Afghan surge, Iraq exit pose logistic challenge - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Afghan surge, Iraq exit pose logistic challenge

The task before Army logistics gurus managing the drawdown in Iraq just got more complicated. In the midst of counting, collecting and shipping equipment home from Iraq, they are now scrambling to support the surge of thousands of fresh troops headed to Afghanistan.

For the past seven months, planners in Iraq and Kuwait have been sorting through millions of pieces of military equipment, identifying what will go home and what will be left behind in preparation for the December 2011 pullout of U.S. troops.

The game dramatically changed Dec. 1 when President Barack Obama announced his plan to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Now, the priority for the next few months will be to pull serviceable engineer equipment, mine-resistant vehicles and communications equipment out of Iraq and ship it to Afghanistan.

“Equipment has already started moving to Afghanistan,” Third Army spokesman Col. Jerry O’Hara told Army Times. “Frankly, Third Army had anticipated the increase of forces to Operation Enduring Freedom. I’m not going to say it’s not going to be a challenge.”

Citing security concerns, O’Hara wouldn’t get into specifics on the amount of war materiel being sent from Iraq to Afghanistan, but said it would be “vast amounts of wheeled equipment and communications and support equipment.”

Leaders from commands such as Third Army, Army Materiel Command and Multi-National Forces Iraq are scheduled to participate in a Dec. 14 “rock drill” in Kuwait to discuss changes that may need to be made to the Iraq drawdown plan based on conditions such as the surge into Afghanistan.

“It’s a rehearsal of sorts to ensure that everyone is operating on the same common operational picture,” O’Hara said, explaining that a major portion of the drawdown plan involves cutting the total number of troops in Iraq from 120,000 down to 50,000 by August of next year.

“If we feel a need to do a course correction or a modification, or if there is a decision that has to be made, that will be fleshed out during the course of the rock drill.”

All U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, under the terms of the security agreement between the U.S. and Iraq.

The security situation in Iraq is a factor that could always throw the drawdown off schedule.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates was in Iraq on Dec. 10 to meet with Iraqi officials amid a wave of bombings that have claimed 127 lives and rattled the country.

Aside from rushing gear to Afghanistan, a major challenge of the drawdown facing logistics officials is deciding which pieces of equipment are not serviceable enough to go to Afghanistan or even return to the U.S.

“There are a lot of nontactical vehicles being used right now,” O’Hara said, describing the hundreds of sport-utility type vehicles on forward operating bases.

“Hardly any of them are up to American specs. If we were to bring them back to the states, we have two costs — the cost of shipping them back and the cost of bringing them back up to American specs … In some cases we will avoid more costs by disposing of the vehicles through foreign military sales or selling them to people in the region.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.