A proposed 2013 federal budget plan could set the Defense Department on a path to save $259 billion over the next five years by reducing manpower in the Army and Marine Corps. But the plan is not expected to cause an increase in the use of the Army and Air National Guards, a military analyst said/…/
Mobilization increases for the Army National Guard and Reserves won’t continue as a trend, Todd Harrison, senior defense budget analyst for Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said.
About 75,000 Guardsmen and Reservists are currently on active duty, the Defense Department said.
“Now that troops are coming back, reliance on Army Guardsmen and Reserve will drop significantly – at one point in time we had close to 250,000 ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, we have less thatn 100,000 troops in Afghanistan and no troops in Iraq,” Harrison said.
Cuts outlined for the U.S. military budget means a loss of eight brigade combat teams, Harrison said. The 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, of which the soldiers at the Duncansville Readiness Center are a part, is the only Reserve or Guard combat team in the U.S. military.
The budget preview seems to align with strategic guidelines that focus military to Asian-Pacific regions, Harrison said.
“It hasn’t become part of public debate, but it is happening and driving decisions with the budget,” he said.