Jul 28 2010

Readiness and Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittees: Surface Fleet Readiness

Opening Statement of Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Chairman Taylor

 

Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Chairman Gene Taylor

Joint Readiness and Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittees

Hearing on Surface Fleet Readiness

 
July 28, 2010

“Thank you Mr. Chairman.  I will be brief so as to allow more time for discussion with our panel today.

           

“I would like to align myself with your observations concerning the apparent degradation of the Navy’s ability to maintain its ships in fighting shape.  The report of the panel chaired by retired Vice Admiral Basilise on fleet readiness is of concern. 

 

“However, I congratulate Admiral Harvey, the Commander of Fleet Forces Command and Admiral Walsh, the Commander of the Pacific Fleet for facing this challenge and coming to the Congress with what appears to be an honest assessment of the current readiness of the Fleet, negative as that might be.  That is a positive sign.  Fixing the problem may prove much harder than identifying the problem.

           

“I am concerned that we are undermining our ships as we supply sailors to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The total number of sailors assigned has grown over the years to a point that it appears to have a significant effect on fleet readiness. 

 

“These sailors pulled off their ships are referred to as Individual Augmentees, or IAs, because they deploy individually and augment the Joint force in the war theater.  Sometimes these deployments are driven by the need for specific skills which the Navy has but the ground forces did not, specifically electronic warfare skills required for defeating IEDs. But too often sailors have been tasked with filling in general combat service support roles due to the lack of available Soldiers or Marines to accomplish those tasks. 

 

“All the while our ships must live with undermanning because there is no ‘backfill’ to replace them.  Ships are trying to accomplish their missions with significant shortages of sailors.  This must be fixed.  The lack of manpower on the ships is something I am looking forward to discussing with the panel.  In this area, you can’t continue to try to do more with less.

 

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