U.S. Army chief at ease with smaller force, eyes Asia

The U.S. Army chief told Reuters on the eve of a major Pentagon budget announcement that he's comfortable with plans to shrink the size of his force and shift the military's focus to Asia, saying the Army will remain relevant and capable.

General Raymond Odierno, chief of staff of the Army, declined to disclose figures the Pentagon is due to unveil that envision a smaller Army and the withdrawal of two brigade combat teams from Europe. Those fixed brigades will be replaced by rotational units.

"We're now out of Iraq, we're reducing our commitment in Afghanistan, so we can now bring the size of the Army down. And I feel comfortable with how we're going to do that," Odierno said in an interview from his Pentagon office.

"It's more about the timeline we bring it down on, and I'm satisfied with that timeline."

The Pentagon will preview President Barack Obama's budget proposal for the Pentagon on Thursday. It is expected to cut $260 billion in projected defense spending over the next five years and favor services like the Navy and the Air Force over the Army and Marines.

A U.S. official confirmed media reports that the Pentagon plans to slash eight Army brigades and reduce the overall force to as few as 490,000 over the next decade from around 565,000. But Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have said they will not hollow-out the force with the kind of cuts the military endured in the wake of the Vietnam war.