Army War Reserves

DOD Could Save Millions by Aligning Resources With the Reduced European Mission Gao ID: NSIAD-97-158 July 11, 1997

The Defense Department (DOD) could save $54 million annually in personnel costs once the Army removes unneeded war reserve equipment from central Europe and aligns its resources with its reduced mission. In its plans, the Army has focused on redistributing major items, such as tanks, trucks, and radios, to other war reserve programs and has firm plans for a portion of those items. However, it does not have firm plans for disposing of the remaining items. The Army's plans to redistribute these items are closely linked to DOD's plan to reduce the facilities now available. However, because personnel costs make up about three-quarters of the central European war reserve budget, most of the Army's savings will likely come from aligning personnel with the shrinking workload. The projected reduction in maintenance workload is 86 percent. As a result, the Army will require only a small fraction the current workforce. The sooner the Army disposes of its unneeded items and aligns its resources with its reduced mission, the sooner the dollar savings may be realized.

GAO noted that: (1) the Department of Defense (DOD) could save about $54 million per year in personnel costs once the Army removes unneeded war reserve equipment from central Europe and aligns its resources with the reduced mission; (2) in its plans, the Army has focused on redistributing major items, such as tanks, trucks, and radios, to other war reserve programs and has firm plans for a portion of those items; (3) however, it does not have firm disposition plans for the remaining items; (4) the Army's plans to redistribute these items are closely linked with DOD's plan to reduce the facilities now available; (5) however, because personnel costs comprise about three-quarters of the central European war reserve budget, most of the Army's savings will likely come from aligning personnel with the shrinking workload; (6) the projected reduction in maintenance workload is about 86 percent, which will require only a small fraction of the personnel currently available; and (7) thus, the sooner the Army disposes of its unneeded items and aligns its resources with its reduced mission, the sooner dollar savings may be realized.

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