'Non-deployable' soldiers becoming problematic for US Army | IHS Jane's 360

The army's active duty force reached a wartime high of about 570,000 - funded through supplemental budgets - but has been drawing that down after redeploying tens of thousands of soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan (although thousands remain in each theatre).

In its fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget, the army codified plans to drop its active component from the 490,000 soldiers proposed in the budget for FY 2015 down to 450,000 by the end of FY 2018. By the end of FY 2017, the Army National Guard is to reduce its planned force structure to 335,000 soldiers and the Army Reserve down to 195,000. For FY 2017, the army requested that Congress authorise an active-duty end strength of 460,000 soldiers, Army National Guard of 335,000, and Army Reserve of 195,000.