Pentagon says Army units in US aren't combat-ready
Washington
Most of the 10 US Army divisions stationed in the continental United States lack the high state of readiness needed for war, recent Pentagon reports indicate. According to Monitor correspondent John Cooley, defense officials say only the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., meets the top standard. Six divisions would need about six weeks to be fully trained and equipped.
The Army chief of staff, Gen. Edward C. Meyer, recently announced a plan to improve readiness by withdrawig 6,000 men, mainly sergeants needed for training units in the US, from Europe and South Korea. Officers and men, he said, would be assigned for longer terms to individual units with which they could identify and develop a btter sense of individual camaraderie.