Over Where? Army Struggles To Relearn Rapid Deployment

[unhappycamper]

http://breakingdefense.com/2016/03/over-where-army-struggles-to-relearn-rapid-deployment/



A US Army M1 tank about to be shipped out in an ARC ship for Trident Juncture wargames.

Over Where? Army Struggles To Relearn Rapid Deployment
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on March 16, 2016 at 3:52 PM

HUNTSVILLE, AL: This morning, Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley warned Congress that “I have grave concerns” about the Army’s ability to respond to a major war — say, with Russia, Gen. Milley’s no. 1 threat — “in a timely manner.” Here in Huntsville, generals and executives explained a big part of the reason why.

“The environment’s changing and we have to be ready to go tonight,” said Lt. Gen. Gustave Perna, the chief supply officer (G-4) on the Army’s Pentagon staff. “We need to assume… that we will be contested wherever we go and that the enemy will not make the mistake of allowing us to go someplace close by and settle in and get ready.”

Predictable rotations to Afghanistan and Iraq for 15 years have left the Army painfully out of practice for rapid deployment to unexpected crises. Now the service must relearn those skills — even as budgets shrink, US-flagged shipping falls to historic lows, and adversaries like China and Russia invest in weapons to shoot us up as we come in.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter has directed Transportation Command to do a “strategic portfolio review” of “strategic mobility in a contested environment,” said the TRANSCOM deputy commander, Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Lyons. Currently, he said, “all of our campaign analysis that we do (assumes) that we’re going to operate with impunity. There’s no attrition (from enemy action) built into any of that.”

[arendt]

1. You've done the trifecta today.

So, the Army didn't bother to spend on the "mundane" capability of transporting its fighting vehicles to the battlefield.

They spent it all on the war toys.

Perfect.

Looks like the corporate purchasing departments are in charge of our strategic policy.

[bemildred]

2. Well, I guess we'll just have to forgo any interventions for the forseeable future.

Pity, but it just wouldn't be right.