The official reports and summaries painted a fairly rosy picture of the mechs he needed to take care of. Even a three-year old child could spot that the people who wrote these reports tried to paint themselves in the the most favorable light.
They might not be telling outright lies, but there were many ways someone could massage a report. Ves did it plenty of times in school when an assignment was due but hadn't spent enough time in his studies.
Fortunately, very few of the people who wrote the reports had mastered the dark arts of bureaucracy, so Ves easily deduced their transparent attempts.
By and large, most mech captains demanded more or better resources. Both of these demands came with different benefits. Allocating more resources to their units allowed them to bounce back faster after sustaining losses. Raising their allowance better resources allowed them to upgrade their mechs.