The U.S. Army is set to eliminate thousands of vacant positions as part of a comprehensive restructuring, according to an official document released on Tuesday. The move comes in response to the current recruiting crisis, which has left the Army short of personnel to fill these roles.
Following a year-long review of the Army’s force structure, officials identified a mismatch between the number and purpose of positions and the evolving security landscape. The restructuring will involve the elimination of 24,000 vacant positions, aiming to align the force structure with the available personnel, reduce strain, and enable more realistic planning.
The document acknowledges that the Army is currently “over-structured,” meaning there are insufficient soldiers to fill existing units and organizations. The changes are characterized as a “significant force structure transformation,” building on previous modernization and reorganization efforts. However, they also underscore the impact of the Army’s recruiting challenges, recognizing the world as becoming more dangerous.
The Army’s existing force structure assumes an active duty end strength of 494,000, but Congress capped it at 445,000 in the fiscal year 2024 defense policy bill due to recruiting difficulties. For two consecutive years, the Army has fallen short of its active duty recruiting objectives, achieving approximately 55,000 of its 65,000 troop goal in 2023.
As part of the reorganization, authorized end strength will be reduced to 470,000 soldiers, with a focus on eliminating positions that are currently unmanned. Some cuts will impact the Army’s Special Operations Forces, with around 3,000 authorizations potentially being eliminated, reflecting a shift from counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations to large-scale combat operations against sophisticated adversaries.
The Army aims to ensure that its formations are appropriately filled to maintain high readiness levels while concurrently transforming recruiting efforts to rebuild end strength. Additionally, the reorganization will involve building new formations, retiring Cold War-era weapons, and incorporating modernized systems to meet evolving security challenges. The document emphasizes the Army’s commitment to generating new capabilities and rebalancing its force structure in response to the changing security environment and the evolving nature of warfare.
