Fort Stewart renovated barracks leads to enhanced readiness

FORT STEWART, Ga. — Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield and 3rd Infantry Division leaders will officially transfer the keys to Bldg. 515, a fully renovated, apartment-style unaccompanied housing facility, to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team on Sept. 30, marking a major milestone in the installation’s long-term barracks modernization effort.
Originally constructed in the late 1970s, Bldg. 515 has undergone a complete transformation from outdated, shared communal quarters into a modern, 68-bed apartment-style facility designed to enhance day-to-day quality of life, while providing Soldiers with the privacy they desire.
The newly renovated complex pairs single Soldiers in two-person suites featuring shared common areas equipped with a full kitchen, stove, refrigerator, a microwave with air fryer settings, and dedicated in-suite washers and dryers. Significantly, each Soldier now has a private sleeping room, individual walk-in closet, and their own private bathroom.
“Well, it is somewhat like apartment-style dorms, which emphasizes the privacy and comfort,” said David Deloach, chief engineer for the Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield Directorate of Public Works. “It's just more open and gives them more privacy and more accountability for their own space.”
Deloach said eliminating crowded, communal living allows Soldiers to focus on personal rest and well-being, which in turn leads to improved individual readiness.
“They’ve got cooking abilities they didn’t have before. They’ve got the washer and dryer in their own space instead of the shared washer,” Deloach said. “It’s a lot of things that they can do on their own now that was a shared atmosphere where they had to get in line to do certain things. Now they have the ability to do it themselves.”
A challenge for the renovation was conquering coastal Georgia’s extreme heat and humidity. The new barracks are outfitted with modern Dedicated Outside Air Systems and centralized digital controls.
“All the technology of HVAC equipment has definitely grown through the years,” Deloach said. “We’re going back to the dedicated outside air systems, which draws out the humidity, pumps in fresh air and dry air. It will definitely help with the mold situation that we have with some of the older facilities. All the buildings are built with new control systems... and we can monitor that humidity through the thermostats in the rooms now.”
In addition, maintenance access points for mechanical equipment were engineered directly into exterior service corridors rather than inside the living quarters. This architectural upgrade ensures DPW technicians can execute preventative maintenance and filter changes around the clock without intruding on Soldiers’ personal schedules or privacy.
For unit leadership, quality housing is not merely an infrastructure upgrade, it is a foundational pillar of combat readiness and Soldier care.
“It’s night and day,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Greg Swayer, 1ABCT, 3ID senior enlisted leader, comparing the facility to the original 1970s Volunteer Army barracks. “Really, the old barracks, it's going from communal living to more of the individual living, where Soldiers can really have a place that they can call home.”
Swayer said providing high-quality personal spaces for his Soldiers directly enhances performance during duty hours.
“I think everybody wants to be happy where they live,” Swayer said. “If you can come to a place you enjoy after the workday, you can kind of reset yourself a little bit better and be ready to attack the day the next day. So having the Soldiers have a safe, clean area they can come to at the end of the day to reset themselves will really be something special.”
Swayer also said the modern facilities provide peace of mind to the Soldiers’ families.
“I think it’s always good that parents have a sense of security, that their children are in good hands with their leaders,” said Swayer. “As a noncommissioned officer, one of our main jobs is to help Soldiers and that includes their well-being.”
To ensure the renovated barracks remains at peak standard, Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield and 3ID leaders are using the Army’s newly released NCO Barracks Guidebook. The guidebook provides clear guidance on roles, responsibilities for both Soldiers and leaders as well as streamlined service order workflows across all echelons.
“It provides resources and tools not only to the Soldiers, giving them what their responsibilities are for unaccompanied housing, but it gives the tools and resources to leaders at every echelon on how they can help the barracks process and support their soldiers,” Swayer said.
Soldiers are scheduled to begin moving into Bldg. 515 over the coming weeks following the Sept. 30 turnover.

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