The Army's readiness crisis
Subtitle: the cost of doing to much with too little
By: David J. Wilberding
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 83
Description: To improve its declining combat readiness the Army is requesting a significant budget increase. The Army plans      to use the increase for primarily improving quality of. life issues. This thesis argues that this plan is inadequate      and will result in only marginal readiness gains. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the underlying causes of      the readiness crisis and to offer an alternative framework for reversing the decline. This thesis begins by defining      readiness from the perspectives of operational and structural readiness. It then explores the critical readiness      questions of: What should be ready? What should it be ready for? and When should it be ready? The thesis also      examines the impact of the drawdown and commitments to peace operations (POs) on Army readiness. To      illustrate the influence of these variables on readiness, this thesis develops a readiness threshold model that      measures the capacity of a given force to participate in POs before its readiness deteriorates. By using the      model to analyze the current size of the force in relation to its PO commitments, this thesis finds that the cost of      doing too much with too little is a reduction in the Army's combat readiness. The thesis concludes by examining      both policy implications and prescriptions derived from this study.
Notes: "December 1998."

Thesis advisor(s): Gordon H. McCormick, Bard K. Mansager.

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-79)

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.

US Army (USA) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 02/12/99.