[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12813-12814]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            RESET OF EQUIPMENT FOR THE ARMY AND MARINE CORPS

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask to speak out of order for 5 minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
Missouri is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, before I make my remarks about the 
readiness of the Army and Marine Corps equipment, I would like you to 
share my thoughts on the recently released information of a possible 
plan for troop redeployment in Iraq.
  Let me say I am incensed that General Casey's recommendations to the 
President and Secretary Rumsfeld for possible force redeployments in 
the coming months were leaked by someone in the administration to The 
New York Times.
  The options presented to the President for the success of our 
operation there should not be on the front page of a major paper. Such 
a leak does not benefit considered deliberation of military operatives. 
It can only serve a political purpose. Members of the Congress 
overseeing the Department of Defense should have been kept informed of 
our senior military commander's best thinking in an appropriate forum.
  That said, I am pleased to hear that the Iraqis and the American 
people may be able to begin to see a correlation between increasing 
numbers and capability of Iraqi battalions and some reduction in 
American combat power. This is something that I have suggested for some 
time. This apparent consideration of options could not come at a better 
time, given the poor readiness posture of the Army and Marine Corps 
equipment.
  Over the last several years, we have seen readiness rates plummet as 
the operation tempo in Iraq has climbed. Readiness rates for equipment 
have fallen so far, so far that I fear that now they present a 
strategic risk to our ability to respond to contingencies we may have 
faced beyond our current commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, nearly 40 percent of the Army and Marine Corps ground 
equipment is deployed to the Central Command theater. That equipment is 
suffering terribly due to battle losses and damage and increased 
operations and harsh climate.
  Since the start of the war, the Army has lost over 1,000 wheeled 
vehicles and nearly 100 armored vehicles. Increased usage and the 
weight from extra armor are wearing out equipment in Iraq up to nine 
times the peacetime rate. That means that some equipment has added the 
equivalent of 27 years worth of wear since the start of the war in 
Iraq.
  To keep this equipment serviceable, the Army and Marines have had to 
expend extraordinary effort. To their credit, the readiness rates for 
equipment deployed to Central Command remains high, with spare 
equipment and repair parts flowing quickly to the fight.
  Unfortunately, theater readiness has come at the expense of equipment 
here in the continental United States. Readiness reporting from non-
deployed Army units shows that equipment readiness continues to fall, 
with very few continental United States units rated as fully mission-
capable.
  These low mission-capable rates disturb me greatly, as they are an 
indicator of a military under stress. Non-deployed units are our 
strategic base. They are the units we will call if a crisis emerges. 
Looking at these readiness rates, I truly wonder if our military will 
be able to answer the call should it come.
  The cost of all this repair and maintenance is enormous, with the 
Army spending $13.5 billion in 2006 alone. General Schoomaker, in his 
testimony before the Armed Services Committee today, said that the Army 
will require an astounding $17 billion next year to reset equipment 
damaged or destroyed by the war in Iraq. Even more disturbing is that 
the largest bill for the reset will not come due until after combat 
operations end. At that point, future budget pressure may make it 
difficult to forward the reset, leaving us with significant shortfalls 
of equipment to fill a transforming military.
  This Congress has a responsibility to provide for our force for the 
battles that they are in today and for those that they may have to 
fight tomorrow. To do that and to budget responsibly, we must know the 
true and full cost of the bill that will come due.
  Mr. Speaker, the Army and Marine Corps have been involved in 
prolonged combat under the harshest of conditions. The combat has taken 
an enormous toll on troops and their equipment. Yes, we have strategic 
interests in Iraq, but we also have strategic interests around the 
world that we must be prepared to defend. We cannot allow the war in 
Iraq to destroy our ability to fight and win in other contingencies. 
Our Army and Marine Corps must have what they need to fight and win.

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