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“This hearing will come to order.
“I thank our distinguished witnesses for appearing before this subcommittee today to talk about the employment of airmen and sailors in combat and combat support roles outside their Services’ traditional core missions. We also will be looking at whether sailors and airmen are adequately trained and equipped for these predominantly Army missions in both theaters of operations.
“Today we will examine the impact on readiness of using airmen and sailors in place of; as individual augmentees to; or as ad-hoc replacements for soldiers and marines.
“Ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have created continuing high demand for certain combat support and combat service support skills. Needed skills include civil affairs for post-reconstruction teams, intelligence and counter-intelligence, medical, communications, logistics, construction, engineering, and security forces. Facing shortages of available personnel in some skills, the Department of Defense has used strategies such as reassigning and retraining Service personnel to meet the combatant commanders’ requirements, especially in Central Command’s area of responsibility.
“The role of the Services in augmenting emergency forces has expanded as the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan continue.
“Joint Forces Command has stated a Fiscal Year 2008 requirement of 17,376 Service in-lieu-of commitments.
“In addition to support from the other Services, the Army is providing its own soldiers to fill shortage requirements through the use of individual augmentation and changing the mission of units. Currently, the Army estimates that there are 2,000 individual augmentee soldiers in Central Command’s area of responsibility. Fifty percent of these soldiers are mid-grade officers, captain through lieutenant colonel.
“The subcommittee will be interested in hearing about the net effect on readiness of pulling so many mid-career officers out of their units to support the war.
“The Navy began providing sailors to augment Army forces in the summer of 2005 at the direction of the CNO. To date, more than 46,000 sailors have been transferred from their normal jobs to support joint service requirements.
“In Fiscal Year 2004, the Air Force ILO level was 1,905. This has grown to more than 5,300 airmen now serving in ILO positions. Furthermore, the Air Force estimates that 19,963 airmen are needed to sustain a 2:1 dwell ratio if current manning requirements continue.
“Because our research on this issue has shown differences in how the Services approach ILO training, equipping and tracking, the subcommittee is concerned that Service members are receiving training that is to task or limited by time, versus training to combat proficiency.
“Among the questions we hope to answer today are:
• Who is responsible for establishing baseline training standards?
• What checks are in place to ensure that sailors and airmen are adequately trained for the mission they will perform when deployed?
• What is the feedback loop upon deployment to determine if the sailors and airmen were fully trained for the mission they were sent to perform?
“GAO has pointed out that there are issues with equipment, where ILO sailors and airmen trained on equipment that was inconsistent with the equipment being used by existing ground forces.
“The subcommittee will need to know:
• How are ILOs equipped?
• Is the equipment identical to what ground forces in theater have? If not, why not?
• What methods are the Services using to ensure that deploying ILO units will have the equipment they need for pre-deployment training and in-theater missions?
“The subcommittee also is concerned about the strain on readiness and the increased risk to national security created by taking soldiers, sailors and airmen out of their core Service roles. Service members could potentially miss training and other opportunities to enhance their careers in their parent Services. Recruiting and retention could be hindered because potential recruits or experienced personnel may not want to retrain for missions and skills other than those they originally planned to perform.
“Today, we have a panel of distinguished witnesses representing Central Command, Joint Forces Command and the Services who will address the use, training and equipping of in-lieu-of Service personnel.
“Our witnesses are:
• Brigadier General Jack B. Egginton, U.S. Air Force, Deputy Director of Operations for U.S. Central Command;
• Major General Jason K. Kamiya, U.S. Army, Director of Joint Training for U.S. Joint Forces Command;
• Brigadier General David D. Halverson, Director of Operations, Readiness and Mobilization, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, Headquarters U.S. Army
• Rear Admiral Timothy M. Giardina, Director of Information, Plans and Security, for the Chief of Naval Operations; and
• Brigadier General Marke F. Gibson, Director of Current Operations and Training and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans and Requirements, Headquarters U.S. Air Force.”
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