CommunityEditor
08-25-2009, 06:18 PM
As U.S. troops near what is supposed to be the final year of combat operations in Iraq, the military’s top logisticians have quietly been working on the “monumental” task of removing mountains of war-fighting equipment from that theater.
“We’ve been in that theater of war for [six] years. This is Ph.D-level stuff. It’s literally millions of pieces of equipment,” said Maj. Gen. Kevin Leonard, the G-3 for Army Materiel Command.
Officials declined to discuss how much the drawdown effort could cost, but Pentagon leaders are debating the price tag, which changes depending on how much equipment is saved and whether gear bought to replace what’s junked is included in the overall tab.
One source has said the total will be tens of billions of dollars.
The cost of the drawdown could be overshadowed by the complexity of the effort, which will include deciding what to do with each piece of gear and scrubbing certain pieces of equipment, such as those that will be transferred to Iraqi forces, of classified components.
Those components will include night-vision systems, Blue Force Tracker battlefield identification terminals, and electronic warfare and improvised explosive device systems.
The security agreement between the U.S. and Iraq calls for all troops to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, and President Barack Obama has called for an end to combat operations on Aug. 31, 2010. A 50,000-troop transition force is expected to remain after that date, officials have said.
To accommodate this time line, planning has taken place at all levels, from Central Command and U.S. Army Central to Multi-National Force-Iraq and Multi-National Corps-Iraq, said Army Maj. Gen. Ken Dowd, J-4 for CentCom.
“Planning for this began almost a year ago,” he said. “We’re doing it every day.”
The U.S. has about 2.8 million pieces of equipment, ranging from individual gear and vehicles to containers and construction material, in Iraq, Dowd said.
As the J-4, or director of logistics, Dowd most recently traveled to Iraq and Kuwait in late July with the top logistician from each service to lay out the military’s drawdown plan.
Dowd, who makes monthly trips to the area of operations to monitor the drawdown’s progress, said the United States is doing one of three things when dealing with U.S. equipment in Iraq.
Some equipment will be transferred to Iraqi security forces, some will be sent to American troops in Afghanistan, and the rest will be sent back to the U.S., he said.
“We’ve got large amounts of gear out of Iraq that are no longer required,” Dowd said, adding that the military is already performing repair work on some of the vehicles and repositioning them.
That includes Humvees that were swapped out for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, and trailers, tanks and Bradleys, he said.
Much of the equipment drawdown effort revolves around wheeled vehicles and 20- and 40-foot containers, Dowd said.
“We’re doing a big effort on accounting for all of the containers, seeing what’s inside them, seeing if they’re seaworthy to bring back to the States, or getting [the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service] involved to see if they can be sold as scrap metal,” he said.
In addition, the U.S. also has closed about 50 base camps in Iraq, and the military has “a very good system” in place to separate and clean the gear from those camps before moving it to Kuwait, donating it to Iraqi forces or giving it to DRMS, which oversees the reuse, transfer, donation, sale or disposal of all excess or surplus military property.
Adding muscle in Afghanistan
Much of the equipment used in Iraq is bound for Afghanistan, where the United States is building up forces.
Equipment leaving Iraq almost always flows through Kuwait, where the military has, in the last two or three years, built additional wash racks to prepare the equipment for future use or the journey home and set up depots to repair and reset vehicles in the area of operations.
Dowd said so far a lot of the gear headed from Iraq to Afghanistan is engineering equipment, trucks, Humvees and MRAPs. So far, about 1,300 vehicles have been moved from Iraq to Afghanistan, and the effort continues, Leonard said.
The ability to transfer equipment from Iraq to Afghanistan has sped up the equipping process, Leonard said.
“The strategic point I’d make here is not just about moving equipment,” he said. “We’ve got to be logical and methodical. What needs to be moved? What should be brought home? What needs to go to Afghanistan [or] be disposed of?”
Officials continue to work on determining what equipment should be left with Iraqi soldiers and police, Dowd said.
As of Aug. 5, CentCom officials were still reviewing a list from Multi-National Force-Iraq recommending the types and numbers of trucks and weapons that should be given to the Iraqis, Dowd said.
“We’re taking a hard look at that so that we don’t leave the Iraqi security forces over there without the proper equipment,” he said.
The U.S. is considering a full range of equipment, including vehicles, weapons and material used to set up bases, said Air Force Maj. John Redfield, a CentCom spokesman.
Also, it’s almost impossible to project what it will take to transport all the equipment, Redfield said.
However, compared with the buildup, the drawdown will rely more heavily on ships than aircraft to transport the equipment, he said. That’s because there isn’t as much urgency or immediate need when drawing down, he said.
Dowd, in an interview with National Public Radio, said he is working to ensure “as we close these bases [in Iraq] to leave it as much as it looked like when we got there.”
That effort includes making sure the United States has processes in place for getting rid of, donating or bringing home scrap metal, and for draining fuel-storage locations, he told NPR.
Planning for the equipment drawdown extends through fiscal years 2010 and 2011, and Dowd said he is confident it will be completed according to Obama’s time line.
However, he added that the plan includes contingencies.
“I think we’ve got a plan, and, as you know, the enemy’s always got a vote, and if something occurs, we may have to adjust,” he said. “We’ve got the flexibility to accelerate and … some contingency plans also.”
GEAR TO GO
2.8 million pieces of U.S. equipment in Iraq, ranging from tanks and Bradleys to individual gear
50,000 vehicles
90,000 20- and 40-foot containers
34,000 short tons of ammunition
50 base camps in Iraq that the U.S. has closed
1,300 vehicles that have been moved, so far, from Iraq to Afghanistan
Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2009/08/army_drawdown_082409w/
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/aliceamm/Military%20Times/082409at_iraqexit_800.jpg
Army
Humvees lined up at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, ready for
redistribution. Army Materiel Command is planning to move
2.8 million pieces of U.S. equipment.
