Summary: Since the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, U.S. Armed Forces have been involved in more than 50 contingency operations overseas--all operations other than war, including peacekeeping and no-fly zone enforcement. Although the military has been able to provide the forces and equipment necessary for contingency operations, some unique capabilities have been in high demand. In fulfilling the missions, the rotational deployments from assigned home stations have resulted in some personnel exceeding the services' goals for an individual's maximum number of deployment days in one year. In some instances, this high demand can degrade readiness, cause training opportunities to be lost, and adversely affect the quality of life for personnel in the affected units. To look at the services' ability to continuously meet these operational needs, GAO used a series of case studies to examine six military assets that have been heavily used in contingency operations: (1) Army divisions (about 10,000-15,000 soldiers each); (2) Army civil affairs units, which provide the infrastructure needed to bring government services to the civil population; (3) EA-6B aircraft, which have the only available U.S. military capability to electronically jam enemy antiaircraft radar; (4) Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, which provide airspace surveillance and battlefield management for all airborne aircraft in an assigned area; (5) U-2 aircraft, which gather intelligence and provide surveillance; and (6) specialized F-16 aircraft, the CJ model, which suppress enemy air defenses primarily by targeting air defense radar with sophisticated missiles. Except for the Army divisions, these forces and assets are few in number and comprise a small part of U.S. military forces. Planned actions by the Defense Department (DOD) and the military services should reduce the level of stress on these critical assets. But many of the DOD actions will not be completed for at least 2 to 7 years; and the services' planned actions will require assessment of previous actions and additional training, among other factors.
