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Army Wants More Soldiers

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The Washington Post

Published: December 26, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Army needs to add at least 30,000 active-duty soldiers to its ranks to ful- fill its responsibilities around the world without becoming stretched dangerously thin, senior Army officials warn.

"You can't do what we've been tasked to do with the number of people we have," Undersecretary of the Army Nelson Ford said. "You can see a point where it's going to be very difficult to cope."

Already, the Army lacks a strategic reserve of brigades trained and ready for major combat, officials said, and units being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are receiving new soldiers at the last minute, meaning they have insufficient time to train together before crossing into the war zone.

But the demand for soldiers extends beyond those countries, with the Pentagon creating new missions that require troops trained in cyber-warfare, homeland defense, intelligence-gathering and other areas, Ford said. "We have five to 10 new missions, and we are already stretched now."

ARMY'S MANPOWER

•The Army is currently on track to grow to 547,000 active-duty soldiers next year, up from 482,000 before the war.

•The service needs 580,000 soldiers "to meet current demand and get the dwell time," Ford said, referring to the amount of time soldiers have at home between deployments to train, rebuild and spend with families.

•The Army's current growth plan involves adding six active-duty combat brigades during the next three years.

•The Army has met its recruiting goals for the past three years and is benefiting from the weakened economy, which makes recruiting easier.

TROOP MOVEMENTS IN IRAQ

AND AFGHANISTAN

•The Pentagon plans to add at least 20,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

•The Army expects to send combat brigades and support soldiers.

•More support soldiers are expected to be sent to Iraq as the combat needs wind down. Those soldiers will assist the Iraqi military.

TOO FEW SOLDIERS, TOO MUCH NEED

•Army officials say constant rotations leave too little time to train for anything but the counterinsurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

•The Army's new training doctrine requires preparation for "full-spectrum" combat, but service officials estimate it will take about three years before combat brigades have enough time at home between tours to carry out that training.

•Combat brigades need 18 to 24 months at home for training, said Lt. Gen. James D. Thurman, the Army's deputy chief for operations.

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