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| Military equipment needing repair piling up |
| 2006-12-07 |
| Edited for brevity Field upon field of more than 1,000 battered M1 tanks, howitzers and other armored vehicles sit amid weeds here at the 15,000-acre Anniston Army Depot -- the idle, hulking formations symbolic of an Army that is wearing out faster than it is being rebuilt. The Army and Marine Corps have sunk more than 40 percent of their ground combat equipment into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to government data. An estimated $17 billion-plus worth of military equipment is destroyed or worn out each year, blasted by bombs, ground down by desert sand and used up to nine times the rate in times of peace. The gear is piling up at depots such as Anniston, waiting to be repaired. The depletion of major equipment such as tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and especially helicopters and armored Humvees has left many military units in the United States without adequate training gear, officials say. Partly as a result of the shortages, many U.S. units are rated "unready" to deploy, officials say, raising alarm in Congress and concern among military leaders at a time when Iraq strategy is under review by the White House and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. More at link... |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #14 I agree Jim, but many a CG hates "selective interchange" aka canabalization of equipment. Not that I care, just an observation. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2006-12-07 21:13 |
| #13 On second thought, gut one tank, repair five and get them deployed. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2006-12-07 20:00 |
| #12 How much of this "Equipment" is obsolete, and parking it in a "Repair" yard is really just an excuse to get it out of the way? |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2006-12-07 19:56 |
| #11 Ramp up production now. Our problems ain't going away any time soon. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2006-12-07 17:05 |
| #10 Problem is on a lot of the stuff that needs repair, we no longer have active production lines for them. That, and the fact that repairs would take 6 months and ramping up to production would take 18 months. So, if you want the item in a usable timeframe, you need to repair it. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2006-12-07 16:44 |
| #9 Good point, 3dc, but, knowing the efficacy of government, they may have a moratorium on acquiring new equipment and therefore have no choice! |
| Posted by: Dar 2006-12-07 16:24 |
| #8 Why they are spend 2mil to fix something that cost 2.2 mil astounds me. That would be like me spend $26K to fix up the kids 1991 Saab. The wife would kill me. Buy some new stuff! |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-12-07 16:15 |
| #7 Yes, this is yet another failure of Congress. The govmint should be run like a business, not like a raffle. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-12-07 13:15 |
| #6 49Pan....$17 billion is nothing compared to the total DoD budget, much less the ENTIRE federal budget. Then, you add on the pork, and there are LOTS of areas to cut that could even give twice this amount to the military. Take the $250 million "bridge to nowhere". Add in the (coming) I-75 bridge (replacing the existing bridge) over the Ohio River in northern KY, and that one bridge alone is quoted at $3 BILLION! If you think about how many vehicles/planes/boats/subs/etc. our military has (many here argue we need to up these #s too) and add in the complexity of many of these machines, and the current on the ground conditions they operate in (extreme temps, fine sand, etc.) and $17 billion looks like chump change to keep them running to me. Our troops deserve the best. |
| Posted by: BA 2006-12-07 11:50 |
| #5 There's been a whole bunch of these stories recently. Something positive must be happening in Iraq that the media doesn't want to report. Look! Something shiny.... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-12-07 10:00 |
| #4 The last items on the Congressioanl/military budget - spare parts maintenance They are so unsexy like new toys and subcontractor jobs back in the district/state. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2006-12-07 09:39 |
| #3 Our Freedom comes with a cost. $17 B seem a bit much, but at the end of the day what is the defence of our nation worth? |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-12-07 08:42 |
| #2 ...Part of the problem is that although we developed a huge, fast, mobile army, it's still being deployed, fought, and maintained under WWIII rules - a relatively fast, high intensity conflict. For all the talk about 'transformation', everything is still geared towards fighting and supporting The Big Contingency. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-12-07 06:29 |
| #1 Buy more then. End of problem. Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute! |
| Posted by: DanNY 2006-12-07 06:29 |