photo by Adam Skoczylas FMMC Barracks Engineer Cliff Watkins explains the features of the new barracks to Col. Richardson and local media.

Garrison Commander Col. Laura Richardson explained that it’s not the case that Soldiers have poor living conditions. The photos that made the national news were just snapshots of a bad moment in time, not an indicator that the Army is falling behind, she said.

‘‘The Army is trying very hard to give Soldiers the best quality of life, and I think we’re making great progress,” she said. Most Army posts have passed barracks inspections since the issue came to light. Fort Myer’s barracks, some of which date back to 1895, scored well in the inspection.

‘‘When I first came here, [Col. Richardson] sent me out to inspect the barracks,” said Command Sgt. Major Jefferson Varner III. ‘‘So I came back, reported on what was going on and addressed all of those issues. When I saw those pictures [of Fort Bragg], I knew that wasn’t us.”

To show the high standards to which Fort Myer’s living quarters are held, Richardson led a few members of the media through the barracks May 2. Even the oldest barracks, Bldgs. 246 and 247, were in good shape.

Varner compared the current barracks on Fort Myer to his living situation as a young Soldier. At Fort Myer, it’s not uncommon for an E-1 or E-2 to have a single-occupancy room. But in the not-too-distant past, barracks resembled the communal quarters Soldiers see in Basic Combat Training.

‘‘When I started, it was about community living. We were in open bays with bunks,” he said. ‘‘The latrine was communal — when I was on the toilet, my neighbor was right there with me.”

The new barracks being built along McNair Road are all single-occupancy rooms. The barracks, planned for completion in the next six months, are designed like a high-end campus apartment building. Each unit is a two-bedroom space with a shared bathroom and kitchenette. A few hundred yards away, on the other side of Washington Boulevard, the units would easily cost upwards of $2,000 a month in rent and utilities. The rooms include phone, cable TV and Internet access.

Richardson, Varner and Lt. Col. Wayne Green, commander of Headquarters Command Battalion, all said if they’d had barracks like the new ones, they’d have stayed in them as long as possible rather than moving off-base or into different housing..

‘‘It’s about time the Army was able to do something like this for the Soldiers,” Green said.

But having living conditions of this quality isn’t happenstance, Richardson said. Open communication — such as reporting problems or filing complaints — between Soldiers and their leadership helps keep quarters up to par.

‘‘Soldiers with problems need to ensure with their leadership and maintenance crews that communication is open,” she said. ‘‘Don’t let broken things fester. Things that are broken don’t get better on their own.”

Under the current construction plan, barracks like the building under construction now will replace buildings along Sheridan Road such as the dining facility and community center and make up all of the Soldier’s quarters on post. The current barracks along McNair Road will be replaced with parking structures.

‘‘We’re trying to create a campus atmosphere,” Richardson said.

The new barracks — and the planned barracks to come in the future — are designed around what will become a long courtyard, between the barracks buildings and what are now the dining facility and community center. It will be a similar layout to that of the Smithsonian buildings along the National Mall, with Summerall Field at the end.

In addition to providing an easy way for formations to march onto the parade field, the layout gives all the Soldiers on post a community area, said John Russo, director of Public Works.

The new barracks are scheduled for completion by July 28.