Military system procurement is perpetual exercise in prioritizing needs. The Army Engineer Regiment is one of the most diverse elements of the Army, ranging from combat engineers, to heavy equipment operators, to building trades, to high voltage power experts, to explosive hazard clearance and mine dogs, to salvage divers, to firefighters. Indeed, the Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood trains military members in all branches, Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, and includes forces from all three components: active, Army reserve, and Army National Guard. In fact, 50% of the Army engineer force structure is in the Army National Guard. The United States Army Engineer School shall be commended for completing a multi-functional, multi-component analysis to recommend system procurement priority that will set the conditions for the Total Army, including the Army National Guard, to Win in a Complex World. These are not just platforms for engineer troops, but for the entire Army.

At the top of the list is the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier replacement. This platform entered the inventory 55 years ago in 1962 and is still the assigned primary vehicle for many Soldiers in the Army, obviously significantly beyond its useful life. Through many studies and current contingency operations, the M113 has been proven to lack the survivability, mobility, and lethality to support today's maneuver formations, thus risking mission accomplishment at all levels. Finally, Army sustainment capabilities for the M113 continue to decline as shown with platform Operational Readiness remaining below the Army standard. The Army has identified the M2 Bradley (engineer variant) as the replacement vehicle, but at this point does not anticipate a procurement solution that replaces a majority of the fleet for another 8-10 years. National Guard combat engineers need this newer, more survivable platform now, to match their active component counterparts. The Congress must prioritize replacement of the M113 in procurement plans.