Army to cut 80,000 soldiers from its ranks
Besides usual separations such as retirements, the Army will allow fewer enlistments.
By Lolita C. Baldor ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The Army plans to slash the number of combat brigades from 45 to as few as 32 in a broad restructuring of its fighting force. The action is aimed at cutting costs and reducing the service by about 80,000 soldiers, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans.
Officials said the sweeping changes likely will increase the size of each combat brigade — generally by adding another battalion — in a long-term effort to ensure that those remaining brigades have the fighting capabilities they need when they go to war. A brigade usually is about 3,500 soldiers but can be as large as 5,000 for the heavily armored units. A battalion usually is between 600-800 soldiers.
The restructuring will unfold over several years and is intended to save money without eroding the military’s ability to protect the country and wage war when needed. Army officials say that while there eventually would be fewer brigades, building them bigger will give them more capabilities and depth, and will reduce stress on the units.
- They said specialty units, such as Army special operations forces, would not be affected by the cuts.
Reducing the overall number of brigades also will eliminate the need for the headquarters units that command and oversee them.
Officials acknowledged that merging battalions together into larger brigades could shift some soldiers to different bases across the country, although that effort could be stymied by members of Congress who don’t like to see the staffing decline at bases that feed local economies. Officials said the Army will try to limit such shifts.
The cuts come as the Pentagon puts the finishing touches on its 2013 fiscal-year budget, which must reflect about $260 billion in savings in its five-year plan. Congress has ordered the Defense Department to come up with a total of $487 billion over the next 10 years, and it could face cuts of double that amount if Congress can’t reach an agreement to avoid automatic across-the-board reductions mandated by lawmakers last year.
Most military leaders, from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on down, insist that they will come up with the budget cuts without hurting the force’s effectiveness.
According to officials, plans call for the active-duty Army to shrink from a high of about 570,000 soldiers during the peak of the Iraq war to roughly 490,000 over the next decade or so. Initial cuts have been ongoing, and there currently are about 558,000 active-duty soldiers.
Additionally, there are nearly 205,000 in the Army Reserve and close to 360,000 in the Army National Guard.
The Army plans to shed soldiers carefully, including through planned departures, separations for medical or behavioral problems and by scaling back the number of people promoted or allowed to enlist and re-enlist.
