The Army is pulling excess equipment out of some of its formations to “reduce the complexity” of maintaining and accounting for gear that’s no longer needed, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said.

In the first round of inventory reviews, he said, excess equipment belonging to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, and the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia, will be removed and taken to a warehouse.

“The goal here is to reduce the complexity for our company commanders and our units that are out there so that they’re not dragging this extra equipment” around with them, George said Oct. 9 during a news conference at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2023 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.

The inventory and disposal of equipment also is part of a review to ensure that items and capabilities that have been added to units over the years and slowly filled property books are relevant and needed in the fight going forward, he said.

Led by Gen. Andrew Poppas, commander of Army Forces Command, and Gen. Charles Hamilton, commander of Army Materiel Command, this first effort to trim excess equipment is set to take place over 90 days.

George said that, in some cases, the amount of equipment to be reduced will “be fairly substantial,” and the decision for final disposition will be made by Materiel Command because “I don’t want company commanders and first sergeants to try to figure that out.”

“Some of it we may not need it, maybe turn it in, some of it maybe we'll bring up to standard and store it for future use, some we may use for parts,” George said. “I think we still have to go through that.”

Reducing the amount of excess equipment could also help bring more predictability for soldiers’ operational tempo by lowering the number of hours required to maintain obsolete equipment.

— Gina Cavallaro