{"id":36888,"date":"2021-04-27T21:08:35","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T21:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/04\/27\/the-force-is-still-too-small-army-chief-says-and-afghanistan-withdrawal-wont-really-help\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:01:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:01:01","slug":"the-force-is-still-too-small-army-chief-says-and-afghanistan-withdrawal-wont-really-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2021\/04\/27\/the-force-is-still-too-small-army-chief-says-and-afghanistan-withdrawal-wont-really-help\/","title":{"rendered":"The force is still too small, Army chief says, and Afghanistan withdrawal won\u2019t really help"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ending the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan<\/a> won\u2019t be of much use to Army planners sweating the size of the force, as fiscal constraints loom large over the service in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army\u2019s end-strength growth<\/a>, once expected to top 500,000 active-duty soldiers<\/a>, has slowed to a crawl in recent years and currently sits at roughly 485,000 troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the same size Army that we had on 9\/11, and when I take a look at what the requirements are, when I take a look at what historically we needed, and now that we\u2019re in a time of great power competition, I\u2019m very, very concerned about the size of the Army,\u201d Chief of Staff Gen. James C. McConville said during a Tuesday discussion<\/a> at the Center for a New American Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the strain on the Army\u2019s size comes from the combatant commands, where soldiers make up the bulk of military personnel deployed across the world. But the impending withdrawal from Afghanistan, in U.S. Central Command\u2019s area of responsibility, won\u2019t make much of a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe number of troops in Afghanistan is really not a significant amount,\u201d McConville said when asked how the withdrawal would factor into end-strength woes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing the Army also doesn\u2019t appear to be happening in the current fiscal environment, unless the service cuts into readiness and modernization funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe [Army] secretary and I both agree that we can\u2019t do the things, as far as readiness and when it comes to modernization, if we were to grow the Army to the level that we think would reduce the stress of deployments for our troops,\u201d McConville said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is produce the best Army we can with the resources that we\u2019re going to get.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t