U.S. Prepares To Dispose of Military Gear in Iraq

As U.S. combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities in late June, Pentagon officials were planning the pullout of what could total millions of tons of military equipment. The U.S. Army already has begun sending units to Iraq to oversee the drawdown of forces and has briefed contractors to gird for sending home some 10,000 to 12,000 U.S. troops a month, starting in January. Some of their war-worn material will be refurbished and turned over to Iraq, some updated for duty in Afghanistan, and some packed away in prepositioned stocks. Other equipment will be stripped of its sophisticated gear - night vision systems, Blue Force Tracker battlefield identification terminals, electronic warfare and anti-IED systems - and scrapped. Pentagon leaders are now debating how much all this will cost, a figure that changes depending on how much equipment will be saved, and whether new gear bought to replace what's junked is included in the overall tab. One source said the total will be tens of billions of dollars. Central Command has been planning for months for the upcoming drawdown, including tabletop exercises, said Air Force Maj. John Redfield, a CentCom spokesman. "It certainly is an enormous task," Redfield said. "There is equipment that has to be moved out, there are bases that have to be turned over, and, obviously, there are 130,000 people who have to be moved out also." "During the drawdown, equipment now in Iraq will go to various sources," Redfield said. "Some equipment will go to U.S. forces in Afghanistan for their use there. Some will be shipped back to the U.S. Some will be kept within the theater as pre-positioned stocks for future use." Officials also are exploring what can be given or sold to Iraqi security forces, he said. The list of potential transfers ranges from M2 machine guns to Abrams tanks. All sensitive items would be removed from donated or discarded equipment, Redfield said.

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Disposing of Gear

As with any war, the Pentagon has been pushing equipment into theater as quickly as possible, creating what logisticians call an "iron mountain." The list of gear includes armored vehicles, ammunition, unmanned aircraft, anti-IED jammers, radios and robots, to spare parts that are vital to keeping an army on the move.Sprawling depots house everything from batteries and tires to armor plate and spare transmissions and other automotive components.Then there's the equipment that is at U.S. bases and barracks across Iraq, facilities that have to be emptied and spruced up before they're turned over to Iraqi authorities.And under agreement, the United States must remove from Iraq anything that the country's authorities deem as waste or don't want, a point that sources said will require negotiation between the two sides.

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Gear to Afghanistan
Some of the equipment will go from Iraq to Afghanistan."As you draw down in Iraq, you have some opportunities in Afghanistan to synchronize across Southwest Asia with the equipping piece of the material enterprise," said Maj. Gen. Kevin Leonard, deputy chief of staff for operations, Army Materiel Command.Some Stryker and MRAP vehicles will get repaired and sent to U.S. infantry units in Afghanistan."We are not just taking equipment out of Iraq. We have facilities set up to refurbish this equipment to make sure it is operational," said Maj. Gen. George Harris, special assistant to the principal deputy for the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.The effort will involve Army Materiel Command (AMC) and the Army acquisition office, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASALT), which will work to streamline and coordinate equipment efforts.In some cases, key determinations need to be made regarding the best course of action. For example, should a vehicle be sent back to the United States to be reset for future use? Perhaps repaired in a forward depot and shipped to Afghanistan? In some cases, the best move is to repair and send vehicles to Afghanistan."We run interference with the DA [Department of the Army] staff and OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense]," Harris said. "We try to make sure that the policies are synched with AMC and commanders overseas."Communication is needed to ensure the various commands are on the same page regarding equipment-related decisions

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