Gen. Raymond Odierno, chief of staff of the U.S. Army, has said more than 450,000 active-duty members are required for the Army to perform its duty in global conflicts, DoD Buzz reported Wednesday.
Brendan McGarry writes Odierno told a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., that the Army also needs 335,000 soldiers in the National Guard and 195,000 in the Reserve.
The service’s number of active-duty soldiers could decline to 420,000 in the next several years due to sequestration, according to the report.
“Losing that last 30,000 makes a huge difference in the capabilities that we have,†Odierno told the panel.
McGarry writes that the Army has called for an Army of nearly 1.1 million soldiers, comprising of 520,000 active members, 354,200 National Guard troops and 205,000 Reserve soldiers under the fiscal 2014 budget plan.
