In a speech last week, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno said that budget cuts were negatively affecting unit readiness in addition to downsizing the Army to historically low numbers.
“Right now, we are at 33 percent readiness,” Gen. Odierno said, referring to the Army’s 32 Brigade Combat Teams. “What keeps me up at night more than anything else is that I might get a mission to send some of our soldiers and we haven’t properly trained them or given them the right equipment to do their job.” Now at less than half the desired level of readiness for its Brigade Combat Teams, the U.S. Army should be maintaining 70 percent readiness, he said.
“If sequestration occurs [in 2016], for the next three to four to five years, we’ve moving towards a hollow army,” Gen Odierno said in a January speech.
