Army Announces Force Structure, Stationing Decisions

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2015 – Army officials today announced force structure decisions and stationing plans for the reduction of the regular Army from 490,000 to 450,000 soldiers.

The reduction of force structure will occur in fiscal years 2016 and 2017. The end-strength reduction of 40,000 will be completed by the end of fiscal year 2018, and will be accompanied by the reduction of 17,000 Army civilian employees, officials said, adding that the cuts will affect nearly every Army installation in the United States and overseas.

As part of these reductions, the number of regular Army brigade combat teams, the basic deployable units of maneuver in the Army, will continue to decline from a wartime high of 45 to 30 by the end of fiscal year 2017.

The Army will convert the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the 25th Infantry Division’s 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, into smaller units — maneuver battalion task forces — by the end of fiscal 2017.

Brigade combat teams consist of about 4,000 soldiers; the battalion task forces will have about 1,050 soldiers.

Continue reading at http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=129246.