Army manning at highest levels since ’90s - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Army manning at highest levels since ’90s

A recent surge of recruits into basic training has pushed the size of the active Army past 566,000 soldiers — a 17-year high and nearly 19,000 more than the permanent manning level authorized by Congress.

The last time the Army was this big was in 1993, when it was in the midst of the force reduction that followed the end of the Cold War.

Despite the current surplus of soldiers, the Army is not violating the intent of Congress.

That is because last October, lawmakers not only authorized a permanent end strength of 547,400 but endorsed a measure that allows the service to temporarily increase the size of the force by 22,000 soldiers, for a total of 569,400.

The Army has exercised that authority by adding 15,000 soldiers to the active force since late last year.

Service leaders have yet to determine if an additional 7,000 troops will be added to the Army next year under the temporary authority, said Maj. Tim Beninato, spokesman for the chief of human resources.

In proposing the temporary 22,000-soldier increase, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the additional soldiers will be used to ease manning requirements for deploying units and to increase dwell time for soldiers when they return from deployment.

Interviewed in June, Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said the Army was analyzing the effects of the possible increase, “But if you ask me today, I’d say I’m probably of the mind that we need to get the additional 7,000.

“However, if the drawdown in Iraq goes as projected, we probably don’t need to keep [the additional soldiers],” he said.

Casey said it is important for the well-being of the Army to maintain a permanent force of 547,000 soldiers, and ready access to the reserve components, through at least 2014.

Simultaneous with the surge of recruits this summer, there has been a steady flow of soldiers out of Iraq back to home stations in Europe and the U.S.

Since January, for example, the number of soldiers deployed to Iraq has decreased from 94,000 to 56,000, and is expected to drop to less than 50,000 by the end of August.

During July, active-component personnel strength increased from 556,000 to 566,000.

Beninato said the increase was expected, with the normal summer surge of recruits exceeding separations and retirements.

Recruiting Command data indicates nearly 6,300 new soldiers entered active duty in May, with another 7,400 joining the force in June.

July totals were not available at press time.

Beninato said the Army expects it will end fiscal 2010 on Sept. 30 with 565,000 soldiers on active duty, a slight drop from current levels, “because of lower than expected administrative and retirement losses.”