Military Readiness

Download or read book Military Readiness written by U S Government Accountability Office (G and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-07 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the United States' military readiness, focusing on the: (1) frequency of deployments in recent years; (2) effects of increased deployment on combat readiness; and (3) Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to limit personnel temporary (PERSTEMPO) deployment. GAO found that: (1) Army and Air Force deployments have increased among special forces, electronic warfare squadrons, and Patriot air defense, and military police units; (2) the percentage of personnel deployed from 1987 to 1995 has increased from 2 to 6 percent for the Air Force and 5 to 9 percent for the Army; (3) the Navy and Marine Corps traditionally deploy units at twice the rate of the other services and remain active for at least half of the year; (4) peace operations, along with smaller increases in joint activity, are the driving force behind increased deployments; (5) DOD believes that deployments can be reduced by eliminating redundant military training and combining or cancelling some exercises; (6) the Status of Resources and Training System reports less than one-third of frequently deploying units dropping below planned readiness levels; (7) DOD is concerned about the nature of frequently deploying units' personnel problems; (8) DOD statistics on personnel readiness are not useful because they are inconsistent and are only compiled at the major command level; and (9) high PERSTEMPO is likely to continue unless DOD directs the services to set up goals and policies to manage PERSTEMPO.