Marines Fail to Get Gear to Troops
Jim Higgins
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,137001,00.html?ESRC=eb.nl
WASHINGTON - The system for delivering badly needed gear to Marines in
Iraq has failed to meet many urgent requests for equipment from troops
in the field, according to an internal document obtained by The
Associated Press.
Of more than 100 requests from deployed Marine units between February
2006 and February 2007, less than 10 percent have been fulfilled, the
document says. It blamed the bureaucracy and a "risk-averse" approach by
acquisition officials.
Among the items held up were a mine resistant vehicle and a hand-held
laser system.
"Process worship cripples operating forces," according to the document.
"Civilian middle management lacks technical and operational currency."
The 32-page document - labeled "For Official Use Only" - was prepared by
the staff of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force after they returned from
Iraq in February.
The document was to be presented in March to senior officials in the
Pentagon's defense research and engineering office. The presentation was
canceled by Marine Corps leaders because its contents were deemed too
contentious, according to a defense official familiar with the document.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to discuss it publicly.
The document's claims run counter to the public description of a process
intended to cut through the layers of red tape that frequently slow the
military's procurement process.
The Marine Corps had no immediate comment on the document.
In a briefing Wednesday, Marine Corps officials hailed their "Urgent
Universal Need Statement" system as a way to give Marines in combat a
greater say in weapons-buying decisions.
"What we all liked about (the urgent requests) is they came from the
operators out on the ground and there was always a perceived better way
of doing things," said Maj. Gen. Dennis Hejlik, who was a commander in
Iraq from June 2004 to February 2005.
The document lists 24 examples of equipment urgently needed by Marines
in Iraq's Anbar province. One, the mine resistant ambush protected
vehicle, has received attention as a promising way to protect troops
from roadside blasts, the leading killer of U.S. forces in Iraq.
After receiving a February 2005 urgent request approved by Hejlik for
nearly 1,200 of the vehicles, the Marine Corps instead purchased
improved versions of the ubiquitous Humvee.
The industrial capacity did not exist to quickly build the new mine
resistant vehicles and the more heavily armored Humvees were viewed as a
suitable solution, Marine Corps officials said.
That proved not to be the case as insurgent elements in Iraq developed
more powerful bombs that could penetrate the Humvees. The mine resistant
vehicles are now a top priority for all the military branches, which
plan to buy 7,774 of the carriers at a cost of $8.4 billion.
Brig. Gen. Robert Milstead, chief of Marine Corps public affairs, said
cost was not a factor in choosing the Humvee.
"This was not a budgetary decision," Milstead said Wednesday. "You can
take that to the bank."
The internal document, however, states that the cost of building new
vehicles was a primary reason the request was denied by the Marine Corps
Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va.
Needs of the deployed troops are "competed against funded programs," the
document states.
"Resistance costs time," it adds. "Unnecessary delays cause U.S.
friendly and innocent Iraqi deaths and injuries."
A second example cited is the compact high power laser dazzler, an
inexpensive, nonlethal tool for steering unwelcome vehicles away from
U.S. checkpoints in Iraq. The dazzler emits a powerful stream of green
light that stops or redirects oncoming traffic by temporarily impairing
the driver's vision.
In June 2005, Marines stationed in western Iraq filed an urgent request
for several hundred of the dazzlers, which are built by LE Systems, a
small company in Hartford, Conn. The request was repeated nearly a year
later.
"Timely purchase and employment of all systems bureaucratically
stymied," the document states.
Separate documents indicate the deployed Marines became so frustrated at
the delays they bypassed normal acquisition procedures and used money
from their own budget to buy 28 of the dazzlers directly from LE Systems.
But because the lasers had not passed a safety review process, stateside
authorities barred the Marines from using them.
In January, nearly 18 months after the first request, the Marines
received a less powerful laser built by a different company.
Titus Casazza, president of LE Systems, criticized the Marine Corps'
acquisition process.
"The bureaucrats and lab rats sitting behind a desk stateside are making
decisions on what will be given to our Soldiers even if contrary to the
specific requests of these Soldiers and their commanding generals," he said.
There are successful examples listed in the briefing document. A
December request for an airborne surveillance system - Angel Fire - is
expected to be filled this summer. The system provides constant overhead
surveillance of large urban areas, such as Ramadi or Fallujah, and is
able to track the movement of people and vehicles.
Len Blasiol, a civilian official with the Combat Development Command,
said the speed with which requests can be met is largely dependent on
how much research and development work needs to be done.
"The first question is, 'Is this something we can go out right now today
and buy? Is it sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting for us to buy?' And
if it is, then we figure out how to buy it," Blasiol said.