New York Times : President Approves Realignment of the Army

President Approves Realignment of the Army

By THOM SHANKER | December 20, 2007

WASHINGTON — President Bush has approved what officials are describing as the most significant realignment of the Army since World War II, signing off on a plan that will keep more troops than previously envisioned in Europe and add large numbers of soldiers to bases in Colorado, Georgia and Texas, Army officials said Wednesday.

The basing plan is the final step in a detailed program for deciding where a larger Army will live and train in the years ahead, as it grows by 65,000 active-duty soldiers. It significantly changes the military’s footprint from before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and alters a global basing plan adopted with great fanfare by the Pentagon in 2004.

The revised plan freezes previous orders for rapidly reducing Army forces in Europe by two heavy brigades scheduled to come home from Germany at least two years sooner than under the new program. Now, one brigade will remain in Germany until 2012 and the other until 2013.

Even after the return of those two brigades to the United States, two brigades will remain in Europe, one in Germany and one in Italy, along with a large contingent of service and support personnel. Altogether, the Army will maintain more than 37,000 troops on the continent.

The commitment to keep about 10,000 extra troops in Europe above the level of previous plans was advocated as necessary to sustain training and other exercises with foreign militaries, and as a hedge against risks to American security.

The full basing plan for the United States, Europe and South Korea was presented to Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in the Oval Office on Monday by Gen. Richard Cody, the Army vice chief of staff, and Pete Geren, the Army secretary. It was driven by the president’s approval to expand the Army by 74,000, including the Reserves, to meet the needs in Iraq and Afghanistan and to prepare for future threats.

Army and Pentagon officials involved in the plan made no secret that some members of Congress had weighed in heavily to secure additional forces in their states, and to assure that the plan to hold off for several years the return of two brigades from Germany would not diminish the eventual level of forces to be based in their areas.

Fort Carson, Colo.; Fort Stewart, Ga.; and Fort Bliss, Tex., will each receive two additional combat brigades. Additional support brigades will be based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, Tex.; Fort Lewis, Wash.; and Fort Polk, La.

“The Army is undergoing the largest transformational change since 1942,” General Cody said, as a full one-third of the Army will be based at different stations by 2011.

The active-duty Army end-strength is scheduled to reach 547,000 by then, as the Army’s fighting force will grow to 48 brigade combat teams from 33 in 2003.

New construction for housing, headquarters and motor pools — as well as health care and child care centers — will top $66.4 billion by 2013, General Cody said, emphasizing that the Army was paying special attention to quality-of-life issues for the all-volunteer force. He said that under the new plan, combat brigades would live alongside and train with the support, sustainment and intelligence units with which they would go to war.

One compelling argument for keeping more troops in Germany longer than previously planned is that their new housing was not yet ready at bases in the United States. Therefore, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates decided on holding troops and families in Europe until they could move directly into their final residences.

“It would have cost millions of additional dollars to build temporary housing to get those two brigades back as originally scheduled,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.