via Army Press Release.
We will reduce the Active Army by 80,000 - decreasing the number of Brigade Combat teams from 45 to 33. As we inactivate BCTs, we will reinvest Soldiers, equipment, and support personnel into the remaining BCTs. The reduction of 8,000 Soldiers from the Army National Guard will be achieved without any force structure change. The Army Reserve will remain at 205,000. I want to emphasize that these reductions are the result of the Budget Control Act of 2011 and predate sequestration. Full sequestration could require another significant reduction that would include Active, Guard and Reserve force structure.A couple of things.
1. This is real combat strength that's being cut.
2. This is real combat experience that is being cut.
3. This is only the beginning for the US Army.
4. Don't laugh Marines. Our time is coming and it will be even more vicious (on scale) than what the Army is going through.
Some of this is the Army ditching binary brigades and going back to 3 maneuver battalions per unit. Divisions will actually be going back up to 9 maneuver batt when many were cut to 8 when they had 4 binary brigades. Some real combat strength will obviously be cut with that 80K. Remember when Obama and Clinton both campaigned for Pres supporting more than 10 US Army divisions?
ReplyDeletebelow 10 divisions and the Army isn't really an Army anymore. its will be something else but thats a VERY dangerous thing to do. maybe its because i believe in ground forces. maybe its because i'm a neanderthal but less than 10 Army divisions is a threat to national security.
DeleteGod Damn them! It took 10 years of relatively low intensity war for them to build the Army back up to its current level! What's going to happen if we ever have anything close to high intensity again? Our pussy bullshit administration already lost the Syrian dick measuring contest with Putin! What's he gonna do with even fewer troops and tanks and ships to back up his talk? At this rate we'll be giving them back Alaska by the end of this term!
DeleteThey are really just adding back a combat arms battalion + combat engineers to the brigades and ditching a bunch of HQ and CSS units. 13 brigades with 26 combat arms battalions.
Delete"They’ll grow from two “maneuver battalions” apiece (of tanks, infantry, and other frontline troops) to three, add combat engineers and a couple of artillery pieces...The official breakdown of the 80,000-soldier cut:
- 32,300 temporary wartime personnel (22,000 Temporary EndStrength Increase, TESI, and 10,300 Wartime Allowance, WTA)
- 7,300 Trainees, Transient, Holdees and Students (TTHS), an Army administrative holding pen for troops who’ve left one unit or organization but not officially arrived at the next, for example because they’re in a special training program or long-term medical care;
- 11,700 from cutting the two European-based brigade combat teams (since these units are being entirely disbanded);
- 17,300 from the other 10-11 BCTs going away (since most of their subunits will simply go to other brigades);
- and 8,300 from units and organizations that aren’t BCTs.
(Note that this doesn’t quite add to 80,000; the Army has only provided rather rough rounded figures so far). "
If they really want to start cutting fat, they should start with all the Flag officers and their staffs.
Josh. agreed! i have never seen this type of weakness. its almost startling.
DeleteParalus. weren't the extra HQ and CSS units designed to have the additional UAVs and STA platoons that were integrated into the Brigades? what is gonna happen now? an increase in the number UAVs and STA troops at the Battalion level?
Hopefully Paralus is right and they can conserve some combat power but it still is a big cut that seems likely to get bigger!
DeleteWho knows? The BCTs were too light to begin with and part of this is just making sure they are sized correctly. The BCTs only had two maneuver battalions and those were missing a 4th company (except the Stryker brigades).
ReplyDeleteMore fires, engineer units. I don't know if they will be adding to the MI companies or the RSTA battalions.
Keep in mind, this is the PLANNED reduction. Odierno said if the Sequester remains, there might be another 100000 cut from Army, ARNG and Army Reserves and that is when you'll see Army take the real hits.