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AP. 30 April 2002. U.S. Military Training Hampered by Other Countries' Restrictions, Report Says. WASHINGTON -- Increasing environmental and safety restrictions at overseas facilities are hampering U.S. efforts to keep soldiers trained and ready for combat, congressional investigators reported Tuesday. The restrictions mean that training for U.S. forces stationed abroad often takes more time and money to complete and is not as realistic as it should be, said the report from the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, written by Neal Curtin, the GAO's director of defense capabilities and management. Overseas units often have to return to the United States or rely on multinational exercises for their training, Curtin wrote. Curtin's report recommended that the Pentagon commission an extensive study of the problem and coordinate the military's efforts to ease the training problem. A Defense Department official agreed with the GAO's findings. Paul Mayberry, deputy undersecretary of defense for readiness, wrote that coordinating efforts against "the shortfalls of overseas training" would be helpful. Curtin cited several problematic restrictions at U.S. military training areas in Europe and Asia: • At Koon-ni, an Air Force training range in South Korea, pilots were able to drop live bombs on an island and practice strafing and dropping dummy bombs on the mainland before 1978. Restrictions at the range have increased to the point where strafing is not practiced and only dummy bombs can be dropped on the island, Curtin wrote. • Marines training at their bases in Okinawa, Japan, can only fire their guns in one direction at a designated target, which does not simulate combat. The restrictions are part of an agreement between the United States and Japan in response to Japanese criticism of the U.S. presence at Okinawa. • F-15 fighter pilots training in Great Britain cannot use laser-guided bombs and must fly at different altitudes than they probably would during combat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
