Cop Duties, Funding Stretch Military Thin

Here's our favorite example of the increasingly sorry state ofU.S. military preparedness:

Short of funds, an armored battalion at Fort Hood, Texas, had toconduct platoon training on foot. The soldiers parked their tanksand walked the range, pretending to be in tanks. No word yet onwhether they pointed fingers at each other and said, "Bang, bang."

That might be funny, if it weren't real people - most of themyoung Americans - being asked to do this job, at ever greater risk tothemselves and their families. Examples of other problems they'refacing, as documented by Rep. Floyd Spence (R-S.C.), incomingchairman of the House Armed Services Committee, are: Soldiers at Fort Steward, Ga., had to wear ponchos while eating inthe dining facility during the six months it took to fix a leakyroof. The facility also risks fines for allowing other majorenvironmental and workplace violations to go uncorrected. More than 200 preschool children of personnel at Fort Hood live inquarters with lead-based paint flaking off exterior surfaces, but amoney shortage has pushed repairs into fiscal year 1997. Various Army Forces Command facilities have depleted their spareparts far below acceptable levels and have reduced the standardagainst which the Army maintains its equipment in the field. Repairson some facilities are performed only if there are life, fire, safetyor environmental hazards, and preventive maintenance is almostcompletely abandoned.

The story is the same in all the branches. Ships remain at sealonger than allowed by the Navy's own maintenance and familyseparation standards. The Air Force is eating into stocks of spareparts that are supposed to be used only in wartime, and cannibalizingplanes to keep others flying. In the Marines, some mechanicsnormally responsible for the maintenance of five pieces of equipmentnow are responsible for 11, and funds normally used to modernize somefacilities are now used only for environmental compliance.

Military personnel and equipment have reached and exceededlevels of exhaustion, but still they must satisfy operational andtraining demands that are beyond reason. The inevitable consequencesare low morale, declining effectiveness and downright inability tofulfill a mission.

We are at a crossroads: Either we scale back the military'smission as the worldwide enforcer of the new order, or we provide theresources and money that the mission requires. The Clintonadministration, which earlier had insisted that military preparednesswas on par, now has realistically decided to send help by proposing a$25 billion increase in Pentagon spending over the next six years.That, however, still may not be enough to satisfy the more militantRepublican majority.

Whatever the case, it's finally time to acknowledge that eventhough this country years ago eliminated the draft, it doesn't meanwe can abandon the people we pay to fight our wars. They're stillour own sons and daughters.