Due to Massive Personnel Cuts, US Army Moving to Failed Hollow Force Model

The Army has already shrunk the force by 180,000 troops since withdrawing from Iraq in 2011, and it plans to further reduce its end strength in the coming years. The service is scheduled to reach an end strength of 450,000 troops by the end of fiscal 2017. If the Army continues to get hit with budget cuts, it could see a deeper cut down to 420,000. . .

[US Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley] said he’d prefer to keep as many troops as possible for as long as he is able, but reductions are moving forward. Therefore, he’s left to think about how the Army might be able to more effectively build up the force if necessary. To do that, Milley said: “I’m going to lean heavily on the [US Army National Guard]” . . .

If the active force is a certain size, according to Milley, it will most likely get consumed “pretty quickly” in any larger contingencies. “So we have to lean on the Guard,” he said, “but that means I have to get the readiness levels up to a level that is combat capable” . . .

One of the options Milley is examining is increasing the number of training days for some — not all — guardsmen to 60 or even 100 days a year “so it reduces the response time on the back end.” Quick mobilization is becoming more and more critical given the speed of communication and the technology available today, Milley said. . .

Also under consideration is maintaining a high number of leaders on active duty, Milley said. One concept is to build train-and-advise units for overseas deployment that consist of just brigade or battalion leadership. (Read more from “Due to Massive Personnel Cuts, US Army Moving to Failed Hollow Force Model” HERE)

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