Army more than doubled soldiers re-assigned to its ‘most deployed formation’
Story by Patty Nieberg • 13h
A force restructuring that shifted soldiers from other jobs into air defense more than doubled last year. In fiscal year 2024, 173 soldiers voluntarily reclassified into air defense positions, up from just 73 the year before, officials told Task & Purpose. The Army has specifically been prioritizing moving soldiers into long-range air defense positions over short-range, Col. Don Fagnan from Army Human Resource Command told Task & Purpose. The restructure targeted overcrowded military occupational specialties like cavalry scouts.
“This is our most deployed formation,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George told reporters Monday at the annual Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington D.C. “Everybody wants U.S. Army air defense forces.”
Still, the service is just keeping up with demand for new soldiers in the field, officials say. The Army currently has 7,479 air defense positions in both short- and long-range units. To fill those slots, the Army has 7,800 soldiers currently assigned to the career field, but that number includes trainees and those between assignments.
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