Army to boost ranks with 22,000 more soldiers - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Army to boost ranks with 22,000 more soldiers

The Army will temporarily add another 22,000 soldiers to the ranks in an effort to fill out deploying units that are short of personnel who are unable to deploy for medical and other reasons, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Monday.

The effort, recommended by former Army Secretary Pete Geren, Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey and “with President Obama’s strong support,” begins immediately and continues for the next three fiscal years, Gates said. It will increase the size of the Army’s active-duty strength to 569,000 from its current 547,400.

The increase comes on the heels of a permanent increase of 65,000 in the Army and 27,000 in the Marine Corps, both efforts to reduce strain on heavily deployed forces and to sustain deployment patterns to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The persistent pace of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last several years has steadily increased the number of troops not available for deployment in the Army,” Gates said in explaining the new move. “The decision to eliminate the routine use of stop-loss authority in the Army also requires a larger ‘personnel float’ for each deploying unit to compensate for those whose contract expires during the period of deployment.”

Gates called this a “temporary challenge” that will peak in the coming year and gradually subside over succeeding years.

The decision was lauded by Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., who has introduced an amendment to authorize funding for an end-strength increase in fiscal 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Gates said the additional forces “will be used to ensure that our deploying units are properly manned and not to create new combat formations.”

He said the cost for the remainder of this fiscal year will be “less than $100 million” but would total $1 billion next year. He said the Pentagon will not seek additional funding to pay for the troop increases for the current fiscal year and fiscal 2010, “and will work with OMB and the Congress in putting together the necessary fiscal program in the remaining two years.”

He called the current proposal for fiscal 2010 funding a “zero-sum budget” and added that “there has to be an offset” out of that budget to pay for temporary troop increase costs.

“We will absorb those costs within our current top line,” he said.

Gates said he is “mindful that during this period of financial crisis, this decision will result in additional tough choices for the department, calling to mind my comments in the past about things that we don’t need creating problems for us in the areas we do need” — the latter a clear reference to weapons systems he wants to stop funding, including the Air Force’s F-22 fighter.

That effort is running into stiff resistance on Capitol Hill; President Barack Obama has said he will veto any spending measure that includes funding for additional F-22s.

But, said Gates, “I’m convinced that this is an important and necessary step to ensure that we continue to properly support the needs of our commanders in the field while providing relief for our current force and their families.”

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For more on this story, see next week’s Army Times.