Posted on 12/05/2006 7:32:12 PM PST by chemical_boy
ANNISTON, Ala. -- 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
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It's like the war hasn't started yet. Things are going to change, I think.
Don't just go off and destroy it yet...
Ebay.
Get your bids in now, boys!
...when, in reality, it should have been the exact opposite:
More & better heavy field equipment for future conflicts beyond the modified-Police work in the Balkans.
I tried to click on the link, it showed the W Post for fraction of a second & then bounced me back here. Is it me or the Post? Any clue? Thanks, Roger
' Just resd the article .....we're screwed !!!!
What do mean by that?
The 'Rats picking up the slack and making the military right?
The chances of re-newing our spent / used up hardware?
What is going to change?
I found it when I was out on a training recon, then a few weeks later went back with a battery and it started right up!
Thought seriously for a couple of years about renting a semi and an equipment trailer and 'liberating' it. But no place to store it, and eBay didn't exist, so it is probably still sitting there.
I think the scale of conflict will escalate, and any current issues with our weapons inventory will seem minor. Our military will double.
Gears will have to turn when we realize what's needed for our survival (namely, World War III).
The dems won't stay in power long if they don't recognize this.
This is a disaster waiting to happen.The military is being ground down and there are a lot of potential troublespots on the horizon.
The congress had better get off their duffs and provide more than adaquate funding or this country will be in big trouble.
"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."
Sheesh, and the Chinese and the Russians are loving every minute of it... in case anyone was wondering why they were never around to help.
Not to mention the social engineering aspect:
"There's stuff, stuff everywhere," Joan Gustafson, a depot official, said as she wheeled her brown Chevrolet van through a landscape of rolling hills lined with armadas of mobile guns.
''There's another field of M1s," she said, motioning toward a swath of M1A1 Abrams tanks next to the winding road. ''We're just waiting for someone to tell us what to do with them.''
Excuse me girl, but in a situation like this you're supposed to show initiative and NOT be "just waiting for someone to tell us what to do with them."
...and part of those shortages are paper...in the sense that they aren't taking their gear with them, but tier CO will sign for stuff already in Iraq.
That continuing confusion aside...we do need to get broken stuff back on-line.
Yes. I found it minimized after I wrote earlier. Guess I'll complain a little slower next time. Thanks
It hasnt yet, nor will it with the crop of fools in DC.
I agree with you.
Change is in the air.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1749013/posts
But it doesn't take much hardware to bomb haywagons full of women and children in Kosovo...
Just my opinion. Every damn penny of foreign aid should be suspended until all our service branches have the absolute best equipment available that they need. Probably we shouldn't be giving any foreign aid until any war we are in is fought, we've won and it's over.
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