The Army’s steady drawdown of forces got back on track in February, with the active component cutting with active component manning being trimmed by nearly 1,100 soldiers.

That's a change from January, which saw a small end-strength uptick in January; with the number of soldiers on active duty that month increased increasing by 552, more than half of them women.

The latest official demographics from the Defense Manpower Data Center shows that 481,741 soldiers were in the Regular Army March 1, which is 16,419 fewer troopers than were on the rolls one year ago.

Under the drawdown plan now in effect, the Army is moving toward a population of 475,000 soldiers on Sept. 30, the end of fiscal 2016, and 460,000 by the end of fiscal 2017.

The master plan imposed by the Defense Department and Congress calls for the drawdown to end in three years with 450,000 soldiers on active duty, and another  530,000 in the reserve components, for a total force of 980,000 soldiers.

The latest end-strength figures show that on March 1 the Army National Guard had nearly 349,000 soldiers, and the Army Reserve 196,000.

The number of West Point cadets totaled 4,353, while the number of women serving on active duty stood at 69,511, just 69 fewer than in January.

Total Army strength now stands at 1,029,908 soldiers.

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