Report: 90% of urgent gear requests not making it to Marines in field

Left: Marines with the Ground Support Equipment section at Al Taqaddum, responsible for the 115 pieces of equipment that Marine helicopter squadrons use to test, troubleshoot and transport helicopters at Al Taqaddum.

The system for delivering badly needed gear to Marines in Iraq has failed to meet a large number of urgent calls for equipment submitted by troops in the field, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press.

Of more than 100 requests for critically needed items submitted by deployed Marine units between February 2006 and February 2007, less than 10 percent have been met, the document states. It blamed excessive bureaucracy and a “risk-averse” approach by acquisition authorities...

The 32-page “For Official Use Only” document was prepared by the staff of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif. It was to be presented in March to senior officials in the Pentagon’s defense research and engineering office. The presentation was canceled by top Marine Corps leaders because its contents were deemed too contentious, according to a defense official familiar with the document.

Read the rest at Marine Corps Times

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