Army strength cut by nearly 5,000 in December

This article was originally published on Feb. 6, 2016, at 8:42 a.m. EST.

The ravenous drawdown took a major chunk out of the size of the Army in December, with endstrength dropping by nearly 5,000 active component soldiers.

The Army entered 2016 on Jan. 1 with 482,264 soldiers on active duty, which moves the force to within 7,264 soldiers of the endstrength goal of 475,000 troopers for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

Statistics compiled by the Defense Manpower Data Center show that officer personnel strength was cut by 345 officers in December, 33 West Point cadets and 4,492 enlisted soldiers.

While some of those cuts were generated by involuntary separation actions initiated in fiscal 2015, most of the reduction was achieved through natural attrition, according to personnel sources.

Statistics also show that 69,302 women were serving on active duty Jan. 1, a reduction of 707 from the previous month.  Women now comprise 14.3 percent of the Regular Army.

The reserve components consisting of 348,698 National Guard soldiers, and 199,367 Army Reserve members account for more than one-half of the Total Force.