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Marines will need $3 billion more to replace, spruce up war-worn equipment
The Marine Corps already has devoted $9 billion to replace and spruce up war-worn equipment, but the service needs about $3 billion more to finish the job.
The military calls this "reset," and the Army and Marine Corps largely have used emergency funding bills to fix up equipment after a decade of war, or simply buy new combat systems.
Assistant Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford revealed the $3 billion figure at a forum in Washington on Monday.
"We have done some reset," Dunford said. But the service will need to spend $3 billion more in the 24- to 36-month period following the end of the Afghanistan war, Dunford said.
Part of the need to spend $12 billion on reset work was created because "we didn't rotate equipment" in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan, the No. 2 Leatherneck said.
A recent Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo directs the Pentagon to begin funding for all “enduring activities” now funded through the war-funding measures within the base budget, beginning with its 2014 spending plan.
Analysts say OMB and the Pentagon are quietly moving to shift monies for some things — like equipment — from emergency spending bills into the base Defense Department budget. It is not clear, however, how the Pentagon can do this and adhere to spending caps for 2013 and 2014 put in place by the Budget Control Act, analysts say.
