Odierno: Army End Strength Issue Still Unsettled

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2015 – When the Army’s chief of staff retires this August, one thing he’ll be leaving for his successor is the unfinished business of how big the Army will be and how it will be appropriated, he told the Defense Writers Group yesterday.

“I thought by now we would have had that resolved,” Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said, adding that uncertainty about the final size of the Army has brought “angst to our soldiers.”

The final end strength of the Army — the total number of soldiers that will be allowed to serve — is still “up in the air,” Odierno said. It is “based on what happens with the Congress and the president as they continue to wrestle what the budget would be.”

He predicts the issue will still be a concern for the next chief of staff for two to three years to come.

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