YORKTOWN — Sen. Tim Kaine toured the newly opened Marine Corps barracks on Naval Weapons Station Yorktown Monday.
Kaine’s appearance marked the first dignitary visit to the new barracks.
The Marine Corps Security Force Regiment barracks first opened in late 2023. The multi-story facility has room for over 200 Marines in double-occupancy style rooms with en suite bathrooms.
“We really have housing challenges throughout the military, not just the Marines. We’ve done a lot of work in recent years on housing for married officers, but we’re a little slow out of the gate doing work on barracks for the unaccompanied,” Kaine said. “We’re working on this year’s defense bill right now on barracks improvements in the Marines and elsewhere. What you have in this Yorktown Naval Weapons base is kind of an example of what we hope to follow throughout the service.”
The greater facility also offers a recreation space, a fully-equipped kitchen, on-site laundry, classrooms, meeting rooms and a lounge area.
Kaine, who sits on the Armed Services committee, noted that the new residential facility is part of a greater commitment to increase retention rates among military personnel.
“We want people to have quality housing that they feel good about. Their missions are tough enough, housing shouldn’t be an additional stressor. It should relieve stress. If you do that, you retain people longer, which is something we want to do,” Kaine said.
Kaine’s visit also included a stop at the Scudder Hall Galley, where he dined with enlisted Marines and officers. He also received a briefing on the security forces by high-ranking regiment officials.
“Everywhere you go in Virginia, if you are an Armed Services committee member, there is something directly related to our nation’s defense and the people who provide that front line defense every day. The mission, providing security to weapons systems, providing security to bases or military operations, is what these guys do, and it’s getting more complicated every day. Any mission that is counterterrorism has got all kinds of new threats that they have to entertain,” Kaine said.
After touring the facility, Kaine spoke with the media about the importance of living situations in the future of the military.
“We have a lot of barracks work we’ve got to do all over Hampton Roads, all over the country, not just Navy, but Marines, Army, Air Force. We’ve got barracks work everywhere, and we want to see what the best models are and then learn from those. We’ve had challenges in the Navy family on mental health issues. If your living situation is better, the mental health issues are not so severe. All those things connect to each other,” Kaine said.