Tempo Takes Toll On Navy, Marine Equipment: "Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway provided overviews of the Navy and Marine Corps during hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee Feb. 25 and the House Armed Services Committee Feb. 24. Both hearings addressed the Defense Department's proposed fiscal 2011 budget.
Mabus outlined the operational tempo and accomplishments of the two services, beginning with the 15,000 Marines 'at the forefront of our nation's defense' in Helmand province, Afghanistan. That number will grow to 20,000 this spring, he said.
'It is a testament to the responsiveness and combat capability of the Marine Corps that the first troops to depart for Afghanistan in the wake of the president's Dec. 1 announcement [for a plus-up of 30,000 troops in Afghanistan] were 1,500 Marines from Camp Lejuene,' Mabus said.
To date, 73 percent of Marines have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and the tempo has increased dramatically in recent years, Conway said. In 2002, the number of Marines who had deployed for at least 120 consecutive days over two years was 4,845; as of last month, the number was 100,760.
While morale remains high among deployed Marines, Conway said, operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have accelerated wear and tear on equipment and, in effect, degraded readiness. Of particular concern, he said, is that equipment left at home stations cannot sustain adequate training for other contingencies."