“We’ve been in that theater of war for [six] years. This is Ph.D-level stuff. It’s literally millions of pieces of equipment,” said Maj. Gen. Kevin Leonard, the G-3 for Army Materiel Command.
Officials declined to discuss how much the drawdown effort could cost, but Pentagon leaders are debating the price tag, which changes depending on how much equipment is saved and whether gear bought to replace what’s junked is included in the overall tab.
One source has said the total will be tens of billions of dollars.
The cost of the drawdown could be overshadowed by the complexity of the effort, which will include deciding what to do with each piece of gear and scrubbing certain pieces of equipment, such as those that will be transferred to Iraqi forces, of classified components.
Those components will include night-vision systems, Blue Force Tracker battlefield identification terminals, and electronic warfare and improvised explosive device systems.
The security agreement between the U.S. and Iraq calls for all troops to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, and President Barack Obama has called for an end to combat operations on Aug. 31, 2010. A 50,000-troop transition force is expected to remain after that date, officials have said.
To accommodate this time line, planning has taken place at all levels, from Central Command and U.S. Army Central to Multi-National Force-Iraq and Multi-National Corps-Iraq, said Army Maj. Gen. Ken Dowd, J-4 for CentCom.
“Planning for this began almost a year ago,” he said. “We’re doing it every day.”
The U.S. has about 2.8 million pieces of equipment, ranging from individual gear and vehicles to containers and construction material, in Iraq, Dowd said.
As the J-4, or director of logistics, Dowd most recently traveled to Iraq and Kuwait in late July with the top logistician from each service to lay out the military’s drawdown plan.
Dowd, who makes monthly trips to the area of operations to monitor the drawdown’s progress, said the United States is doing one of three things when dealing with U.S. equipment in Iraq.
Some equipment will be transferred to Iraqi security forces, some will be sent to American troops in Afghanistan, and the rest will be sent back to the U.S., he said.
“We’ve got large amounts of gear out of Iraq that are no longer required,” Dowd said, adding that the military is already performing repair work on some of the vehicles and repositioning them.
That includes Humvees that were swapped out for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, and trailers, tanks and Bradleys, he said.
Much of the equipment drawdown effort revolves around wheeled vehicles and 20- and 40-foot containers, Dowd said.
“We’re doing a big effort on accounting for all of the containers, seeing what’s inside them, seeing if they’re seaworthy to bring back to the States, or getting [the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service] involved to see if they can be sold as scrap metal,” he said.
In addition, the U.S. also has closed about 50 base camps in Iraq, and the military has “a very good system” in place to separate and clean the gear from those camps before moving it to Kuwait, donating it to Iraqi forces or giving it to DRMS, which oversees the reuse, transfer, donation, sale or disposal of all excess or surplus military property.
Adding muscle in Afghanistan
Much of the equipment used in Iraq is bound for Afghanistan, where the United States is building up forces.
Equipment leaving Iraq almost always flows through Kuwait, where the military has, in the last two or three years, built additional wash racks to prepare the equipment for future use or the journey home and set up depots to repair and reset vehicles in the area of operations.
Dowd said so far a lot of the gear headed from Iraq to Afghanistan is engineering equipment, trucks, Humvees and MRAPs. So far, about 1,300 vehicles have been moved from Iraq to Afghanistan, and the effort continues, Leonard said.
The ability to transfer equipment from Iraq to Afghanistan has sped up the equipping process, Leonard said.
“The strategic point I’d make here is not just about moving equipment,” he said. “We’ve got to be logical and methodical. What needs to be moved? What should be brought home? What needs to go to Afghanistan [or] be disposed of?”
Officials continue to work on determining what equipment should be left with Iraqi soldiers and police, Dowd said.
As of Aug. 5, CentCom officials were still reviewing a list from Multi-National Force-Iraq recommending the types and numbers of trucks and weapons that should be given to the Iraqis, Dowd said.
“We’re taking a hard look at that so that we don’t leave the Iraqi security forces over there without the proper equipment,” he said.
The U.S. is considering a full range of equipment, including vehicles, weapons and material used to set up bases, said Air Force Maj. John Redfield, a CentCom spokesman.
Also, it’s almost impossible to project what it will take to transport all the equipment, Redfield said.
However, compared with the buildup, the drawdown will rely more heavily on ships than aircraft to transport the equipment, he said. That’s because there isn’t as much urgency or immediate need when drawing down, he said.
Dowd, in an interview with National Public Radio, said he is working to ensure “as we close these bases [in Iraq] to leave it as much as it looked like when we got there.”
That effort includes making sure the United States has processes in place for getting rid of, donating or bringing home scrap metal, and for draining fuel-storage locations, he told NPR.
Planning for the equipment drawdown extends through fiscal years 2010 and 2011, and Dowd said he is confident it will be completed according to Obama’s time line.
However, he added that the plan includes contingencies.
“I think we’ve got a plan, and, as you know, the enemy’s always got a vote, and if something occurs, we may have to adjust,” he said. “We’ve got the flexibility to accelerate and … some contingency plans also.”
GEAR TO GO
2.8 million pieces of U.S. equipment in Iraq, ranging from tanks and Bradleys to individual gear
50,000 vehicles
90,000 20- and 40-foot containers
34,000 short tons of ammunition
50 base camps in Iraq that the U.S. has closed
1,300 vehicles that have been moved, so far, from Iraq to Afghanistan
Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2009/08/army_drawdown_082409w/
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/aliceamm/Military%20Times/082409at_iraqexit_800.jpg
Army
Humvees lined up at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, ready for
redistribution. Army Materiel Command is planning to move
2.8 million pieces of U.S. equipment.