Derek Tran Presses Top Pentagon Officials On 'Capability Gaps' Due To Army Unit Deactivations

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Very much comes from Jim Moylan, and indeed, uh Congressman Moylan is really too humble to tell you the whole story, and that is that Guam has the highest percentage of membership of volunteers of any state or territory. Uh and so, the people indeed uh of Guam uh remember remember the liberation. With that in mind, we now have uh Congressman Tran of California.

[00:00:23]Thank you so much, Chairman. Uh thank you to our witnesses for being here today. As an Army Reserve veteran and the proud representative of Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, where I also served, let me say for the record, go Army.

[00:00:38]You know, I want to focus uh today on Los Al uh because, frankly, I am concerned about some of the Army's decision related to that base.

[00:00:47]Los Al is both a critical gateway to the Indo-Pacific Theater and essential base for disaster relief for the entirety of Southern California.

[00:00:56]It also will be the staging area for 15,000 reserves coming to support the LA 28 Olympics. Yet, there are plans to deactivate some of our reserve units and a lack of support for military construction projects to improve the services uh that our our soldiers desperately need.

[00:01:14]General LaNeve, when you testified before the red readiness committee subcommittee in April, I brought up the deactivation of the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade brigade and the impact that it will have on my community.

[00:01:28]You committed then to have more conversations about the ECAB deactivation, and I'm grateful that Rep.

[00:01:34]Luttrell and Rep. Crenk have already started the conversation today. Uh I share many of their questions, and I hope that we can all work together on this very important issue.

[00:01:45]Two weeks ago, Secretary Heitkamp described to this committee that the department is reviewing multiple uh places within the Army Transformation Initiative to ensure that they don't create capability gaps.

[00:01:57]Uh General or Secretary, can you describe the specific areas of ATI that the Army is reviewing and what metrics you're using to evaluate whether a capability gap would be created? Yes, sir. I you bring up a great one, our rotary wing.

[00:02:13]Um to make sure that uh again, that the decisions were made, which were all the on the side of angels, were or still uh in the same sight picture that that we have right now.

[00:02:25]Um also on on some of our uh our our ground fleet to make sure that we're going after the right mix of equipment.

[00:02:33]Um as we as the resources are small, um in order to, you know, move to modernization. I know that's a tough thing to say. Uh it's it's what we've asked for. Um but we want to be stewards of the resources. And that's why I describe it really as, you know, the the legacy systems that we have to discard, the enduring system that we know we're going to have, uh and then the the platforms that we know we need to go after to be more uh more you know, uh lethal uh against our pacing threat.

[00:03:06]And Congressman, I was going to um the this is not to make a light of it. These are tough decisions because you are um we are trying to forecast when we send our forces forward to some unknown place at some unknown time, what might they need? Um and so we are constantly in conversation with OSW. We are constantly in conversation with you and your colleagues to try to figure out the right mix. Yeah, I know. Look, I I appreciate the the answer and, you know, the the unit being deactivated at Los Alamitos is a medical evac unit um and it supports FEMA and disaster relief missions across Southern California. You know, deactivating them would create a pretty large gap in capability for the entire region uh that I represent and Southern California as a whole. You said you will follow up with our office, but can I count on you to to commit today to adding the e-cab units to the list of areas that are being reviewed? Please.

[00:04:01]Yes.

[00:04:03]Yes, sir. Thank you.

[00:04:04]Now, I've also learned recently that the Army did not include funding for a new Army Reserve Center at Los Al in the unfunded priority list for this year or in the future years defense program, which is concerning. You know, General Lanief, how does the Department of Army determine what military construction projects are included on the unfunded priority list and why might a project be left off?

[00:04:30]Sir, it's a it's a it's a balancing of what resources we have, what resources we think we can, you know, attain and and there's a list across the board. We look at everything across the United States and and frankly where the Army is has, you know, of our power projection platforms, our MFGI's, where we're going to mobilize at large numbers to try to to look at where we need to continue to invest, where we we might take a a lapse for a little bit in order to get money into a a program in a higher priority for us. I appreciate that. And you know, with the LA Olympics coming up with the 15,000 reserves being placed in my district, you know, I I want you to all understand I'm here as a resource and my office is here to help. Thank you.

[00:05:26]Thank you, Congressman Pat Fallon of Texas.