thedrifter
04-02-08, 07:38 AM
Published on HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com (http://hamptonroads.com)
Vice chiefs say war wears services thin
WASHINGTON
One week before a potentially critical round of hearings on the future of the U.S. mission in Iraq, the vice chiefs of all four military branches warned senators Tuesday that the fighting to date has seriously strained the services and limits their ability to respond to crises that may arise elsewhere.
"Our Army is out of balance," said Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's second-ranking officer. "Our readiness is being consumed as fast as we can build it."
Cody and Gen. Robert Magnus, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, said their services are billions of dollars short of the funding they need to replace or repair tanks, trucks and other equipment lost in the fighting.
And because the corps is focused on preparing Marines for the counterinsurgency operations they'll have to conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan, training for other types of fighting is getting relatively little attention, Magnus said.
The Navy also is feeling the strain, said Adm. Patrick Walsh, the vice chief of naval operations, even though ground forces are doing most of the fighting. The sea service has assigned thousands of sailors to support jobs ashore in the Middle East, using them to fill jobs that normally would be done by soldiers.
Walsh warned that the Navy's ability to maintain ships and aircraft will be imperiled unless lawmakers soon provide billions in extra funding sought by the Army and Marines to continue operations in Iraq. Without that money, Pentagon leaders will tap Navy and other noncombat accounts to pay war bills, he suggested.
The Army is seeking an additional $66.5 billion and the Marines $1.8 billion this year for war-related expenses.
The military leaders' testimony at a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing fit a pattern of increasingly blunt warnings from the Pentagon about the war's toll on military families and equipment.
The Bush administration began reducing the U.S. force in Iraq late last year, but Gen.
David Petraeus, the top American commander there, is expected to recommend a pause in the drawdown when he testifies next week before House and Senate committees.
Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com
Ellie
Vice chiefs say war wears services thin
WASHINGTON
One week before a potentially critical round of hearings on the future of the U.S. mission in Iraq, the vice chiefs of all four military branches warned senators Tuesday that the fighting to date has seriously strained the services and limits their ability to respond to crises that may arise elsewhere.
"Our Army is out of balance," said Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's second-ranking officer. "Our readiness is being consumed as fast as we can build it."
Cody and Gen. Robert Magnus, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, said their services are billions of dollars short of the funding they need to replace or repair tanks, trucks and other equipment lost in the fighting.
And because the corps is focused on preparing Marines for the counterinsurgency operations they'll have to conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan, training for other types of fighting is getting relatively little attention, Magnus said.
The Navy also is feeling the strain, said Adm. Patrick Walsh, the vice chief of naval operations, even though ground forces are doing most of the fighting. The sea service has assigned thousands of sailors to support jobs ashore in the Middle East, using them to fill jobs that normally would be done by soldiers.
Walsh warned that the Navy's ability to maintain ships and aircraft will be imperiled unless lawmakers soon provide billions in extra funding sought by the Army and Marines to continue operations in Iraq. Without that money, Pentagon leaders will tap Navy and other noncombat accounts to pay war bills, he suggested.
The Army is seeking an additional $66.5 billion and the Marines $1.8 billion this year for war-related expenses.
The military leaders' testimony at a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing fit a pattern of increasingly blunt warnings from the Pentagon about the war's toll on military families and equipment.
The Bush administration began reducing the U.S. force in Iraq late last year, but Gen.
David Petraeus, the top American commander there, is expected to recommend a pause in the drawdown when he testifies next week before House and Senate committees.
Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com
Ellie