The Marines have gone digital with how jarheads can report barracks maintenance problems.
The full implementation of QSR Max simplifies the process for Marines to submit maintenance requests directly to the USMC Max system, according to a Tuesday press release.
The system uses QR codes posted in their barracks that can be scanned with mobile devices on the spot.
Users also can track the status of their maintenance support requests as the request moves through the system, according to the release. The requests go directly to barracks and building managers and are then relayed to the installation.
Marines also can use the QSR Max website by creating a password-protected account online.
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Military.com first reported on the announcement.
Marine leadership came under fire earlier in 2024 after online postings showed filth, vermin, mold and a variety of maintenance problems at various Marine barracks across the force.
Senior Marine officials acknowledged in testimony to Congress that the service had reached a yearslong backlog on maintenance and repairs due to shortfalls in barracks funding that instead used the money to procure and develop weapons and combat capabilities.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith went as far as to say he would not apologize for the past barracks neglect, saying prioritizing “weapons systems, training and technology” as the service fought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan saved lives.
“And that focus kept a lot of Marines alive in Helmand province, kept a lot of Marines alive in Iraq, in the Sunni Triangle,” Smith said at the Modern Day Marine conference in May.
The Corps concluded a “wall-to-wall” inspection of all its barracks earlier in 2024 and rolled out its Barracks 2030 initiative to consolidate barracks, build new facilities where needed and catch up on the deep backlog of maintenance, new furniture and add civilian personnel to manage the buildings instead of relying on Marine noncommissioned officers.
How QSR Max works:
- Marine identifies a problem.
- Marine scans QR code on QSR Max and creates an account if one is not already established.
- Marine creates a facilities maintenance request within QSR Max, followed by the creation of a USMCmax service request if approved.
- Request is received and addressed within the QSR Max portal by the designated barracks manager.
- Barracks manager determines level of support needed to address the requirement and updates the request in the system.
- If needed, the request goes to base via work order request.
- Once the maintenance request is completed, the assigned agency reports it complete in the QSR Max system.
Source: Marine Corps
During congressional budget hearings in the spring, the Marines requested $274 million for fiscal year 2025 to begin tackling barracks restoration.
Analysis by the service showed that it will need to spend as much as $1.5 billion each year to restore and modernize its barracks to bring them into the “good/fair” condition category according to an internal memo obtained by Marine Corps Times in January.
The maintenance backlog, according to the Department of the Navy budget, is $15.8 billion.
An estimated 87,000 Marines live in barracks. As of 2023, about 17,000 Marines lived in barracks that fell short of military standards regarding privacy and room configuration, according to a September 2023 Government Accountability Office report.
Those figures do not include an account of Marines living with maintenance problems such as mold or inadequate hot water.
Of the Corps’ 658 barracks buildings, about 17% are in “poor or failing” condition, according to research published in the Marine Corps Gazette in February.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
