Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates has asked Congress to shift nearly $1.2 billion from other accounts to cover the cost of 2,560 additional mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles, increasing the number on order to 6,415. The first MRAP contracts went out last January; deliveries began in March. The Army has about 500 in theater now, and troops using them to clear routes and in bomb disposal gave MRAPs rave reviews from the start. Through the end of June, DoD used the $3.8 billion Congress provided in fiscal year 2007 to order 3,765 MRAPs, most to be delivered by the end of the year.

To produce as many of the vehicles as is possible and prudent over the next year, DoD has compressed the contracting process, designated three shifts at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., for testing the vehicles, and researched and worked to ensure the availability of parts and materials to help manufacturers increase productivity. The Army and Marine Corps have collaborated to purchase common items for their MRAPs to avoid possible complications that using service-unique items might cause. Production of the vehicles will increase from 82 per month to 489 in October and roughly 1,300 in December. DoD expects delivery of 3,900 MRAPs by December 31, the balance coming by March 2008. At delivery, the vehicles go to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston, S.C, for installation of the requisite government-furnished equipment such as radios, sensors and jammers. The first vehicles, however, will be shipped to theater by air.

Several manufacturers are building MRAPS, which use many common components. For example, all use the same tire and an Allison transmission. Class 1, a general utility vehicle, primarily supports urban operations. Class 2, the Joint explosive ordnance disposal rapid response vehicle, carries 10 people and is used as an ambulance as well as in reconnaissance and on patrol. Class 3, the Buffalo, is the largest and heaviest of the vehicles and is used by teams disposing of explosive ordnance and clearing routes. A mixed fleet and the use of different manufacturers introduces production risks, but DoD deems them necessary in order to get more MRAPs to the troops faster.


VA SECRETARY RESIGNS
Jim Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) since February 2005, resigned on July 17, effective no later than October 1. An Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Nicholson’s resignation surprised senior managers at the VA as well as officials of some veterans groups.

Five months after Nicholson became VA Secretary, he had to appeal for emergency spending to cover a more than $1 billion budget shortfall. Some blamed the emergency on underestimated health-care demands from veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan; others attributed it to inadequate planning for the war in Iraq. The theft of an electronic VA file containing Social Security numbers and other personal information for millions of military personnel in May 2006 prompted congressional hearings, charges of lax security and the resignation of several senior VA officials. As recently as May, the VA was under fire for its treatment of injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, delays of up to 177 days to process an initial claim and a resultant backlog of several hundred thousand disability claims.

Despite these difficulties, the VA has earned praise during Nicholson’s 2 1/2 years there. He continued an improvement effort begun in the mid-1990s, resulting in a shift in focus to primary care and the extensive use of electronic medical records. During Nicholson’s tenure the VA strengthened its outreach to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans and created new services such as a Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline. Nicholson expanded the number of community-based outreach clinics, began to restore staffing levels in mental-health treatment and initiated a change in the way the VA uses and safeguards personal and health information on veterans. The day before he resigned Nicholson announced plans to begin locating some of the department’s mental-health programs closer to primary care providers to ensure greater privacy.

No successor has been named.