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Army: Surging soldiers will be fully equipped

While under congressional scrutiny, senior Army equipment officials assured lawmakers Wednesday that soldiers surging into Iraq will be fully equipped despite their accelerated deployments.

“They are going to be properly equipped,” Brig. Gen. Charles Anderson, director of Force Development for Army G-8, told members of the House Armed Services Committee at a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Members of the committee’s readiness and air and land forces subcommittees told Army officials they were concerned with how the Pentagon’s recent decision to deploy 21,500 troops to Iraq will affect equipping shortages, reset efforts and overall Army readiness.

“We recognize that it will be difficult to fully outfit surging units and we are also very concerned about the effect this additional equipment will have on reset and ultimately the Army’s readiness,” said Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, chairman of the readiness subcommittee.

While Army officials were confident surging forces will have what they need, they were frank in telling lawmakers that units preparing for later deployments will continue to have shortages.

“Units back here are going to have to cross-level” or share equipment, Anderson said. “They’re the ones that are going to have the holes.”

Lawmakers also made it very clear that the new Democratic majority in the House is going to expect the Army make war costs part of the normal budget request process instead of depending on supplemental funding to pay for the massive effort of rebuilding equipment destroyed or worn out in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We would like to hear that the FY 08 [budget] request will include all known equipment requirements for FY 08,” said Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, chairman of the air and land forces subcommittee. “Everything that you need to have, that you know you need to have, has to be in this budget. No more phony, supplemental budgets from the Pentagon or the administration.”