{"id":59950,"date":"2017-11-08T16:12:21","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T16:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/11\/08\/acting-secretary-army-needs-to-get-bigger-or-do-less\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:03:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:03:02","slug":"acting-secretary-army-needs-to-get-bigger-or-do-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2017\/11\/08\/acting-secretary-army-needs-to-get-bigger-or-do-less\/","title":{"rendered":"Acting secretary: Army needs to get bigger or do less"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At any given time, the Army has about 180,000 troops deployed to over 140 countries, acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when asked about the possibility of another round of base realignments and closures, before an audience at AUSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, the Army\u2019s top civilian conceded that the service probably has more physical space than it needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo we have excess capacity? Absolutely,\u201d he said. \u201cHow much? That\u2019s debatable. Should we revisit it? I think we should.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a minimum, he added, the Army should do an analysis to see where it can cut some weight. But the bigger question, he said, is whether the Army\u2019s going to need that capacity for a build-up of troops, which will be necessary if their work load continues as it has been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo we have to do everything that we are doing in the world? I posed the question internally,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have thousands of personnel deployed in over 140 countries. So that\u2019s why the national defense strategy is so critical. This is why I don\u2019t travel very much, because I want to be in every one of these meetings, weighing in about the stress on the Army.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent trends have seen the Army growing in size to meet that demand, rather than pulling back on responsibilities. The service added 28,000 soldiers to the total force this year, and is asking Congress for another 17,000 next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\t