Heroes prepared to die for Britain are having to live in rat-infested hellholes and Grenfell-style fire-risk flats.
Forces’ homes are so squalid that troops have posted images of rats, mice, mould and collapsed toilets on a specially created Facebook page.
Housing issues are so bad MPs fear they are hitting morale and leading to people quitting the services.
Tackling vermin is a growing problem in the Ministry of Defence ’s near 50,000 homes. Despite having fewer properties, call-outs for vermin rose from 4,300 in 2015 to 4,800 in 2020.
And the MoD figures for the past seven years are shocking, with 33,817 pest-control emergencies, 460,000 for electrical crises, 428,000 for heating failures and 40,000 call-outs for roof problems.
Equally worrying is that 188 MoD family homes and 591 for individual recruits are in blocks covered in combustible material.
And 25 of the buildings having at least six floors, raising fears of a repeat of the 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze, which killed 72.
Defence chiefs say all the buildings have “a current fire risk assessment and remain legally compliant for continued occupation”.
The armed forces housing problems are highlighted on Facebook.
Dozens of images of rats and mice have been posted online along with problems of damp, mould, collapsed ceilings and even toilets which have fallen apart.
One Army wife wrote: “For the past three years we have had rats and mice in our home. Last year they had to lift floorboards in our living room to remove a dead rat that was rotting. The smell was indescribable.”
She said they alerted the MoD’s contractor but heard nothing. She said: “Now there’s another rodent dead in our kitchen. Whilst removing kickboards, we found so many droppings. We have put humane traps down and have caught many of them.”
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has said too many troops live in substandard conditions.
Chairwoman Meg Hillier MP said: “Poor accommodation puts a strain on working and family life and hits morale and retention rates. The nation can’t afford to lose experienced and skilled personnel because their homes are not up to standard.”
Ex-military intelligence officer Col Philip Ingram called the number of call-outs for vermin disgraceful.
“For years the MoD has been saying people are their most important asset, it’s only words and action is replaced with excuses and apologies.
“Service personnel and their families still suffer, having to pay for unsafe and substandard accommodation with no option to move.”
The MoD said: “All allocated homes meet the Government decent homes standard as a minimum. In the last year we have invested over £120m to improve accommodation.”
