The U.S. Army Is Cutting Roughly 24,000 Jobs From Its Current Strength

The Army has suffered recruitment difficulties in recent years.
Approximately 5%, or 24,000 jobs, are being cut from the service branch.

The Army is revamping its strategy to prepare for the threats of the future.

While the branch is cutting jobs, it’s also adding new positions.

(NewsReady.com) – In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Army shifted its focus to fighting Islamic terrorists. Recruitment soared in the early years after the attacks. Americans were motivated by the deaths of 2,977 people and wanted to defend their country, vowing to never forget. Nearly 23 years later, the threat of terrorism is still there, but the desire to join the military isn’t there like it once was. After decades of war, Generation Z isn’t as willing as their parents or older siblings to sign up to fight in a foreign land.

There are dozens of opinion pieces about why that might be, but the result is a recruitment crisis in the Armed Forces. The Army is now revamping its strategy and cutting thousands of jobs in the process.

Big Changes

A new document from the Army reveals the military branch is moving forward with a defense strategy that began under former President Donald Trump and was endorsed by President Joe Biden. The “Army Force Structure Transformation” report states that historically, the Army has been restructured to keep up with changing threats, technological advances, and to meet strategic goals.

The branch conducted its “Total Army Analysis,” an assessment of its force structure. After consulting Congress, the Army decided to move forward with a restructuring effort. By law, the military branch must have a force of at least 445,000 soldiers. Its current strategy required 494,000 soldiers, but the new strategy will be set at 470,000.

It will eliminate approximately 10,000 positions from cavalry squadrons, Stryker and infantry brigade combat teams, and the soldiers that train foreign militaries. Another 10,000 jobs related to counterinsurgency missions in Afghanistan and Iraq are being cut. With those wars over, the positions are no longer needed. Finally, 3,000 special operations jobs and units that don’t deploy often are being eliminated.

The changes are meant to prepare the force to meet threats from Russia, China, and others.

What’s New?

The Army is modernizing its weapons, including systems that date back to the Cold War. It will be adding more than 30 upgraded or new systems across six areas. That includes building out the branch’s five Multi-Domain Task Forces (MDTFs). Those task forces are critical in protecting the Joint and Coalition forces, delivering “non-kinetic space and cyber effects,” gathering and synchronizing intelligence, and completing other crucial tasks.

The plan is also going to add 7,500 troops to those task forces.