The U.S. Army is reducing the number of troops to the lowest levels since before World War II, defense officials announced this week. The cuts are to be made by 2017, and include reducing troop levels by 40,000 and the number of Army civilians by 17,000.
The cuts are due to budget constraints, defense documents note, and further reductions may be required if the automatic budget cuts required by sequestration are put into effect. Another round of base closures is also a part of the budget reductions, but no announcements have been made about where those cuts will occur. Forced closures of military facilities are always highly controversial. While the Pentagon has pushed for BRAC as an effort to cut funds, Members of Congress – who have constituents living and working within those military facilities – are strongly opposed.
Proposed reductions in personnel at Fort Benning, Ga. and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska already have Members of Congress fuming.
“One person who’s going to be very pleased with this is Vladimir Putin,” Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan said. He cited the importance of Alaska in the Asia-Pacific region, and specifically in countering Russian aggression in the Arctic.
The good news for service members being forced out of the military in this round of cuts is they’re facing a better employment outlook. Previous sequestration personnel cuts came at a time when the entire defense industry was hemorrhaging from the effects of steep budget reductions. The recent shrinking of the cleared workforce means more demand for professionals with active federal security clearances and defense industry experience. The commercial sector employment outlook is also significantly better than it was even two years ago.
While the employment outlook is better, the threat landscape is not. Some analysts worry that these troop reductions will leave the U.S. less prepared to fight the next war, or wage the continued battle against ISIS.
