The lack of readiness or fitness of various American military units has been a long standing problem. IIRC, when the U.S. bombed Libya in 1986, it was publicized a four groups of aircraft were sent on the raid. However, a fifth group was following the main group to replace any aircraft that might not make it to the target area(s). This works out, in total, to an allowance for about a 20-25% failure rate, depending on whether you base the calculation on just the publicized group or the entire numner of planes launched.
An acquiantance of mine who served in West Germany during the Cold Was once told me it was general knowledge that between 25-35% of the ground armor and transports in U.S. units were either unusable or in repair at any given time.
Going further back, in 1970 the U.S. launched a raid on the Son Tay prison camp in North Vietnam to attempt to free POWs. There is a book titled "The Raid" that gives a description of the efforts of the specially formed assault team to procure weapons, munitions, and other support equipment to carry out the raid. The quality of the weapons and munitions they were able to draw from U.S. military government stores was so poor and unreliable, the unit was forced to obtain weapons and ammuntion from outside, public sources, (gun shops, etc.); at one point, they were looking for a rifle-mounted night vision device and the Pentagon sent over their (then) latest model, an experimental unit bigger and heavier than the weapon on which it was to be mounted. The problem was solved when one member of the unit remembered seeing a night vision device advertisted in the back of a gun magazine. With a little adaptaion, the device, far smaller and lighter than the "official" unit, was installed a was used in the raid.
Given the lack of supply of body armor and the use of "hillbilly armor" in the Iraq War, the continuing lack of support from the upper reaches and commands of the military leadership for the safety and welfare of the troops seems to continue.
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