Force Structure: Army and Marine Corps Efforts to Review Nonstandard Equipment for Future Usefulness
Abstract
Evolving threats in Iraq and Afghanistan have required the Army and the Marine Corps to quickly acquire and field new equipment. With the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, the continued drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, and likely reductions in funding for overseas contingency operations, the services face decisions about which equipment should be retained for the future. Equipment authorization documents in the Army and the Marine Corps are developed based on the requirements for units to perform their assigned missions. However, during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the adversaries changing tactics and techniques presented units with new threats, necessitating different equipment to effectively respond to them.1 For example, the services acquired Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAP) to counter the threat of improvised explosive devices. Such equipment, often called nonstandard equipment, is not listed on unit authorization documents and was generally acquired and maintained by the services with overseas contingency operations funds. We reported in 2011 that the Army did not have full visibility over all of its nonstandard equipment and recommended that the Army assign responsibility for overseeing the disposition of nonstandard equipment.2 We have not previously reported on the Marine Corps nonstandard equipment. If the services decide that nonstandard equipment has future usefulness, they must complete other processes before adding that equipment to unit authorization documents. As shown in figure 1, these processes consider factors such as future missions, force structure, sustainability, and budget issues, before items are added to authorization documents for the entire force.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 31, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA560947
Entities
People
- John H. Pendleton
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office