In many cases, this may require specialized training. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The former Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Armed Services, asked us to examine (1) how the services incorporate peace operations into their various training programs, (2) what effect peace operations have on maintaining combat readiness, and (3) whether the services have the weapon systems and equipment they need for these operations. We did not assess whether the United States should participate in peace operations. Except in a few cases, the number of reserve component forces participating in these operations was relatively small. Commanders of major ground combat forces differ on when peace operations should be provided; some commanders include aspects of peace operations in standard unit training, and others prefer to maintain an exclusive combat focus until they are advised that their units are about to deploy to a peace operation. Naval and aviation forces perform similar tasks in peace operations and in war. Consequently, regional CINCs have conducted workshops and seminars to prepare their staffs for leading peace operations in their areas of responsibility; the U.S. Army Peacekeeping Institute held a peace operations training program, at the request of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for command level personnel serving on the staffs of Unified Commands, which was attended by interagency, Joint Staff, potential joint task force commanders, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Army’s Battle Command Training Program and the Center for Army Lessons Learned provided mobile training teams, training support packages, and operational lessons to prepare staff prior to a peace operation deployment; the Expeditionary Warfare Training Groups, under CINCs, Atlantic Fleet and Pacific Fleet, will provide, starting with a pilot planned for November 1995, a 5-day class on peace operations for Naval Expeditionary Force staff officers and senior noncommissioned officers; and the Partnership for Peace program, utilizing peace operations training as a venue for military-to-military contact, sponsored a 3-week seminar and a large peace operations field exercise that included representatives from the U.S. military and from Ministries of Defense and General Staffs of other Partnership for Peace countries. 4 provides detail on nonlethal systems and equipment.) The recovery period is longest for ground combat forces. Some operations provide excellent experience that can improve the ability of various types of military units to operate in combat scenarios; others may benefit only certain types of units. The following variables determine the extent to which peace operations affect combat capability and the time needed to recover from a peace operation: skills used/not used, length of participation, and in-theater training opportunities. Most of the required tasks were different from the unit’s war-fighting tasks. As a result, it can take up to a month to ready these aircrews for a major conflict. The requirements center on three broad classifications: (1) force protection, (2) equipment for military operations in urban areas, and (3) nonlethalweapons.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined: (1) how the services incorporate peace operations into their various training programs; (2) what effect peace operations have on maintaining combat readiness; and (3) whether the services have the weapons systems and equipment they need for these operations.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) commanders of ground combat units differ on when special peace operations should be provided; (2) some commanders include aspects of peace operations in standard unit training; (3) other commanders prefer to maintain an exclusive combat focus until their units are formally assigned to a peace operation, in which case the amount of notification before deployment to a peace operation becomes an important factor; (4) aviation, naval, support, and special operations forces perform similar tasks in peace operations and in war and therefore do not need as much special training; (5) participation in peace operations can provide excellent experience for combat operations, but such participation can also degrade a unit's war-fighting capability; (6) the extent of degradation depends on a number of factors, such as the type of peace operation, the type of unit participating, the length of participation, and the opportunities available for training in theater; (7) it can take up to 6 months for a ground combat unit to recover from a peace operation and become combat ready; (8) the recovery period for aviation units is relatively short compared with that for ground forces; (9) participation in peace operations may interrupt naval training schedules, but there is little difference in the naval skills required for peace and for other operations; (10) determining whether the services have the appropriate weapon systems and equipment for peace operations is an ongoing process taking place primarily at the service level; (11) the services have identified requirements in three areas: (a) force protection; (b) equipment for military operations in built-up areas; and (c) nonlethal weapons; and (12) except for the recent withdrawal operation from Somalia, few nonlethal weapons have been used to date in peace operations.