President George W. Bush reiterated
his support during the State of the Union address for increasing
the overall size of both the Army and Marine Corps. The President
intends to ask Congress in February for the authority to grow both
services by a total of 92,000 soldiers and Marines over the next
five years. Specifically, Army and Marine Corps leaders would seek
a permanent increase in personnel, thereby solidifying the recent
temporary authorizations funded by Congress and growing the
services even further. This proposal deserves the support of
Congress.
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps currently maintain 160,000
personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, and both are increasing
personnel levels in Iraq steadily over the next five months as part
of a larger effort to secure Baghdad. Since September 2001, about
683,000 Army soldiers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and
164,000 soldiers have already deployed at least twice. While the
Army is capable of immediately increasing troop levels in Iraq,
this will require sending some units, such as a brigade from the
3rd Infantry Division, to Iraq for record third tours and relying
upon the Army National Guard and Reserves to meet current force
level commitments. A Minnesota National Guard brigade that has been
on active duty since October 2005 and is currently in Iraq will
reportedly have its deployment extended by another four months
until August-for a total of nearly two years on active duty-in
order to meet current military requirements. U.S. troop levels in
Iraq and the need for greater access to the Guard and Reserves are
the main reasons why the Pentagon recently lifted restrictions on
the deployment of National Guard and Reserves that limited
involuntary rotations to no more than 24 months of active
duty.
Deployment trends over the last several years, troop requirements
overseas, and deployment policy changes indicate that the Army
National Guard and Reserves must grow alongside the military's
active components. Expanding the endstrength of both the active and
Reserve components is more cost effective than adding only active
duty soldiers.
Draft plans indicate that the Army intends to grow its active duty
forces from 512,000 to 547,000, the Army National Guard from
350,000 to 358,000, and the Army Reserves from 205,000 to 206,000.
Increasing endstrength Army-wide is a prudent course to sustain the
current pace of deployments without jeopardizing readiness or
retention. President Bush's plan to increase the size of the ground
forces in the Army and Marine Corps is appropriate in order to
maintain a trained and ready military and conduct operations around
the world. Congress should continue its support for growing
America's ground forces by funding the President's request and
including the National Guard and Reserves.
Mackenzie M. Eaglen is
Senior Policy Analyst for National Security in the Douglas and
Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the
Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International
Studies, at The Heritage Foundation.
Report Defense
State of the Union 2007: Increasing the Size Of The Army And Marine Corps
January 23, 2007 2 min read
Download Report
Mackenzie Eaglen
Senior Research Fellow
Mackenzie Eaglen specializes in defense strategy, military readiness and the defense budget.
Authors
Mackenzie Eaglen
Senior Research Fellow
Exclusive Offers
5 Shocking Cases of Election Fraud
Read real stories of fraudulent ballots, harvesting schemes, and more in this new eBook.
The Heritage Guide to the Constitution
Receive a clause-by-clause analysis of the Constitution with input from more than 100 scholars and legal experts.
The Real Costs of America’s Border Crisis
Learn the facts and help others understand just how bad illegal immigration is for America.
More on This Issue
ISSUE BRIEF 12 min read
BACKGROUNDER 24 min read
COMMENTARY 3 min read