The holiday season is the perfect time to release painfully bad news, since most media outlets won't be paying much attention. One such story, from the 12/20/07 edition of Government Executive (and missed in the New York Times and the Washington Post), is the budget shortfall for the US Army, which is paying the highest cost of the services for the continued wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
To meet its current commitments, and prepare for any other contingencies, the Army needs to expand, always the costliest line item in its budget. At the same time that it is struggling to recruit and retain personnel, so the per capita cost, including new incentives, is steadily rising. Nevertheless, the overall quality of of the people in the Army is continuing to degrade, so the return on investment isn't what it used to be. The Army's estimated cost for this expansion, $70.2 billion for 74,200 personnel, is hardly realistic.
Every year, the services grumble that they don't have enough money for equipment upgrades. Sometimes, those complaints aren't justified: for the missions the US military faces, many older systems have been good enough. In Operation DESERT STORM, both aged B-52 bombers and state-of-the-art F-117 stealth aircraft played important roles; however, the F-117 wasn't needed for every mission.
In this case, however, the Army's complaints about upgrades are definitely justified. For example, part of the "upgrade" includes equipment that National Guard units should have had when they were deployed to Iraq, but didn't.
Another key improvement, the upgrade to the Army's helicopter fleet, can sharpen the Army's fighting edge in Iraq and Afghanistan, while blunting some of the political difficulties in these conflicts. (And, to be fair, these improvements are important for other future conflicts.) For example, upgrading the OH-58 Kiowa reconnaissance helicopter, or replacing it with its next generation equivalent, may improve battlefield intelligence. Finishing the task of replacing the weapons and detection gear on the Apache attack helicopter would increase the likelihood of finding and hitting targets small targets, in spite of dust or darkness.
As long as the Army continues to fight in Iraq's and Afghanistan's populated areas, the accuracy of information and firepower can't be underestimated. Unfortunately, the total price tag is high, approximately $60 billion. While the Army might stagger these costs, or postpone indefinitely improvements to equipment in theaters of operations where combat isn't happening, some fraction of that $60 billion is necessary.
Of course, the alternative is to cut American losses and disengage from Iraq, since that war imposes huge manpower and equipment costs. If the United States is going to stay in Iraq, however, these costs must be paid. The Army can't continue bleeding past the point where it can't effectively fight in Iraq, and it's not ready to fight the next war somewhere else.
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