Peace Operations

Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. military has become increasingly involved in peace operations, ranging from military observer duties to humanitarian and disaster relief work. This report examines (1) how the services incorporate peace operations into their training programs, (2) what effect peace operations have on maintaining combat readiness, and (3) whether the services have the weapon systems and equipment they need for these operations.

GAO found that: (1) commanders of ground combat units differ on when special peace operations should be provided; (2) some commanders include aspects of peace operations in standard unit training; (3) other commanders prefer to maintain an exclusive combat focus until their units are formally assigned to a peace operation, in which case the amount of notification before deployment to a peace operation becomes an important factor; (4) aviation, naval, support, and special operations forces perform similar tasks in peace operations and in war and therefore do not need as much special training; (5) participation in peace operations can provide excellent experience for combat operations, but such participation can also degrade a unit's war-fighting capability; (6) the extent of degradation depends on a number of factors, such as the type of peace operation, the type of unit participating, the length of participation, and the opportunities available for training in theater; (7) it can take up to 6 months for a ground combat unit to recover from a peace operation and become combat ready; (8) the recovery period for aviation units is relatively short compared with that for ground forces; (9) participation in peace operations may interrupt naval training schedules, but there is little difference in the naval skills required for peace and for other operations; (10) determining whether the services have the appropriate weapon systems and equipment for peace operations is an ongoing process taking place primarily at the service level; (11) the services have identified requirements in three areas: (a) force protection; (b) equipment for military operations in built-up areas; and (c) nonlethal weapons; and (12) except for the recent withdrawal operation from Somalia, few nonlethal weapons have been used to date in peace operations.