Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today along with my good friend, the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General Peter Schoomaker. Our Army is benefiting greatly from his marvelous leadership. General Schoomaker has literally “transformed” Army Transformation, and has revitalized the spirit of our Soldiers with his emphasis on the Warrior Ethos and the Soldiers’ Creed. It is a great honor and a privilege for me to work alongside this great Soldier every day, and it is an honor for me to appear with him before this distinguished Committee today representing our great Army. We have a prepared posture statement, Mr. Chairman, and with your permission would like to submit that statement for the record.

Let me begin by expressing our gratitude to the Members and Staff of this distinguished committee for your tremendous support to our Soldiers who are serving our country around the world, as well as to their families at home.

I know that you are deeply interested in the great work our Soldiers are doing, their training and morale, and how we are equipping them. I have visited our troops in Iraq three times and those in Afghanistan four times, and recently traveled to our posts in Germany, South Korea, and here in the United States. I am grateful to have the opportunity to share what I have learned with you.

Underlying everything we are doing and planning to do is the most important point I want to make here today: we are an Army at war, serving a Nation at war. To better cope with the demands of this war, we have proposed to grow the Army temporarily by 30,000 Soldiers over the next several years using the authority provided in Title 10 and to be paid for initially from supplemental appropriations. We will plan to use these resources to stand up at least 10 new combat brigades over the next several years before returning to our authorized level - and I ask for your support in this endeavor. We are also restructuring our Active and Reserve forces to meet the challenges of today and to more effectively use the resources the Congress and the American people have entrusted to us. This is an ongoing process, and we will keep the Congress fully informed.

Let me comment on a matter of grave importance to the Senior Leadership of the Army: sexual assaults on Soldiers, by fellow Soldiers. Such attacks not only weaken unit cohesion and lessen combat power, they are wrong, they will not be overlooked, and they will not be tolerated. The Army is committed to identifying and holding accountable those who perpetrate these crimes, as well as providing proper care for the victims of such attacks. We are committed to creating an environment and command climate where these young women feel free to report these incidents through multiple venues- the chain of command, medical channels, chaplains, and their peers. We will properly care for those who have been assaulted and investigate and take appropriate action against those who commit these crimes. It is the right thing to do, and we are going to do it.

Many of you have asked about measures we are taking to protect our forces in Iraq. The funding provided in the FY04 SupplementaI has enabled us to accelerate production of a number of key pieces of force protection equipment, and we greatly appreciate this Committee’s support in providing us the needed resources. The funds within the FY04 Supplemental have sustained and supported our troops and literally saved their lives. I know that our Soldiers and their families appreciate your unwavering support on these issues.

I would like to address two force protection measures in particular. First, the number of Up-Armored HMMWVs in the CENTCOM area of responsibility is now over 2000, compared to about 500 last spring. When GEN Schoomaker and I testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in November, we estimated then that we would be unable to satisfy the CJTF-7 requirement of 3000 Up-Armored HMMWVs until May, 2005. This was clearly unacceptable.

We have worked with industry to steadily increase production of these vehicles and will continue to do so – going from 185 produced this month up to 220 per month by May - which with some further redistribution will enable us to fulfill the current CENTCOM/CFLCC requirement of over 4,000 vehicles by August 2004.

I have talked to the CEOs of the companies that build these UAHs and visited their production lines. They are committed to, and capable of, increasing production rates to up to 450 per month to help us fill our requirement even faster. While this will require additional resources, we are working within the Army budget and with OSD so that we can reach the theater’s requirements as quickly as possible.

To provide the best available protection against bullets and explosive fragments, we greatly increased the production of Interceptor Body Armor last year, and are currently producing and sending 25,000 sets monthly to the theater of operations. There are now sufficient stocks of IBA to equip every Soldier and DoD civilian in Iraq and Afghanistan. All Soldiers now rotating into theater will be issued a set of IBA either before they deploy into Iraq or immediately after arrival in Afghanistan.

To better provide relevant and ready campaign-quality land power to combatant commanders as part of the Joint Force, we are transforming the Army itself. This is in response to lessons learned and experiences gained by the Army's recent two-and-a-half years of combat in the war on terror as well as the operational environments envisioned in the foreseeable future.

Three weeks ago, General Schoomaker and I announced the termination of the Comanche helicopter program as part of a major restructuring and revitalization of Army aviation. In lieu of completing development and procuring 121 Comanche helicopters in the FY05-FY11 FYDP, we have proposed to reallocate these resources to procure almost 800 new aircraft for the Active and Reserve Components. As a part of our total program over the FYDP, we will also enhance, upgrade, and modernize over 1,400 aircraft in our existing aviation fleet. This program to revitalize Army Aviation reflects the changed operational environment, and will provide the modularity and flexibility we must have to achieve the joint and expeditionary capabilities that are so essential to the Army's role now and in the future.

The FY05 President’s Budget we’ve submitted, as amended to reflect the termination of Comanche, represents a balanced consideration of both our current and long-term requirements and provides our Army with the resources we need, excluding war-related costs.

The tempo of our current operations is high, and has human and material costs. We appreciate the assistance of the Congress, and especially this Committee, in addressing these issues as we work to restore our units and equipment to the high levels of readiness necessary to continue to meet our obligations to the Nation.

In all that the Army has accomplished, and all that it will be called upon to do, the American Soldier remains the single most important factor in our success. Regardless of where our Soldiers serve, they perform as the professionals they are– with skill, courage, compassion, and dedication. They embody the values of our Army and our nation, serving selflessly and seeking no reward except the knowledge of a job well done.

Despite remarkable successes, our fight is far from over. It will take time to win the War on Terror. Our enemies are resolute, but our commitment to prevail in Iraq and elsewhere is unshakable. We must do our part to ensure our Soldiers have all they need to do the job we have set before them: when the American people and our leaders stand behind them, they can do any task on earth.

We are transforming the Army while retaining the values critical to the Army’s achievements of the past 228 years. The FY04 defense legislation and supplemental appropriations have enabled the Army to do that which it has been asked to do, and I look forward to discussing with you how the FY05 budget request will permit us to continue meeting our obligations now and in the years to come.

Mr. Chairman, in closing I would like again to thank you and the members of this distinguished committee for your continuing support of the men and women in our Army, an Army at war and a full member of the Joint Team deployed and fighting terror around the world. I appreciate this opportunity to appear before you today, and I look forward to answering your questions.

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