The lack of funding for maintenance and cutting force structure is coming home to roost…
Foxnews.com had a report HERE, the Marines are really in the hurt locker, since they are flying the oldest F-18s in the military. I met LTC (Crash) Thomas, CO of VMFA-312 last year in Okinawa during one of my trips out that way. He had just taken over the squadron and was trying to get his last three birds all the way to Okinawa, including the one that had caught fire on him.
Frustrated did not begin to describe his attitude, or the XO, MO or Gunner as trying to get parts out of the supply system, and get maintenance done required multiple fights with the military phone system and 12 hour out of sequence (time wise) calls back to Beaufort, plus calls to the other sites where the three birds were stuck AWP. I was there a week, and he still hadn’t gotten all the birds there, with maintainers, parts in transit and airplanes scattered hither and yon.
But they were flying missions daily out of Okinawa, and managing to keep the other seven birds up. Kudos to all those folks!!!
The Navy is in ‘slightly’ better shape, but they are also at minimal available acft on their home cycles and pilots are getting the minimum of 4 hours a month, rather than actually getting the combat proficiency training, range operations and other flights they need to actually maintain their warfighting capabilities in top form!
Erg. Don’t get me started. The Obamination of the military is a sad deal. I don’t get why equipment is crap and bottlenecked. I have had many friends say it is crappo overseas when they have been deployed.They all tell me it’s a goat f#ck. Grrr.
Sequestration is not the cause of the problem. The problem comes from politicians that insist upon wasting money on projects, systems and other worthless items that feel good or (more importantly) buy them votes. Their priorities have national security near the bottom of their agenda and their own future at the top of the agenda.
The problem the Marines have is just the tip of the iceberg. An iceberg that is drifting, ever more rapidly toward a serious disaster.
This is why the Russkies can buzz our ships with impunity.
Knowing all that, I’m wondering what the Army’s training cycle looks like? Tanks are expensive, artillery is expensive, and you can’t buy a box of APSD like you can buy a box of .22LR. I bet that if the Navy can’t fly, the Army ain’t doing much shooting, either.
The military doesn’t care for Obama and they don’t vote for him. As their commander-in-chief, that means that there is no political benefit to him personally and he’d just as soon let them rot. I think that was the calculus from the moment he took office. He’s a narcissist. That’s how he rolls.
+1
Paw Paw, the son of a friend of mine is XO in a stryker troop. He just finished an training exercise in Germany and things didn’t seem any better for the Army. ie no batteries for the MILES gear, no vehicle maintenance, shortage of vehicles, radios that don’t work…..
Fargo- It is, and they’re being POLITE!
Roger- Sorry, but you’re dead wrong. I have sat in budget meetings where we were told you are losing XX millions of dollars, but you are required to ‘maintain proficiency’, when the questions are asked on where to get parts, or perform routine maintenance the answer was, do the best you can with what you’ve got. There is no money for parts, and major things keep getting ‘deferred’…
PE- Yep!
Paw- Lots of ‘synthetic’ training… e.g. sitting in the tank going bang, bang, bang while hooked to a network.
PE- Yep, the ‘tip’ of that iceberg…
There is very few responsibilities the government has beyond defending the country and that is done by the armed forces.
The rest is just fluff.
Damn both the last few POTUS and Congress members for failing to fund an adequate DOD budget That’s both parties.
My opinion on the JCS for setting and keeping training and logistics goals isn’t too high either.
Or, as Obama thinks: “Mission accomplished!”
It’s 1939 again
Funny, isn’t it, that there is enough money for things like welfare, food stamps, and obamaphones, yet not enough to keep our military funded.
If, God forbid, Russia or China ever get really pissed at us, we’re in a world of hurt.
+1.
Suz
Yep, “Fundamental Transformation” in action!
The lead time on some of the maintenance items is staggeringly long, 18 months to two years in some cases.
Sequestration came about because Obama and Congress aren’t willing to work together. That the results of sequestration hurt the military is just a bonus for Obama, since he wants to downsize and gut it anyway. He even gets to blame the Republicans for the current state of readiness, while taking the credit for the improvement in the budget deficit that sequestration has brought.
We all saw that on the surface side, less underway and more synthetic training. I suppose it has caught up to AIR now. I guess SUBS are next.
Lest we forget, today is April 19.
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
On a side note, Kalifornia gets this—
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2016/04/19/licensed-gun-dealer-ban-committee-ca/
All- Thanks for the comments, good point RHT!
Posted from my iPhone.
Sorry, not buying it.
Even if some provably honest person showed me readiness rates for aircraft going back 80 years, not buying it. Same thing with the batteries for Miles gear (that ain’t warfightin son). Nope.
Sending an officer to the brig for having his men take parts off deadlined vehicles so his unit could cross the line of departure in Saudi Arabia back during ODS, that’s how we rolled. It’s how we always rolled.
Middle East Force Flag Ship, down to 45% crew because PERS couldn’t scrape up enough victims to send on a 1 year unaccompanied tour in 84, that’s military life.
There is more money in the Department of Defense than ever and what you see are the results of mismanagement, not a lack of funds.
You want heresy?
If only a third of the planes can fly, let’s just scrap the other 2/3s. If they can’t fly or don’t fly, we kind of obviously, don’t need them.
God helps us in case of attack
Curtis- Obviously we’ll have to agree to disagree on this… If I followed your logic, then we’d be decomming all the CRUDES that require maintenance, along with any carrier or sub that required major maintenance or a change out of the core… As an aviator, yes I can tell you mission availabilities were higher under CARTER! than they are today. That is not due to mismanagement, that is due to the administration’s playing games with funding authorizations.
Rick- Yep, we’re screwed…