GAO: War-torn gear puts readiness at risk

[unhappycamper]

GAO: War-torn gear puts readiness at risk
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Sep 21, 2007 5:28:16 EDT

The strain on military gear caused by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is forcing the Army and Marine Corps to operate on the margins worldwide, shorting next-to-deploy units in favor of longer-term needs at increasing risk to worldwide readiness, according to a new report.

Both services continue to meet mission requirements and report high overall readiness rates for their deployed units in the midst of the demanding wars. But the Government Accountability Office found that those services “are operating with increasing risk to overall readiness due to equipment shortages and equipment readiness shortfalls.”

As a result, the cost to repair, replace and recapitalize that equipment is going to “increase significantly,” GAO said in a report released Wednesday.

But the task of figuring out those costs is being hampered by Defense Department accounting procedures that do not require the Army and Marine Corps to report the costs of equipment reset with enough detail to give Congress visibility on whether the money is being spent as planned for the units deploying or preparing to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan, GAO said.

And because the Army was not required to track its reset costs from the start of the wars, it has no historical data that can be used to estimate future costs, the GAO found.

The precise cost won’t be known until the end of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, GAO said, “It will likely cost billions of dollars to repair and replace equipment.”


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/09/military_armymarine_gearmoney_070920w/



uhc comment: I think the number is closer to hundreds of billions to reset the services.