Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Army Growth May Not Keep Pace with Deployments: General | Military.com

Army Growth May Not Keep Pace with Deployments: General | Military.com: Even as the U.S. Army prepares to grow, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson still worries about units not having enough time to recover between deployments amid a rising demand for the service to take on more missions.

President Donald Trump's pledge to increase defense spending by $54 billion in fiscal 2018 will allow the Army to go to a 476,000-soldier active force by Oct. 1.

The move will also give leaders some flexibility to meet demands around the globe since it reverses the plan to shrink the service to 450,000 active force.

Despite the increase, Anderson, the Army's deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and training, said Tuesday he's concerned that the increasing demand for the service to take on more missions is placing too much strain on operational units.

"I still worry about our demands," he told an audience at the Association of the United States Army's Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama. "We have got to find a way for people to reset."