MORE ON MURTHA

These snippets from a February 9th hearing show that Murtha is concerned about the troops having enough equipment to train on before they are sent to Iraq. Gen. Schoomaker notes that both men and equipment are being worn down by the pace of deployment, something I've mentioned before (here, here and here)

REP. MURTHA: Let me say that we hope that we'll be able to combine the base bill with the supplemental so you won't have to come back again. So this may take a little longer than the normal hearing just because we want to talk about short-term readiness and long-term readiness. We're going to do the same thing with each of the secretaries, trying to work it out that way. A great American said, "We should never confuse enthusiasm with capability." And I've repeated that over and over again. There's no question about the enthusiasm of the troops. There's no question about -- I'm inspired by them when I meet them in the field or in hospitals, wherever I might go, as you are. But we can't confuse that with our ability to respond. For instance, Mr. Secretary, you mentioned you've got modernization at $56 billion when you started out four years ago. Now we've got a $100 billion backlog. At least, that's the figure we have. So it's gotten worse. I talk to troops all the time that have inadequate equipment to train with -- National Guard, Reserve and regular forces. We don't think the reports you have given us show that we have very few units in the United States that are prepared to be deployed under the regulations and requirements you folks make because of lack of equipment. And young people that I talk to tell me they have gone to Iraq when they don't have SINCGARS to train on. And we've got a 20,000 shortage of SINCGARS in this country. They don't have the same trucks to train on back in the United States, in many cases. I know you try to take care of that with shifting equipment around. But with this increased numbers of people, I don't see how you're going to have the equipment available to them that when you deploy them you can assure us that they will have the appropriate equipment before they're deployed. For instance, before, we were replacing people, and now we're adding to people.Now, as I understand it, the 82nd Airborne, did they have the equipment, General, that they needed when they went in? They had all the equipment when they left the United States, when they got into Iraq that they needed -- the most modern equipment, the equipment they'll be using?

GEN. SCHOOMAKER: Sir, the 82nd, just like the other brigades that we've sent, have had exactly the challenges that you describe, and that is that we have not had adequate numbers of equipment for them to fully train on it. However, we have married them with subsequent equipment as they go in, and I can assure you that once they've crossed into the fight that they have had all that they've needed and required.

REP. MURTHA: Yeah, well, are you able to say that all the brigades that go from the United States will have the equipment and training they need before they're sent into combat?

GEN. SCHOOMAKER: Sir, I am prepared to tell you that those units as they arrive in either Iraq or Afghanistan are fully trained and equipped. But, as you know, we've had to front load -- we've had to push the very best equipment forward into the fight, and the risk has been taken in CONUS, where we've been training. And I will -- I agree that it's less than satisfactory, but we've had to pool our resources to prepare those that are going.

[snip]

GEN. SCHOOMAKER:Well, we're working the readiness rates up, but what causes the decline is the amount of equipment we've committed to theater and the fact that the industrial base cannot keep up with the growth at the speed that we would like to accelerate it. So it is -- let me go back over the dimensions. You mentioned, the secretary mentioned, and I think he would agree with me, that two years of supplemental funding to reconstitute and reset the force past this thing is a very conservative estimate. My view is two years is a minimum. It's going to be at least three, and maybe more.

And the more we commit, and the more that we have involved, we are accelerating the demise of the equipment we've committed. It's being worn out faster. Obviously, combat action is destroying equipment. So we're working against -- while we're filling the bucket, we're also having a diminishment of what's in the bucket. So we're working against that.

Secondly, the dwell time of these units going back on multiple tours is shortening. This is not a good situation. This makes it difficult to train. It also has huge impact on families, because now, instead of getting rest and recuperation and getting things sorted out, we're now putting them right back into preparation to go back to the fight. That is a big issue.

SOURCE:
Copyright 2007 Federal News Service, Inc.
All Rights Reserved Federal News Service
February 9, 2007 Friday
HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE DEFENSE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE; SUBJECT: FISCAL YEAR 2007 WAR SUPPLEMENTAL; CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE JOHN P. MURTHA (D-PA); WITNESSES: FRANCIS J. HARVEY, SECRETARY, UNITED STATES ARMY; GENERAL PETER J. SCHOOMAKER, CHIEF OF STAFF, UNITED STATES ARMY; LOCATION: 2359 RAYBURN, HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.