The ability of the U.S. military to sustain an occupation in Iraq: CBO testimony before the Committee on Armed Services

Original publisher: Washington, D.C. (Second and D Streets, S.W.) : Congressional Budget Office, [2003] OCLC Number: (OCoLC)62157662 Subject: Military occupation -- Evaluation. Excerpt: ... Table 5. CBO's Base Case Combat Brigades in Iraq 3 to 5b Combat Brigades Available for Other Missions 23a to 18 Total Military Personnel in Iraq 38,000 to 64,000 Reserve-Component Personnel Mobilized 26,000 to 37,000 Annual Cost ( Billions of 2004 dollars ) 8.0 to 11.6 Source: Congressional Budget Office. either deployed overseas or recovering after a deployment ( see Table D-1 in Ap-pendix D ). Options to Expand the Occupation Force Beyond the Base Case Using Existing Forces If DoD chose to use more of its currently available forces to occupy Iraq in addi-tion to active Army combat brigades, it could sustain a larger occupation force over the long term. CBO analyzed the effects of various options to employ exist-ing forces from the active Army, the Army National Guard, or the Marine Corps. DoD could choose to implement any combination of those options along with the base case. If it implemented all of them, the U.S. military could sustain an occu-b b pation of 67,000 to 106,000 personnel in Iraq - equivalent to 6 to 10 combat brigades - at a cost of $ 14 billion to $ 19 billion annually. Eliminate the Requirement for Army Rapid-Reaction Forces. In this option, the Army would no longer retain its dedicated rapid-reaction forces - units that the service tries to keep available, at a high standard of readiness, to respond to any new contingencies that may develop. Those forces include a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division ( called the Division Ready Brigade, or DRB ), a brigade of the 101st Air Assault Division, a heavy brigade ( usually from either the 3rd or 4th Infantry Division ), the 173rd Airborne Brigade ( the Southern European Task Force ), and a heavy battalion in Europe ( from either the 1st Infantry or 1st Ar-mored Division ). Currently, most of those rapid-react...