Grow the Army

Grow the Army is a transformation and restationing initiative of the United States Army announced in 2007 and scheduled to be completed by fiscal year 2013. The initiative is designed to grow the US Army's force by almost 75,000 soldiers, while realigning a large portion of the force in Europe, moving units located there to the continental United States in compliance with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure suggestions.

Growth

oldiers

The plan was announced in a United States Army press release on December 19, 2007. [http://www.army.mil/-newsreleases/2007/12/19/6676-army-announces-stationing-decisions/ Army Announces Stationing Decisions] , Maj. Thomas McCuin, United States Army. Retrieved 04-03-2008] It calls for a total force growth of 74,200 soldiers, expanding the Active duty army force by 65,000 soldiers, the United States Army Reserve by 1,000 soldiers, and the Army National Guard by 8,200 soldiers. [http://www.army.mil/growthearmy/# Army.mil Grow the Army Informational Page] , United States Army. Retrieved 04-03-2008.] To support the growth, the Army simultaneously announced the restationing of 30,000 Soldiers in combat support and combat service support units throughout the United States as well as various overseas locations.

Units

The army announced that the total active duty force structure would grow by six Infantry Brigade Combat Teams and eight support brigades of various types. This would grow the force from 42 Brigade Combat Teams and 75 modular support brigades in 2007 to 48 Brigade Combat Teams and 83 modular support brigades by 2013.

As part of the 2003-2008 restructuring plan, the Army moved from using division-sized units to brigade-sized units as the basic unit of deployment. As such, the 2007 army consisted of 42 brigades, forty of which were divided evenly amongst ten division-level commands, while two were independent. The six newly activated brigades will be designed as separate independent brigades, without division-level commands.

The timeline of the Brigade Combat Team growths calls for the reflagging of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division as the independent 172nd Infantry Brigade (United States) in fiscal year 2008; this was accomplished during a reflagging ceremony on March 19 in Schweinfurt, Germany. [http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/03/19/8000-dagger-brigade-switches-patch-in-activation-ceremony/ Dagger brigade Switched patch in Activation Ceremony] , Kimberly Gearhart, United States Army. Retrieved 04-03-2008] The 2nd Brigade will subsequently be reformed at Fort Riley, Kansas. A similar event will occur on September of 2010, when the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division in Baumholder, Germany, will be reflagged as the 170th Infantry Brigade (United States).

Meanwhile, the 43rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team will be retained at Fort Carson, Colorado in 2008, the 44th Infantry Brigade Combat Team will activate at Fort Bliss, Texas in 2009 and three new units will be formed in 2011. These will be the 46th Infantry Brigade Combat Team at Fort Stewart, Georgia, the 47th Infantry Brigade Combat Team at Fort Carson, and the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team at Fort Bliss.(Note that these will not be the actual designations of the units).

References