Army Announces Stationing Decisions for New Troops

Army News Service ^ | Dec. 19, 2007 | Elizabeth M. Lorge

[Stonewall Jackson]

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Dec. 19, 2007) - Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody today announced plans to activate three new units in 2008, and other unit-stationing decisions to support the Army's growth by up to 74,200 Soldiers, including 65,000 active-duty Soldiers, by 2010.

The stationing plans announced during a Pentagon press conference this afternoon include six infantry brigade combat teams, eight active-component support brigades and various-sized combat-support and combat-service-support units.

"The Army is undergoing the largest transformational change since 1942," said Gen. Cody. "We've changed our doctrine. We've changed our organizational structure to the Army modular force. We've changed the active component and the reserve component, balancing between formations.

"We've changed modernization and reset programs, and at the same time, under BRAC 2005, we're changing the footprint of our Army to make it more agile, more expeditionary, but also to place our formations and our Family members in camps and stations that have a higher quality of life, a higher quality of training ranges so that we have the right formations so that we are training as we would fight."

The stationing plan builds upon the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act, Gen. Cody said, and ensures growth capacity for not only the 74,200 Soldiers, but any future growth the Army might need. It considers power projection, so that rail, air and port systems will be able to move troops when needed.

The plan also accounts for training areas at each post, camp and station, from small-arms training to large maneuver-training areas. Most importantly, he said, the Army considered the quality of life for Soldiers and their Families, and is creating real communities at installations.

BRAC relocates the 1st Armored Division from Germany to Fort Bliss, Texas; and the 1st Infantry Div. to Fort Riley, Kan., and Fort Knox, Ky., by September 2011. Per the request of the European Command commander, the Army will activate two heavy brigade combat teams in Germany in 2008 and 2010 to support near-term theater security needs, and reduce stress on Soldiers and Families by allowing time for construction in the United States to support transformation, BRAC realignments and Army growth.

The Army is scheduled to increase its strength to 48 infantry brigade combat teams by fiscal year 2011 by retaining, activating and converting three existing BCTs and growing three new BCTs at Fort Carson, Colo., Fort Bliss, and Fort Stewart, Ga. The two brigade combat teams stationed in Germany are tentatively scheduled to relocate to Fort Bliss in fiscal year 2012 and White Sands Missile Range, N.M., in fiscal year 2013, respectively.

The Army also plans to activate eight active-component support brigades and restation two others.

Fort Hood, Texas, will activate an air-defense-artillery brigade headquarters and an expeditionary-sustainment command headquarters.

Fort Lewis, Wash., will activate a sustainment brigade

Fort Polk, La., will activate a battlefield-surveillance brigade.

Fort Bliss will activate a fires brigade.

Schofield Barracks, Hawaii will retain a military police brigade and activate an engineer-brigade headquarters.

Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., will activate a maneuver-enhancement brigade.

A second will be restationed to Fort Drum, N.Y.

A third will be restationed to Fort Richardson, Alaska, pending the completion of a supplemental-environmental analysis.

The Army is also stationing about 30,000 Soldiers in combat-support and combat-service-support units throughout the U.S. and overseas. The details are in a report directed by the FY 2007 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, which requires the secretary of Defense to submit a stationing plan to support Army growth.

Gen. Cody said between fiscal years 2006 and 2013, the Army expects to spend approximately $66 billion on more than 743 construction projects to support its growth. This includes 66 new child-development centers; 69,000 new barracks, which does not include renovations to old barracks; 4,100 Army Family houses, which does not include houses built under the Residential Communities Initiative; and 23 brigade-combat-team complexes.

Gen. Cody said the ease and convenience of the complexes make him want to be a captain again. Barracks, leadership offices, operations facilities, motor pool, and equipment storage areas are all close together, grouped around battalion and brigade offices and dining facilities.

The Army conducted a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to consider any environmental impacts stationing new units would have on installations, to examine available alternatives and to solicit the views of the public. The analysis and stakeholder comments were part of the decision-making process for selecting the final stationing for new units, officials said.

[quadrant]

That would be quite an improvement. George Patton’s Third Army - arguably the best fighting force the US Army ever fielded - had approximately 300,000 troops on the rolls but only 30,000 grunts. The US put almost 600,000 troops into South Vietnam but only about 50,000 combat soldiers/Marines.

[Dimez Apart]

For every 1 grunt there is 10 support guys. Thats how its always been. 150,000 troops in Iraq sounds like alot, but there aren’t that many grunts. Hence, the contractors. And besides, when I get back for 24 hours outside the wire, I’d rather deal with the nice civilian at the laundry place then a Private who sits around complaining that the AC is to cold. =[

[exit82]

Are we ever going to redeploy the troops in South Korea stateside?

Why after 57.7 years must we have a combat presence on the South Korean peninsula?

The ROKs can take care of SK themselves—and by now, they should.

