Reduced Requirements and Army Actions Should Ease the Strain on Army Civil Affairs Personnel

The Army does not have enough active-duty civil affairs capability to meet current requirements. The Navy and the Marine Corps each have four land-based squadrons; however, these squadrons together are not enough to cover all peacetime requirements without exceeding the Navy and the Marine Corps’ goals on the maximum number of days personnel should be deployed each year. The deployment goal is to have twice the time at home station as time deployed. Shortage of Trained Crews Affects Ability to Meet Theater Commanders’ AWACS Requirements

The Air Force could meet current needs for AWACS aircraft and crews in contingency operations and other peacetime missions such as drug interdiction without exceeding its 120-day annual deployment goal if all 40 of its staffed crews were fully trained and available for worldwide deployments.AWACS aircraft provide airspace surveillance and battlefield management of all aircraft flying in an assigned area. A number of factors have contributed to the other crews not being fully trained. Shortage of U-2 Pilots Presents Challenges in Meeting Theater Commanders’ Needs

The high demand for U-2 pilots relative to the number of pilots has contributed to historically high deployment rates for its pilots—175 days on average in 1999. However, the Air Force acknowledges that it faces challenges in overcoming historical pilot shortages, and continued careful management of the use of these aircraft will be needed. The Air Force had only 40 of its 54 authorized pilots fully trained as of January 2000. However, due to its part-time nature this latter unit will be able to cover only about 30 days of the rotation. Past Strain Has Been Eliminated

F-16CJ squadrons, particularly those stationed in the United States, have been among the most utilized fighter squadrons for the past few years. There are currently nine active- duty F-16CJ squadrons. Recommendations

To alleviate some of the strain on the military forces and assets used in contingency operations, we recommend that the Secretary of Defense direct the following:
The Secretary of the Army to carefully scrutinize the actions taken to ready the 49th Armored Division to deploy to Bosnia before deciding whether to expand the use of National Guard forces to cover the mission in Kosovo. Our efforts were primarily focused on current operations in the Balkans and Southwest Asia. GAO’s Comments

1. Our point is that with the large number of Army divisions affected by operations in the Balkans at any one time—four active and one National Guard division in June 2000—this disruption to wartime training and availability was a key reason the Army chose to involve National Guard divisions in the rotations. 2. DOD concurs with the report’s treatment of the status of active and reserve component units.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the services' ability to continuously meet the challenges posed by contingency operations, focusing on six military assets that have been heavily used in contingency operations in a series of case studies.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) the military assets GAO examined in the case studies continue to be in high demand relative to their numbers; (2) this has resulted in deployments in excess of deployment goals; (3) to ease the strain on these assets, the Department of Defense and the military services are taking a number of actions, which are described below along with GAO's assessment of them; (4) four of the Army's 10 active divisions and 1 of its 8 National Guard divisions were being affected by operations in the Balkans as of January 2000; (5) the Army has begun to use National Guard divisions to relieve the strain on active divisions and allow them to focus on their primary mission of being prepared for major war; (6) however, preparing the first Guard division that deployed to Bosnia required considerable effort, including the conversion of substantial numbers of Guard personnel to full-time status; (7) the Army does not have enough active-duty civil affairs capability to meet current requirements with its one 208-person active-duty unit, and until recently, there were concerns about having enough reserve civil affairs personnel to meet requirements in the Balkans; (8) the Navy and the Marine Corps each have four land-based EA-6B squadrons; (9) however, these squadrons together are unable to meet all requirements without exceeding their deployment goal of having twice as much at home station as the amount of time deployed; (10) the Air Force could meet current requirements for Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft and crews without exceeding its 120-day annual deployment goal if all 40 of its staffed crews were fully trained and available for worldwide deployments; (11) however, only 27 of its 40 crews are fully trained, and increasing this supply is problematic because of inadequate simulator training capabilities; (12) the Air Force has only 40 of its 54 authorized U-2 pilots fully trained; (13) this shortage of fully trained pilots has led to historically high deployment rates; (14) the Air Force has relayed certain requirements to attract and keep its U-2 pilots, however challenges remain and continued careful management of the use of these aircraft will be needed; (15) F-16CJ squadrons, particularly those stationed in the United States, have been one of the most utilized fighter squadrons for the past few years; and (16) however due to its part-time nature, the F-16CJ reserve component squadron unit will be able to cover only about 30 days of the rotation between it and the older squadron of less capable aircraft.