Along with a growing need for more Marines comes a growing need to house the influx of recruits arriving at the Depot.
Trucks carrying new barracks started arriving on the Depot, Tuesday.
The modular barracks will provide temporary lodging for the recruits until permanent barracks are available.
The temporary facilities will be used until new barracks are constructed, said David Woodward, an architect with Public Works aboard the Depot.
The plan is to have 16 modular squadbays up by this year’s end, according to Woodward, who is from Beaufort, S.C.
A total of 160 16-by-50-foot units were ordered, costing about $13 million, Woodward added.
The modular barracks will be constructed at 1st, 2nd and 3rd Recruit Training Battalions and Weapons and Field Training Battalion, said Maj. Eric Litchfield, the operations officer for G-4.
The choice to use modular barracks was made due to the immediacy of housing the Corps’ new recruits.
This is being done very quickly, said Sharad Thakar, a civil engineer with Public Works, from Beaufort, S.C. It needed to be done to house the recruits.
The modular barracks have a life of five to seven years, Woodward added. That will give Public Works time to construct new, permanent barracks.
Four barracks will be constructed at each site, covering about 10 acres, Thakar added.
The construction of all modular barracks should be finished by Oct. 10, according to Litchfield, from Tampa, Fla.