Army leaders last week were questioned by House appropriators who voiced concerns over the service's planned end strength cuts -- especially National Guard reductions -- as a way to deal with the automatic budget cuts triggered by sequestration.
Reserves
March 28, 2014
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno told lawmakers last week that if the service was unable to execute its proposed aviation restructure and forced to keep AH-64 Apache helicopters in the Army National Guard, it would then have to cut up to four Guard brigades to find equivalent savings.
March 20, 2014
The Coast Guard is standing up an asset project office at its air station in Elizabeth City, NC, in order to oversee the service's acquisition of 14 C-27J Spartan airlifters from the Defense Department as part of a wider inter-service plane swap deal, a service spokesman has confirmed.
March 13, 2014
The Army's plan to restructure its aviation assets -- hotly contested by Army National Guard advocates -- will work to U.S. Northern Command's advantage, its commander said today.
March 12, 2014
Senior defense leaders are eying a review of the military's ability to mobilize its existing reserves if an immediate infusion of ground forces were needed in light of the Obama administration's new budget plan that could see the Army fall to a force of 420,000 soldiers. A military official told Inside the Pentagon that plans for such an examination have yet to be finalized.
February 28, 2014
The Army and National Guard continued to prepare for confrontation last week after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced cuts to the service's end strength and committed the Army to a controversial aviation restructure.
February 27, 2014
The Air Force's top leaders have strong concerns about a congressionally mandated commission's recommendation that the service dismantle much of Air Force Reserve Command and rely instead on National Guard and active-duty components to provide lower-level leadership structure.
February 14, 2014
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno reasserted last week that the service needs at least 450,000 active soldiers to meet the nation's security needs, despite a push inside the Pentagon to cut back to only 420,000 active-duty troops by fiscal year 2019 to pay for budget cuts mandated by sequestration.
February 14, 2014
The Army Reserve and the Guard are not following recommendations in a 2012 report issued by the Defense Department inspector general to adhere to protocol and obtain Office of the Secretary of Defense approval when transferring reserve component equipment because Army officials believe the recommendations would create a process that is too cumbersome.
February 14, 2014
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) has been trying to rally fellow lawmakers to join him in urging Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to prevent the Army from executing a plan that would cut the size of the National Guard and restructure the service's aviation assets, according to a draft letter obtained by Inside the Army that Blunt's office has been circulating on Capitol Hill.
January 31, 2014
The National Guard Bureau has outlined a counter-proposal to the Army's aviation restructure plan that would retain some AH-64 Apaches in the reserve component, according to an NGB document obtained by Inside the Army.
January 31, 2014
The chairman of the commission charged with studying the Air Force's active-duty and reserve force utilization said today that he expects the service will implement many of the panel's recommendations, which advocate for much greater reliance on the reserve component.
January 30, 2014
A congressional commission tasked with studying the Air Force's active-duty and reserve structure recommended this week that the service disband the Reserve Command and that Congress provide the service with greater flexibility and authority to close redundant infrastructure.
January 24, 2014
Draft legislation that could be introduced into the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) would establish a commission to study the proper size and structure of the Army, while prohibiting the service from transferring or divesting any National Guard aircraft or reducing the reserve component's end strength beyond authorized levels in FY-15.
January 24, 2014
The Army would align AH-64 Apache helicopter battalions from the active component with National Guard aviation brigades if the service follows through with its proposed aviation restructure and moves all Apaches out of the reserve component, according to defense officials.
January 15, 2014
The Office of the Secretary of Defense has pulled the plug on all Army engagements in which service officials might be asked to further justify plans to cut the size of the Army National Guard and restructure the aviation branch, according to Capitol Hill sources, though the Army officially disputes this.
January 10, 2014
The National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Frank Grass said that the defense spending agreement reached by Congress in December that provides some relief from sequestration over the next few years has bought the Guard and the active components some time to assess the right balance of force structure and end strength.
January 10, 2014
Pentagon leaders have issued internal guidance putting the Army on a path to reducing its active-duty ranks to 420,000 soldiers by fiscal year 2019, according to defense sources.
January 9, 2014
In her first public comments since being confirmed by the Senate in December, new Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James revealed today that the service's fiscal year 2015 budget request will increase the role of its reserve components.
January 3, 2014
The National Guard Association and Guard advocates on Capitol Hill are questioning the Army's proposed aviation restructure that would take all AH-64 Apaches out of the Guard to be used as armed aerial scout helicopters within the active component.