Odierno: With Commitments Up, US Must Rethink Cuts to Army End Strength | Defense News | defensenews.com: The US Army’s top general wants to redo a decision to cut end strength from 490,000 to 450,000, saying it was made before Russian aggression towards the Ukraine and Europe, the fight with the Islamic State group in the Mideast and deployments to Africa to fight Ebola.
“We made assumptions that we wouldn’t be using Army forces in Europe the way we used to, we made assumptions that we wouldn’t go back into Iraq — and here we are back in Iraq, here we are worried about Russia again,” said Gen. Raymond Odierno, speaking at the Defense One Summit here Wednesday. He called for a discussion of what the Army will be doing over the next five years.
There are 1,500 US soldiers in Iraq, with plans to send another 1,600 in a month; 55,000 soldiers in Afghanistan; and 80,000 in other countries around the world, Odierno said. “So, our commitments have actually gone up in the last year,” he said.
