{"id":13446,"date":"2019-04-17T21:05:18","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T21:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/17\/esper-the-ultimate-size-of-the-army-is-a-moving-target\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:40:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:40:33","slug":"esper-the-ultimate-size-of-the-army-is-a-moving-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2019\/04\/17\/esper-the-ultimate-size-of-the-army-is-a-moving-target\/","title":{"rendered":"Esper: The ultimate size of the Army is a moving target"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Soon after he took office in late 2017, Army Secretary Mark Esper<\/a> set a goal for the size of the Army: half-a-million active-duty soldiers, with about 500,000 more in the National Guard and Army Reserve.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The road to 500,000 has seen some bumps, most noticeably after the Army\u2019s end strength posted a net-zero gain in 2018. But leaders are confident they\u2019ll meet that goal<\/a>, Esper told Army Times on Tuesday, and there\u2019s a possibility that they could go even higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t tell you what the Army end strength will be. I know it has to be above 500,000. I know it has to be above 500,000 in the regular Army \u2013 and I\u2019ve always said associated growth in the Guard and Reserve,\u201d he said. \u201cBut our war games could come out and tell us \u2013 in two years, or a year and a half \u2013 that we really need 504,000. Or it could come out and tell us that we need 540,000.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Secretary of the Army Dr. Mark T. Esper speaks at the Army Professional Forum at the Hilton Hotel-Mark Center, in Alexandria, Va., Dec. 6, 2018. (U.S. Army\/Staff Sgt. Nicole Mejia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

His Army Vision<\/a> statement proposed that end strength for the force in 2028, but in interviews, testimony and budget documents, the growth plan included 483,500 at the start of 2019, then another 4,000 added each year until 500,000, around the end of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army reported a setback at the end of fiscal year 2018: They had missed their recruiting goal \u2015 their most Herculean effort in a decade \u2015 by 6,500, and another thousand soldiers lost to discharges meant the service was ending the year where it finished, at about 476,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October, officials with Training and Doctrine Command announced a host of initiatives aimed at pulling the Army\u2019s recruiting enterprise out of its \u201cIndustrial Era\u201d model, with social media campaigns, new commercials, even competitive CrossFit and e-gaming teams to promote service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be an easy mission,\u201d Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands, the Army\u2019s deputy chief of staff for personnel, told Army Times in September, back when the service was staring down the possibility of having to add 11,500 to the force in 2019. \u201cWe\u2019ve got recruiters all across the country and overseas who we\u2019re asking to do some really heavy lifting. We think we\u2019ve given them the right tools to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But by March, with the release of their budget proposal, things had ramped down a bit. The Army is now shooting to grow by 2,000 soldiers a year for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holes in the force <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first priority of a bigger Army is filling existing holes in formations, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Army Times in September, before looking to create new commands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal is not just 100-percent manning, he said, but 105 percent, to create a cushion for soldiers who aren\u2019t able to deploy for any number of reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re increasing combat readiness by filling our operational units to 100 percent of authorized strength this year, in 2019, and 105 percent by the end of 2020,\u201d he told an audience at an Association of the United States Army event in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filling the gaps<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the announcement of the new, more conservative growth plan, leaders offered that there would be some internal shifts to fill holes in formations, notably by doing away with some headquarters staff jobs and Defense Health Agency positions and sending those personnel to operational units instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan has been going on for about the past year, Esper said, but does not involve plucking soldiers from one place and plopping them in a new one. It\u2019s happening by attrition, eliminating those positions as their currently assigned personnel rotate out, and sending what would have been their replacements to other units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would say it\u2019s been in the hundreds, and a good chunk of them have gone to Futures Command,\u201d Esper said, offering the headquarters jobs as a specific example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of those come from major commands, he added, or so-called initiatives groups assigned to general officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd we\u2019re getting rid of all of those, is what the plan is,\u201d he said, and maybe sending those two or three soldiers from each group to commands like the National Training Center, Joint Readiness Training Center or security force assistance brigades.<\/p>\n\n\n\t