European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 14, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                V s a big scary russian beak came Oufou the woops arm6p with no Cigar file photo study charges army is diverting soldiers from combat military spending aggregate readiness Down big ticket weaponry army new m1 tank costs per mile to compared to for the retiring m60a1 by Jim Stewart Cox news service eight months ago the following paragraph appeared in a congressional staff investigation on How Well the military was prepared for War in one the army played a soviet attack in Iran followed by a Warsaw pact attack in Western three and on half division equivalents were committed to Iran while 28 army division equivalents were committed in Europe the total pre sent Active and Reserve combat except one division in the army has admitted that this analysis did not represent a worst Case the following the results were classified and what followed was deleted from the congressional it is Safe to that the army did not do Well in its make believe outnumbered and Short on the scenario Likely proved to be a rout for the forces in Europe and would have left gis in Korea to swim the Straits of Japan As there is nothing left to reinforce quipped one High rank ing the War codenamed was included in the House study As further evidence of what Many experts in both Congress and the Pentagon believe that at a time of huge increases in military the paradoxical result has been an actual decline in aggregate readiness when compared to our this is not entirely the pentagons political and budgetary realities play major behind the topical headlines of Coffee pots and plastic Stool the Reagan administration has Intro Duce two far reaching changes in americas War plans the strategic defense initiative Sec the notion that we should be prepared to fight several conflicts the second lacking the glitter of Star is not As widely it involved restructuring a plan that stretched Back several Page 14 and stripes called the War the original plan envisioned a intense european conflict accompanied by a diversionary Challenge someplace by changing the scenario to one of preparing for at least three the Reagan administration has essentially rewritten the formula for Mea Suring the two most important vital signs of military health readiness and readiness is the immediate ability to perform com Bat functions with the proper people and sustainability measures the ability to continue that you cant overstate what a fundamental change the Reagan plan called said Stephen a senior analyst at the Center for defense a watchdog group frequently critical of the the problem has always been that a Gap exists be tween what plans Call for and what the actual invest ments in the first half of what the Peng ton will Likely remember As a Golden fiscal 1981 through fiscal defense spending authority increased from billion to a proposed or 75 spending for weapons procurement As part of the same budgets Rose from billion to or 162 a Floc  Moke two a Worff Imit in the same spending for operations and maintenance Rose 60 from billion to billion and actually fell As a percentage of the entire defense the figures encourage criticism that the military is lavishing its newfound wealth on expensive weapons systems and not on Beans and that is not a new the budget process has tradition ally seen weapons procurement soar when funding goes up despite the pleas that we must improve Readi Ness and stockpile there Are two readiness is a almost political condition which Many defenders but few natural arms on the other vigorously push their wares and politicians want defense contracts for their the budget process appears to encourage spending for weapons instead of for As an the National journal recently reported a 1981 meeting Between Secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger and budget director David Stockman in which Stockman appeared to Trade today deficit reduction for tomorrows since the National deficit is measured by what is actually spent from the Treasury that known As the outlay Stockman agreed to higher authority budgets in coming years for lower outlay spending for 1981 through such planning automatically encourages that the Money be spent on which traditionally have their costs spread out Over several indicators that readiness has suffered in the face of this arms buildup come from armed services congressional and internal studies at the one such unofficial inhouse study was by Marine David assigned to the pentagons Man installations and logistics leaked to a study group two months the paper argued that indicators of readiness were Evans chided the air Force for spending More on fewer weapons and said the service was running the risk of excessive technological he cited a 108 percent Cost increase for maintenance of a Force that had increased Only 4 percent in and after a five year Effort to build up the services crucial War Reserve the fallout level was still at Only 50 percent the army was likewise looking excessively at big ticket the proponents of army modernization Are busily buying literally thousands of jaguars on what is Likely to be a Chevrolet operating the report he pointed to the army new m1 which costs per mile to compared to for the retiring m60a1 and the Navy has telescoped its efforts into obtaining a 600ship not enough Effort has gone into War re Evans Only eight of the navys 12 carriers can now be put to sea stocked with wartime loads of bombs and such shortcomings Are countered with the Penta Gons argument that it takes time for All of the weapons systems and purchases that Are in the procurement pipeline to have an Impact on How voiced a doubt heard frequently in Congress there is a very human tendency to Hope that our latest weapons because they Are so expend Are also very but there is a great Deal of room for what we do know is that the Long term trend has been in the direction of a smaller Force with significant readiness problems at the same time readiness funding has been increasing plans to dramatically increase the size of the armed forces been reduced despite the requirement to plan for a widespread global the air Force had planned for 40 air wings by now that has been delayed until the army had announced plans for an additional troops by now it is not planned at recent additions of Light infantry divisions have come largely from existing last years congressional investigation into readiness cited one army study showing it required 19 More divisions to win a nato in 1984 dollars that would Cost Between billion and Congress few critics would dispute that the armed forces have experienced substantial benefits from the Reagan readiness and sustainability Are up Over five years but Given the new even the most noteworthy accomplishments Are personnel for Are perhaps the Best news the military has had in some nine Tyone percent of All those entering the service last year were High school compared to 55 per cent in fiscal Only 10 percent of the new recruits scored in the lowest acceptable category compared to 52 percent in fiscal even there is room for the congressional study noted that despite enticing recruit ment there were not always enough people doing the right things to fulfil the army continues to divert trained soldiers from combat units to work in administrative Organiza the army still has not placed enough soldiers in squads and maintenance shops where they be the study increased training especially for has also found a detractor in the general accounting of while the Gao agreed that increased flight time was essential to it found in a report released last week that additional training in Europe was at the expense of War kits War Reserve Stock withdrawals became an increasingly important source of aircraft spare parts for Tacti Cal fight the Gao report the draw Down of War Reserve spares to meet increased flying hour requirements decreased their reported readiness the Gao also noted that it Hurt maintenance train ing to keep the pilots in the air for longer to support the increased flying maintenance units deferred maintenance maintenance officials placed the backlog at Over personnel in 1982 and Over in april the stars and stripes Page 15