER. We charge at cost in our commissaries except fora small surcharge. This generates funds which are available for making small alterations, display cases, things like that. This will not. generate anywhere near the amount of money, sir, that can handle this sort of a request, and we have always come in in the MCA pro-gram and requested our commissaries under MCA. I believe that. much of the Fort Bliss cost was for equipment.

Senator INOUYE. In the construction of this commissary at Fort Rucker will you be using surcharge funds?