Readiness, reconstitution concerns loom large Published April 10, 2003 By Master Sgt. Scott Elliott Air Force Print News WASHINGTON -- Military readiness may crumble if Congress does not approve additional funding soon, the Joint Staff director of operations told senators April 9."Our previous wartime experiences have proven that readiness is a fragile commodity," Lt. Gen. Norman A. Schwartz told members of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on readiness. "When extended in combat operations, it is important to reestablish readiness levels or they can quickly erode further."Conducting major combat operations disrupts normal training routines, which affects the readiness of the overall force, the general said. As a result, a period of reconstitution will be required following combat operations in Iraq.According to Schwartz, the current budget and the president's proposed fiscal 2004 budget support normal readiness programs, but fall short of paying for extended contingency operations.To pay for Operation Iraqi Freedom and other operations, the military services have used funds originally allocated for the third and fourth quarters of the fiscal budget. Air Force leaders have testified before both houses of Congress that the service will be broke by summer."Our services simply cannot absorb the cost of OIF, the global war on terror and other ongoing operations without the supplemental budget," he said. "Timely approval of supplemental funding is absolutely critical to continued preparedness of our joint force."As Department of Defense officials continue to push for additional funding, Air Force leaders are focusing their attention on redeploying, resting and retraining its warfighters."Our asymmetric edge is in our people, training and technology," said Maj. Gen. Randal M. Schmidt, assistant to the deputy chief of staff for air and space operations, during the April 9 testimony. "Every day our Air Force continues to pursue proper readiness in several key areas to present a balanced force."To maintain its readiness, Schmidt said the Air Force has to balance national security challenges against available resources."The devil is in the details," he said of the reconstitution effort.Among the chief concerns for Air Force readiness planners are "reloading the guns, fixing training potholes and getting the battle rhythm back," the general said."One of the keys before you play (the next) big game is to get your primary players back in shape and reestablish your bench," Schmidt said. "The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves are on mobilization orders now, and the Air Force uses large (numbers) of Guard and Reserve."Schmidt said personnel actions such as Stop-Loss and demobilization are key to re-establishing the "battle rhythm.""We know the amount of forces that can be (deployed) at any time sustaining '24/7' indefinitely," he said. "We also know that if we go above that level, we go into decline mode as far as readiness ... and at certain levels we begin to break."Recent successes in combat operations over Iraq have demonstrated the effectiveness of service and joint training exercises, Schmidt said. He believes that readiness will only be maintained by returning to normal training routines as soon as possible."Habit patterns, those reflexes we develop in a training environment, need to be automatic in a combat environment," he said.