Readiness on Upswing, Continuing Effort Needed

 

 By Linda D. Kozaryn
 
American Forces Press Service


 WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2000 -- Military readiness is on an 
 upswing due to increased funding in the fiscal 1999 and 
 2000 defense budgets, senior defense officials say, but 
 more resources are needed to address commanders' concerns.
 
 Readiness concerns "drive the budget more than anything 
 else," said a senior Pentagon official speaking with 
 reporters on background. DoD has added $150 billion to the 
 defense program since the 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review, 
 he said, most of which went to personnel, operations and 
 maintenance. 
 
 The added funds are having a positive impact on spare parts 
 shortages and other readiness factors, the official said. 
 The Air Force, for example, has put about $2 billion into 
 spare parts over and above its baseline program. 
 
 "That doesn't mean we're perfect," or that "there aren't 
 problems," he stressed. "It doesn't mean that we didn't 
 learn things from Kosovo, for example, that we have to 
 address." 
 
 DoD officials say that improving readiness further, while 
 preparing for future challenges, requires more attention, 
 time and resources. The military is facing several 
 challenges, the official said. In some cases, in order to 
 man combat units, the Army has pulled cadre from training 
 schools.
  
 "Is it harder to recruit today? You bet," the senior 
 official said. "Are we putting more resources against 
 recruiting? Absolutely. … This is a tight labor market. 
 It's amazing that we still are taking literally tens of 
 thousands of young American males and females and bringing 
 them into the armed forces." 
 
 DoD's Quarterly Readiness Report to the Congress for April 
 to June 2000 states that America's armed forces remain 
 capable of executing the national military strategy. 
 Defense planning guidance directs the services to maintain 
 certain levels required to execute national strategy. DoD 
 evaluates readiness in three major categories: personnel, 
 training and equipment. 
 
 Unit readiness is satisfactory in most cases, the report 
 states, "although some deficient readiness indicators, 
 especially manning and training, are a concern." DoD and 
 service officials have taken active measures to address 
 these issues, but concerns remain about personnel shortages 
 and aging equipment.
 
 The report also highlights "joint readiness" concerns 
 expressed by the commanders in chief regarding their 
 ability to "synchronize and utilize forces to meet theater 
 and national objectives." The CINCs' assessment emphasizes 
 eight areas of strategic concern: 
 
 
 command, control, communications and computer 
 deficiencies;
 
 
 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance 
 deficiencies;
 
 
 mobility shortfalls;
  
 
 logistics/sustainment shortfalls;
 
 
 terrorist and weapons of mass destruction challenges;
 
 
 information vulnerabilities;
 
 
 stress on the force from ongoing contingency operations;
 
 
 the ability to quickly disengage from ongoing operations 
 to meet timelines for a two-major theater war scenario.
 
 A classified annex to the report contains details on these 
 concerns and steps DoD is taking to address them.
 
 "Most major combat and key support forces are ready to meet 
 assigned taskings, although there are force readiness and 
 capability shortfalls that increase risk in executing 
 operations," according to the report. "Risk factors for 
 executing ongoing operations and responding to a major 
 theater war are moderate, while the risk for a second major 
 theater war is high." 
 
 This risk assessment does not reflect DoD's ability to win 
 a major theater war, but rather its ability to meet the 
 CINCs' timelines for the warfight, it states. "Thus 
 potentially longer timelines required to complete the halt 
 and buildup phases and initiate the counter-offensive 
 increase the potential for higher casualties in the interim 
 and during the warfight."
 
 DoD's latest quarterly report highlights readiness trends 
 affecting the services. While recruiting remains a major 
 concern, for example, each of the services predicts 
 achieving its year-end recruiting goals. 
 
 "A lot of the problems we see today -- for example, the 
 pilot shortage in the Air Force -- were fully predicted ten 
 years ago," he said. Rather than break their contract with 
 people in the service, the Air Force elected to cut 
 accessions. These are the "legacy force structures" that 
 we're trying to manage today." 
 