[Stonewall Jackson]

Each Infantry BCT will have two infantry battalions, each with approximately 650 men, and one cavalry reconnaissance squadron, which fields around 150-175 men, so the actual numbers will be 1450-1475 combat troops out of the 3300-3500 men in each brigade. This equals out to around 44%.

This does not include the brigade's MP company. The MPs have been involved in quite a bit of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, from foot and vehicle patrols to escorting convoys to manning roadblocks and security checkpoints. If you include them, the numbers rise to around 1600, or 49%.

[Stonewall Jackson]

Quite a few of them are coming back to the States. Under BRAC, almost 40% of our forces in South Korea are going to be stationed in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington.

[exit82]

Thanks.

Personally, I’d put the other 60% on the border with Mexico.

Merry Christmas!

[quadrant]

Again, I ask: out of 650 soldiers in a battalion, how many will be walking through villages? Don’t say, all 650 as most BN size units have a HQ company composed of troops who work at BN HQ and rarely, if ever, go into the field. And remember that even in a grunt company, some troops do not go into the field.

[Stonewall Jackson]

In the standard infantry battalion, there are usually five companies, a HQ company and four rifle companies. So about 80%.

[quadrant]

If one platoon comprises approximately 40 grunts and there are three platoons in a company and four companies in a bn that would be approximately 480 grunts in a bn. Now, if there are 2 bn per brigade and 8 brigades in total, how many grunts? Of course, this math assumes that all units are staffed at 100% of TO, a fact which anyone who served in the military knows is a fiction.

[Stonewall Jackson]

My mistake, each battalion has one HQ company, three infantry companies, and a weapons company. Additionally, the recon squadron has two mounted troops and one dismounted troop. This makes it a total of 1,197 grunts per brigade.

Here's a breakdown of the Infantry, Stryker, and Heavy BCTs. (sorry that each format is different, but they are all I could find at GlobalSecurity.org)

[wtc911]

We should have, at most, two batallions.....

----------------------------------------

In Germany? That would be worse than none at all.

As for deploying more troops to Asia, our only Asian mainland toe-hold is ROK, from which we are pulling troops.

I'd like to see Brigade sized bases in Eastern Europe and the Horn of Africa.

[Stonewall Jackson]

Not counting the headquarters or support units, each infantry brigade will field about 1,200 combat troops, for a total of 7,200. I don't have the figures for the two Heavy BCTs, but considering they are 1/3 again the size of an Infantry BCT, I'd guestimate that they have approximately 1,600 combat troops. This makes it a total of 10,400.

But at the same time, you have to remember that this is not a conventional war and that many of the traditional rear-guard forces, like MPs and artillerymen, are being called upon to serve as foot soldiers in the hunt for the terrorists and insurgents. This would add another 4-5,000 to the total, for a final number somewhere between 14,400 and 15,400.

[wtc911]

Why after 57.7 years must we have a combat presence on the South Korean peninsula?

______________________________________

Because ROK is our only mainland Asian based staging area. It is about a lot more than the DMZ.

[BuckyKat]

The husband of one of my coworkers just received orders for Schofield Barracks. They head out at the end of January. I asked Alicia if they could adopt me, but she just laughed. I told her that I am only four years older than she is, so nobody will say anything, but she then reminded me that they are going to Hawaii not California.

I doubt anyone would say anything in Hawaii either - it might be even further left politically and socially that California. Our transfer here in 1994. We loved it so much we bribed another tour back here (by the better half offering a tour in Korea if they returned him to Hawaii to retire). This is truly the most wonderful, beautiful place on earth. Now if only they could integrate their legislature a little bit with some opposing viewpoints... but you can't have everything.

[Stonewall Jackson]

I'm hoping to get to Hawaii one of these days. I really want to see Pearl Harbor and visit the Arizona Memorial.

[exit82]

That may be, but that reflectz long gone thinking when we had far more troops there.

Today, they are in a kill zone, and if the NK army ever invades the south, we will be going tactical nuclear in short order to stem the human tidal wave going South.

We don’t need a staging area there for land troops any longer. There’s is nowhere to project to any longer in that region.

But we have an active invasion on our southern border of illegals and drugs, and there is no rational reason why that cannot be stopped.

[wtc911]

Do not discount the psychological impact that our 36,000 troops and the air bases we maintain on the Korean peninsula have on China.

Do not think that our troops on the Korean peninsula are not part of a long term commitment to an as yet not re-militarized Japan.

Don't buy the we will tac-nuke the People's Army jive. We know that any conflict would be over in ten days with days 3-10 belonging to us.

Do have a Merry Christmas.

[exit82]

I do not agree with your assessments numbers 1,2 and 3.

But I heartily agree to proposition number 4.

To you and yours, I wish a Merry Christmas.

[BuckyKat]

It’s a very moving experience. We had my husband’s Army retirement ceremony out at the visitor center there. As a parting memory they gave us a flag that had been raised over the memorial (a ritual they do most every morning I think to have the ceremonial flags for such events).

[rahbert]

me too. I want to visit the bbq pig trailer along the
kamekameha hwy and eat freah pineapple again.