Army Tells Congress Sequestration Will Cost 14,000 More Soldiers

Army cautions sequestration could cut 14,000 service members 
Killeen Daily Herald
Rose L Thayer Herald staff writer
March 29, 2015

Dropping the Army’s end strength to 450,000 would require the involuntary separation of about 14,000 soldiers, Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, Army vice chief of staff, told lawmakers during Wednesday testimony before the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on readiness.

Army officials last week cautioned what troop reductions could look like should sequestration return in January.

Dropping the Army’s end strength to 450,000 would require the involuntary separation of about 14,000 soldiers, Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, Army vice chief of staff, told lawmakers during Wednesday testimony before the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on readiness.

“It will increase significantly the involuntary separation of officer and noncommissioned leaders who have steadfastly served their country through the last 13 years of war,” Allyn said, according to a report from Army News Service.

“Sequestration will undermine readiness, ultimately putting soldiers’ lives and our mission success at risk,” he said.

As Col. Karl Konzelman, chief of Army Force Management at the Pentagon, explained during Tuesday’s listening session in Killeen, the Army already exhausted all other means of troop reduction. Now it will have to start making cuts from active units. The listening session addressed troop reductions directly linked to the draconian budget cuts.
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