Tell It to the Marines: Think-Tanks on Maintenance Overhangs and Future Plans

(click to view full) The leftist Center for American Progress (CAP) and the Lexington Institute have put out an August 2006 publication called “Marine Corps Equipment After Iraq” [PDF] that looks at the effects of the war in Iraq on the US Marines’ readiness, equipment, and future procurement priorities. DID covered that subject a little while ago in terms of the US Marines’ own plans for its armor and its LAV fleet in particular, covered their forthcoming EFV program in-depth, and noted the maintenance overhang issue as well. This report puts many of these pieces together, and offers its views on the specific implications for the USMC. EFV: Command variant(click to view full) Readers may recall that DID’s coverage of the CAP’s “Progressive Quadrennial Defense Review” was (deservedly) unkind due to factual gaps and displays of a lack of expertise, but this report appears to have fewer difficulties along those lines. Of course, one may always decide to agree or disagree with their conclusions. The joint report [PDF] sets out to analyze: * The impact of the war in Iraq on the readiness and reliability of Marine Corps equipment; * The lessons learned from the Iraq operation about equipment deficiencies […]