Army: Vehicle, gear stockpiles at 5-year low

The Army’s floating stockpiles of choppers, tanks, weapons and gear are at a five-year low, but are being replenished, service officials said.

“I am not comfortable with the state of Army pre-positioned stocks. In the five years that I have been with the program it is the least amount that we — the Army — have had available,” said Col. Carl Cartwright, deputy for field support with Army Sustainment Command, Rock Island, Ill. “We have plans to reconstitute that fleet.”

When U.S. forces invaded Iraq in 2003, the Army drew enough equipment for 35 battalions from the 950-foot Navy ships that carried it.

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