Army numbers smallest since WWII — what units face cuts in 2024?
By Davis Winkie
Dec 28, 10:12 AM
Soldiers with 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, show off their guidons by holding them up high at the Fort Bliss, Texas parade field on June 25, 2018. Guidons are used as a unit designator for every unit in the military. (Staff Sgt. Felicia Jagdatt/Army)
The new year will likely prove to be one of significant force structure changes for the Army, according to its senior leaders.
Although the service has maintained for years that embracing multidomain operations will require it to “transform” its force structure into one leaders believe is suited to tomorrow’s battlefield, back-to-back recruiting shortfalls led top officials to admit by mid-to-late 2023 that some pending cuts are influenced by a deepening numbers shortfall. The Army finished fiscal year 2023 with only 452,000 active duty soldiers, its smallest force since 1940.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told Army Times in June that the service will see reductions to “close-combat forces” that were purpose-built for the War on Terror, in addition to other organizations based on their purpose or other factors like deployment rates.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2023/12/28/army-numbers-smallest-since-wwii-what-units-face-cuts-in-2024/
