Army dwell time holding at three years for most soldiers

Active component soldiers, on average, are spending about three years at home station for every year they spend on deployment, according to data provided to Congress as part of the fiscal 2017 Army budget request.

Under a requirement issued by lawmakers in 2013, the Army is required to provide a statement annually to Congress on the effect of the drawdown, and reduced end-strength, on soldier “dwell time.”

The Army measures dwell time for active component soldiers as the median ratio of time deployed to time spent not deployed, measured up to the start of a subsequent deployment.

The goal for dwell is a median ratio of 1:2, meaning at least one half of the soldiers who deploy on a second or subsequent deployment will have have spent two years or more at home for every year deployed.

However, personnel officials emphasize that dwell time can vary greatly among career management fields, with soldiers in some specialties, such as special operations, having shorter turnaround times than troops in other career fields.

The Army has met the 1:2 goal every quarter since January 2012, when major troop withdrawals began in Afghanistan, and has maintained a ratio of 1:3 or better every quarter since the fall of 2014, according to information provided to Congress in early February.