As far as military housing goes, Fort Lewis soldiers could do far worse than the barracks of the 62nd Medical Brigade.

Residents type a code into a keypad to gain access to each suite’s shared space, which boasts a kitchen, bathroom and sometimes a washer and dryer. Each bedroom measures 151 square feet and has a walk-in closet.

Matt Barnes, the Fort Lewis garrison command sergeant major, said if he had to live in any barracks on post, this year-old building would be it.

“We’ve come a long way since 1942, when a whole platoon bunked in one barracks,” he said last week during a News Tribune tour of the post’s residences for unmarried enlisted soldiers. “This is really state of the art.”

The on-post death of Leah King, a 16-year-old Lakes High School sophomore, on Feb. 15 has brought attention to soldiers’ living arrangements and how increased privacy is a trust that may occasionally be abused.

King died from a lethal dose of drugs she helped a Fort Lewis soldier obtain, according to charging statements. She was found unresponsive in the barracks, along with another 16-year-old girl who was released from a hospital after treatment.

Pvt. Timothy E. Bennitt, a 19-year-old Indiana resident, is facing involuntary manslaughter and other charges.

With an eye toward independence and privacy, Fort Lewis is in the midst of replacing most of its barracks buildings, many of which date back decades. It’s part of a Department of Defense-wide move for better on-post living quarters.

By 2017, almost three-fourths of Fort Lewis’ 11,491 barracks beds will be in the “1+1”-style, meaning two single bedrooms share a common kitchen and bathroom.

Most of the remainder will be in older buildings converted to the 1+1 style. King was found in a 1+1 unit in the barracks of the 864th Engineer Battalion.

The barracks construction boom is part of the overall Fort Lewis master plan, which emphasizes a cluster of communities where soldiers can walk from their barracks to unit headquarters, dining facilities and other work-related areas. The post’s urban planners estimate construction of the new barracks will cost about $1 billion.

Barnes said the idea is to provide soldiers with a place that feels like home.

“It’s a quality-of-life issue for the soldiers,” Barnes said. “They need a place to go that’s their own.”

Commanders at Fort Lewis say their troops should live better at home than they do while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

“We want to give soldiers a social life. We want that for them. They’ve earned that,” said Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby in a March meeting with News Tribune editors before he deployed to Iraq with I Corps.

“On the other hand, I have the responsibility to make sure it’s a safe, secure environment.”

All residents are required to abide by visitation rules; they must check in all guests at a desk manned 24 hours a day by a charge of quarters, otherwise known as a “CQ.” Visitors must show photo ID, cannot be under 18 and must leave by midnight (or 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday).

“Under no circumstance can a minor be in the barracks. Escorted or unescorted. Period,” Jacoby said.

Still, the increased privacy means a greater chance rules will be broken.

“The people living in the barracks are adults,” Barnes said. “And we treat them like adults.”

NEW MEANING FOR BARRACKS

For many members of the public, the word “barracks” evokes the image of large, open rooms lined with bunks and foot lockers reminiscent of older war movies like “Full Metal Jacket.”

About 100 of the World War II-era buildings still stand on Fort Lewis, but they’re primarily used to house units preparing to deploy or return from an overseas assignment. They also house college students in Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

The 1940s-era buildings will eventually be torn down and replaced with other open-bay barracks for temporary housing.

The introduction of an all-volunteer Army in the 1970s changed the style of barracks across the service, said Steve Glover, chief of Fort Lewis’ master plans division.

The post still has buildings dating back to that area – they’re still called VOLAR barracks, an acronym for volunteer Army – but many have been renovated and converted into two-person bedrooms.

The 1990s started the trend of single-person bedrooms. Many older-era barracks with open-bay sleeping areas have been refitted to fit that standard.

One such building houses 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. It was built in the mid-1950s and renovated five years ago. Workers gutted the bathroom and added stalls between toilets and showers. Concrete walls created a hallway and individual rooms where large bays of bunks used to sit. post-wide renovations

The post’s master plan calls for every barracks to be replaced or renovated into single-bedroom living quarters. Others are receiving ongoing repairs and upgrades; Fort Lewis will spend $41 million this year on 32 barracks.

It takes about 18 months to build a new barracks, Glover said, and often planning involves shuffling units to different buildings during construction. Soldiers in the same company typically stay near each other.

“It hasn’t quite gotten to the stage where a unit can deploy and we can build a new barracks while they’re gone,” he said. “(Because of land-use regulations), we need to tear down existing barracks and replace with a new one on top.”

The landlord-style duties of maintaining the barracks – assigning rooms and providing inventory and inspections – has been transferred to government employees and contractors working under the First Sergeants Barracks Initiative.

Ron Hernandez, the Fort Lewis program chief who oversees 10 government employees and 46 contractors, said the idea is to take the burden of maintaining the barracks off leadership to free them up to focus on training and preparing for war.

“We want them to feel like this is their home,” said Hernandez, sitting on a couch Wednesday in the day room of the 62nd Medical Brigade barracks. “It’s all about taking care of the soldier.”

News Tribune staff writer Matt Misterek contributed to this report.

Scott Fontaine: 253-320-4758 scott.fontaine@gmail.com blogs.thenewstribune.com/military