Editorial: Proactive, not reactive

Proactive, not reactive

The mad scramble to fix rotten, moldy barracks after a soldier’s father posted a video on YouTube underscores a troubling pattern in Army leadership.

First, problems are ignored. Then they are exposed by someone else. And only then are they finally fixed.

Last week, the Army redirected $248 million to rush fixes to dilapidated barracks at eight posts.

Little more than a year earlier, similarly crumbling facilities were exposed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. After this newspaper and the Washington Post identified the problem, Army leaders expressed shock and dismay and ordered immediate fixes.

Similarly, shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan, the Army deployed troops without full sets of body armor for every soldier. Units didn’t complain. But when parents started complaining that they were footing the bill for body armor for their kids, Congress had to get involved.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_editorial_leadership_051908/