Katherine McIntire Peters. Government Executive, 28 September 2009.
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=43682&dcn=todaysnews
Tag Archives: Readiness
US considers expanding army: Pentagon
AFP, 15 July 2009.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Defense Secretary Robert Gates is weighing a possible temporary expansion of the US army to ease the strain from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, his press secretary said on Wednesday. Gates was discussing the idea, backed by Senator Joseph Lieberman, with senior officers to add 30,000 troops to the active-duty army, press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.
The possible expansion from the current strength of 547,400 would be designed “to get them through what is still a stressful period as we draw down in Iraq and continue to plus-up in Afghanistan,” Morrell said. “So he is engaged in discussions with a number of people about that possibility,” he added. Any expansion would be temporary but would carry a significant price tag, possibly more than a billion dollars, army officials said.
General Peter Chiarelli, the army’s vice chief of staff, has told lawmakers that at any given time about 30,000 Army troops in the current force are not available to deploy to combat missions. About 10,000 army personnel are wounded and receiving medical care, another 10,000 are in training programs and the remainder have been ordered to serve the Defense Department or other agencies and cannot be pulled from their duties.
Sources: War tours strain US military readiness
Lolita C. Baldor, AP, 19 February 2009.
No Good Reason to Boost Army, Marine Corps End Strength
Carl Conetta. Project on Defense Alternatives, 31 January 2007.
Performance-Based Logistics: Buying Performance, Not Parts
Steve Geary. Presentation to Supply Chain World conference, 26 March 2006. Hosted on the Commonwealth Institute website.
http://www.comw.org/qdr/fulltext/06Geary.pdf
Editor’s Comment:
Although this presentation focuses on logistics and maintenance of equipment, it includes useful information pertaining to the tradeoffs between operational ambitions / quality and costs of maintenance of forces that are inherent in “performance based” approaches.
|