THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

As the GAO reports, the Armed Forces are currently maintaining their

mission requirements and report high overall readiness rates for their deployed units in the midst of the demanding wars.

But what is really going on is Peter robbing Paul to maintain that level.

The strain on military gear caused by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is forcing the Army and Marine Corps to operate on the margins worldwide, shorting next-to-deploy units in favor of longer-term needs at increasing risk to worldwide readiness, according to a new report.

And then when it is done we will have to pay to replace all that has broken or worn out.

As a result, the cost to repair, replace and recapitalize that equipment is going to “increase significantly,” GAO said in a report released Wednesday.

But the task of figuring out those costs is being hampered by Defense Department accounting procedures that do not require the Army and Marine Corps to report the costs of equipment reset with enough detail to give Congress visibility on whether the money is being spent as planned for the units deploying or preparing to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan, GAO said.

And because the Army was not required to track its reset costs from the start of the wars, it has no historical data that can be used to estimate future costs, the GAO found.

The precise cost won’t be known until the end of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, GAO said, “It will likely cost billions of dollars to repair and replace equipment.”...

...“Units . . . continue to report significant shortages during their training cycles that affect their ability to train,” the report states. “Thus, the services may be sacrificing short-term equipment needs for longer-term modernization goals.

“Until the services’ reset strategies target shortages of equipment needed to equip units preparing for deployment and give priority to those units over longer-term needs, the Army and Marine Corps will be unable to minimize operational risk by ensuring the needs of deploying units can be met.”

And the important point to remember is that this is just the equipment cost. Personnel are extra.