Breaking news... I just heard from a friend in my old unit up at Ft Drum say she's getting "Involuntary Early Separation" due to 10th MTN DIV cutting 4,500 troops from their ranks. And here's the story:
The Army on Tuesday announced major force structure cuts that will drop the number of brigade combat teams from 45 to 33, saying further shrinkage of the federal defense budget would require even deeper cuts and further lessen the Army’s combat power.The Army previously announced it would reduce its end-strength from its current level of 541,000 to 490,000 soldiers by the end of fiscal 2017 under the $487 billion of spending reductions mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act, but until Tuesday had only announced it was cutting two brigades in Europe. The Army reached a wartime high of 570,000 soldiers, after having some 482,000 soldiers in 2001.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said Tuesday that another 10 BCTs would be inactivated. Meanwhile, the number of maneuver battalions per brigade would be increased to three from the current two, and each brigade would be assigned more engineers.
By reducing the number of headquarters and increasing the number of battalions per brigade, Odierno said the Army is “increasing our tooth to tail ratio.” He added that while there would be some civilian job losses, many civilian positions are in place to support the basic functions of a post, and won’t be affected.
Odierno said 10 BCTs would be cut from 10 Army installations: Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Campbell, Ky.; Fort Carson, Colo.; Fort Drum, N.Y.; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Knox, Ky.; Fort Riley, Kan.; Fort Stewart, Ga.; and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Another two BCTs used for soldier training will also be cut, officials said.
An eleventh BCT in a location still undecided will be cut in the future, Odierno said.
The Army was working early Tuesday to notify Congress of the planned cuts, an Army official told Stars and Stripes.
The brigades selected for reduction included one Stryker brigade, three armored brigades, five infantry brigades and an airborne brigade. A brigade has roughly 3,500 people.
Read the rest here.


Not good says I, but I'm not terribly surprised, Dems are never known for being "military friendly"- remember the Clinton force strength cuts in the 90's? Now is probably not the best time, or even close to it, to cut our force strength so dramatically- what with the current sad state of affairs for the world. But alas, we gotta cut the military, how else are we going to pay for the Obama's vacations?