WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 26, 2016) -- The Army's infrastructure is "crumbling," Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, deputy chief of staff for Operations and Plans, G-3/5/7, told lawmakers.
Anderson and other Army leaders testified, Feb. 26, at the House Armed Services Committee's "Department of the Army 2017 Operation and Maintenance Budget Request and Readiness Posture" hearing.
Years of deferred maintenance to pay for readiness and modernization have taken their toll, he said. "I don't know how long it will take to build that back."
Installations are being funded at just 50 percent of what's needed from the sustainment, restoration and modernization account, he said, for three or four years now and there's a backlog of repair work.
"Ranges are falling apart, runways are crumbling everywhere you go," he said.
READINESS AFFECTED
The crumbling infrastructure has a direct impact on readiness as well, Anderson said.
For instance, simulator software is three generations behind, he noted. To save money on flight hours and live fire, Soldiers use those simulators to maintain proficiency. When those simulators are not at the level they should be at, readiness declines.
HUGE BACKLOG
Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Daniel B. Allyn told lawmakers that to get rid of the infrastructure backlog would cost $7 billion and that currently 20 percent of facilities are in poor or failing condition.
He said people ask, "How could you as a senior commander, allow that to happen?"
The response he said he gives is: "It's the best of poor choices. If your choice is to send a Soldier trained and ready to defeat the enemies of our country in a known mission, and the only way you can pay for that is to reduce infrastructure restoration, that's the choice we're making; and, we believe, we're making the right choice to protect and preserve the lives of our Soldiers for known missions. It's not a good choice, but it's the best we have."
AUTHORITIES NEEDED
Allyn asked the lawmakers for more authority and flexibility to make the best use of existing facilities.
For example, there are new barracks that are currently empty because of the drawdown. Current law prohibits their use for other purposes. In the meantime, old facilities are being repaired for that other usage, when the existing new barracks would save cost. "We're dumping money in it to fix it up because of the lack of authorities."
Some of the lawmakers nodded in agreement and one promised action.
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