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["Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6694659/<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6694659/>

 

Military hardware wearing faster than expected

Insurgent attacks, desert conditions take toll

By Jim Miklaszewski   Correspondent NBC News

Updated: 7:21 p.m. ET Dec. 10, 2004

Before the war in Iraq, Pentagon officials had predicted that by now, Iraq 
would be pacified and most American troops would be long gone. But as the war 
drags on, the toll it's taking is far greater than expected - not only on the 
soldiers, but their equipment as well.

In fact, senior military officials now tell NBC News all major military 
equipment - trucks, tanks, helicopters and even guns - is breaking down or 
wearing out at a faster rate than first estimated.

It's not only due to the harsh desert conditions in Iraq, but the enemy has 
proven far more effective and resilient than anyone in the Pentagon had 
imagined. That's putting a far greater load on such equipment as Humvees and 
tanks - which are working at ten-times the normal rate.

"We're running the tracks off them," says NBC military analyst Gen. Barry 
McCaffrey (ret.) "They're going, instead of 800 miles a year, 8,000 miles a 
year 

and we're not rebuilding it."

It's also putting a tremendous stress on the military's ability to fix them. 
The number of tanks requiring major repairs is up 600 percent. Before the 
war, some 300 Humvees a year would go through a major overhaul. Today that 
number has skyrocketed to 5,700 - a jump of nearly 2,000 percent.

"Our folks are in a constant cycle of repair, repair, repair to return this 
equipment to the force," says Gary Motsek, with the U.S. Army Support 
Operations.

And the cost is staggering. Last year the Army got an additional $1 billion 
to pay for wartime repairs. This year the price tag is expected to climb to 

$9 billion.

Even then, it's an increase in military spending that will extend well beyond 
the war.

"Should the war end today, it would take two years for the United States Army 
to replenish itself and bring its equipment back to proper state," says Rep. 
Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

But in fact, the war appears nowhere near ending. Friday, Military officials 
said current plans call for the same number of American troops to remain in 
Iraq for at least the 

next two years.

© 2004 MSNBC Interactive