During a tour of Fort Bragg on Tuesday, North Carolina’s senators met with troops poised to deploy in a moment’s notice anywhere in the world.
 
But Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis also saw a side of Fort Bragg that gave them concern — aging equipment in need of repairs, long-awaited upgrades to basic weapons that have yet to arrive and pock-marked roadways and infrastructure necessary to deploy the military’s first responders.
 
Those issues are part of a much larger problem, officials said, caused by a lack of consistent funding by the federal government.
 
Burr and Tillis, both Republicans, said their visit was meant to assess the readiness of Fort Bragg troops and hear concerns over the impact of so-called continuing resolutions — stopgap spending measures that have become the norm in recent years amid constant bickering between Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
 
Continuing resolutions lock in spending based on the previous year’s defense budget. That limits flexibility in beginning new programs or stopping old ones. According to military leaders, that method of appropriation hampers modernization efforts and potentially saps the future readiness of the force.
 
During their visit, the senators said the impact was clear.
 
“They can’t plan out into the future,” Tillis said. “They’re living paycheck to paycheck.”
 
Burr added that he was confident in the ability of Fort Bragg forces to deploy quickly if needed, but said the ability of the Army to sustain those forces long term was in question.
 
The senators said that with worldwide threats on the rise, it made no sense to hamstring defense funding. They said they would work in Congress to provide more certainty for the military going forward.
 
“We have an administration that will make it more of a priority,” Tillis said.
 
The pair, with staff in tow, began their day at U.S. Army Forces Command, where leaders provided them with an overview of the Fort Bragg and Forces Command missions. The latter is the nation’s largest military command, tasked with preparing Army forces for deployments in support of combatant commanders around the globe.
 
Burr and Tillis also visited with leaders from the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade at Simmons Army Airfield before eating lunch with North Carolina natives assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. From there, they visited Joint Special Operations Command before returning to Forces Command.

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