 Through increased recruiting efforts today, the services 
 are still attracting sufficient people to man the force. 
 The Army, for example, which exceeded its June goal by 312 
 recruits, has extended its $50K Army College Fund Program 
 through September. As of May 2000, the Marine Corps had 
 achieved its recruiting goal for 58 consecutive months. 
 
 The Navy has increased its recruiting force to 5,000 to 
 improve its delayed entry program and meet its goals. The 
 Air Force, which fell 1,700 recruits short of its fiscal 
 1999 goal, and was about 2,900 short of its May goal this 
 year, predicts it will meet its fiscal 2000 goal.
 
 Retention is another service concern. The Army predicts 
 continuing success in its retention program. At present, 
 about 60 percent of the Army's eligible first-termers 
 decide to reenlist. "That's what saved us on recruiting 
 numbers last year," the official noted. "We made our end 
 strength because we far exceeded -- by 7,000 -- our 
 reenlistment goal." 
 
 The Army's training base attrition is down from a high of 
 20 percent in November 1998 to 14 percent in June 2000. The 
 Army continues to experience shortages in some critical 
 enlisted skills and at the rank of captain.
 
 The Navy is shifting more resources toward retention this 
 year, the official said. According to the report enlisted 
 retention continues to improve, but remains a concern. Navy 
 manning of its at-sea billets continues to improve for both 
 junior and senior enlisted ranks.
 
 The report notes, however, that the Navy is not retaining 
 officers needed for lieutenant-level (O-3) billets. Nor is 
 the Navy maintaining authorized end strength in all areas. 
 Continuation pay bonuses aimed at retaining aviation and 
 submarine specialists are showing positive results. Surface 
 warfare continuation pay has increased retention; however, 
 projected rates are still less than required.
 
 The Marine Corps is cautiously optimistic about its 
 retention program, the report states. Marine officials aim 
 to reenlist an all-time high of 26 percent of eligible 
 first-term Marines. The Marine Corps continues to face 
 challenges retaining fixed-wing pilots and some high-skill, 
 high-demand, low-density specialties.
 
 Overall officer, first-term and second-term enlisted 
 retention trends continue to challenge the Air Force. 
 "Although the Air Force is short 1,200 active-duty pilots, 
 it has been able to mitigate the impact of some of the 
 shortfall by prioritizing cockpit billets at the expense of 
 staff positions," the report states. Initial indications 
 are encouraging that new compensation incentives will help 
 stem the overall pilot shortfall. 
 
 Regarding training and equipment, the report points out the 
 Navy has resumed limited weapons targeting training at the 
 Puerto Rican island of Vieques. DoD has also corrected 
 recent flight safety problems. Air Force officials have 
 completed inspections and repairs on stabilizer trim 
 actuators in the KC-135 fleet. Army officials have 
 completed required safety of flight inspections and repairs 
 for its AH-64 Apache aircraft. 
 
 The Army reports equipment readiness is high, but 
 deployment tempo has accelerated wear and tear and 
 increased the need for maintenance. This results in higher 
 maintenance costs, spare parts consumption and demand for 
 maintenance technicians. 
 
 The Marine Corps reports ground equipment is ready for 
 operation, but long-term capability to sustain that 
 equipment is degrading due to aging and corrosion. More 
 parts and maintenance time are required to sustain 
 equipment. 
 
 The services are now heavily investing in modernization, 
 particularly the aviation fleet. The Army is putting 
 billions into a new brigade structure, acquiring the new 
 Comanche helicopter and upgrading the M1A2 tank, the 
 official said. "We're going to a digitized division," he 
 added. "We are continuing to develop the Crusader system." 
 
 So what does this all mean? Are the armed forces ready to 
 carry out their missions? 
 
 "This is still a remarkable force," the senior official 
 said. "Just about a year ago, we fought an air war the 
 proportion of a major campaign and we flew well over 38,000 
 allied sorties with only two planes down." 
 
 Operation Allied Force demonstrated the efficiency and 
 productivity of the Air Force, he stressed. "It's a tough 
 business," he said. "They fought a major strategic war … 
 and if they had to do it again, then they would do it 
 again." 
 
  
 
 
 

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