U.S. Army Axing Thousands Of Jobs, Nearly 5% Of Force

 

(Photo by Larry W. Smith/Getty Images)

As the service suffers from recruiting shortages that make it impossible to bring in enough soldiers to cover all required jobs, the U.S. Army is restructuring “to be better equipped to fight the next major conflict” by cutting its force by around 24,000, or nearly 5%.

The majority of the cuts will be made to positions that are currently vacant, such as counter-insurgency positions that were in high demand during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army special operations personnel would bear the brunt of almost 3,000 of the layoffs.

However, the plan also calls for the addition of 7,500 soldiers for other vital roles in counter-drone and air defense units, as well as five new task forces with improved cyber, intelligence, and long-range attack capabilities that will be stationed throughout the globe.

An Army document claims that the military is “much overstructured” and that there are not enough personnel to staff the current units. It goes on to say that the Army will not be requesting soldiers to leave the army since the cuts are “spaces” rather than “faces.”

The choice is said to reflect the fact that the Army has been unable to fill thousands of unfilled positions in recent years. Although the current configuration of the Army allows for a maximum of 494,000 personnel, there are currently only roughly 445,000 active-duty soldiers. The new plan calls for bringing in enough troops to achieve 470,000 over the course of the next five years.

The Army was required to quickly and drastically grow in order to fill the brigades dispatched to the front lines of war throughout the 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is “why the planned makeover is taking place.” This involved waging a large counter-insurgency campaign against the Taliban, the Islamic State group, and al-Qaida.

The military’s attention has gradually shifted to challenges stemming from Iran and North Korea as well as competition from rivals like China and Russia.

Army authorities stated that they meticulously examined every job specialty inside the army to identify areas for reduction. In order to decide where more personnel should be sent, they also looked at the current drive to upgrade the Army with new, cutting-edge weapons.

The plan calls for the Army to eliminate roughly 10,000 positions related to engineering and other jobs that were associated with counterinsurgency operations. 6,500 will come from various training and other posts, and 2,700 more will come from units that can be trimmed “since they don’t deploy often.”

Approximately 10,000 positions will be cut from security force assistance brigades, infantry brigade combat teams, cavalry squadrons, and Stryker brigade combat teams—which train foreign forces.

With these modifications, the Army claims it will be better equipped to conduct large-scale combat operations against adversaries who possess greater technological know-how. However, they also highlighted the severe difficulties in recruiting that the armed forces as a whole are encountering.

The Marine Corps and the minuscule Space Force met their recruitment targets in the most recent fiscal year, which concluded on September 30th. In contrast, the Army, Navy, and Air Force all fell short of their targets. The Army only recruited slightly over 50,000 members, far shy of the 65,000 “stretch goal.”

The Army missed its enlistment target by 15,000 during the preceding fiscal year as well. The target for that year was around 60,000.

In response, the service began initiating comprehensive recruitment efforts last fall, with an emphasis on younger candidates who have attended college or are just starting their careers.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth stated that the army hasn’t been recruiting successfully “for many more years than one would think from just looking at the headlines in the last 18 months” while talking about the adjustments at the time. She claimed that since 2014, the Army has failed to meet its yearly target for new enlistment contracts.