After admitting last week that military readiness and morale have sharply declined, the nation's top military commanders say the Pentagon needs an infusion of up to $27.5 billion a year to restore American forces to a full state of preparedness.
President Clinton has proposed adding only $1 billion a year to the $271 billion defense budget that began on Oct. 1.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., late last week Thursday released an Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine wish list of new weapons, equipment, projects and recruitment incentives that commanders say will help improve the military's ability to function. McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had requested input from the commanders in July. He released a compilation of their responses in a report called "Going Hollow: America's Military Returns to the 1970s."
Gen. Dennis Reimer, U.S. Army chief of staff, said the Army would need $3-$5 billion per year over the next several years to reduce critical readiness problems. The Army's priority, he said, is to take care of quality of life concerns for soldiers and families, which would cost about $1.6 billion per year. The remainder of the money would be spent on training, depot maintenance and modernization, Reimer said.
"Today with a much smaller force and far tighter budgets, there is a far smaller margin of error and shortfalls have a proportionally far greater impact on the force," Reimer said. "As a result, we are leaving commanders in the field with few options and very difficult leadership and management decisions-a daunting challenge."
Admiral Jay L. Johnson, the Navy's chief of staff, said the service would like an additional $1.6 billion a year for ships, $1 billion for aircraft, $1.1 billion for more cruise missiles, $1 billion to modernize systems to fight missiles and $1.6 billion to narrow pay gaps between Navy employees and the private sector.
"While service to country has always made heavy demands on our people, we cannot continually ask that they do more with less or seem uncaring to the hardships they endure," Johnson wrote to McCain.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Charles Krulak said that in an "international environment that is growing more chaotic and threatening," the Marines need about $3 billion more a year. This money, he said, would be used for modernization initiatives and to recover from procurement shortfalls in recent years.
The Air Force requested the highest increase-$4 billion to $5 billion a year. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael E. Ryan said the money would be spent on "substantial and sustained investments in our people, for pay and retirement, and in our force, for modernization and revitalization, . . ."
McCain said the commanders' requests indicate a "series of concerns that seriously hamper our ability to maintain the readiness edge necessary to respond decisively to national security threats around the globe."
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