Fort Eustis, Va. – The U.S. Army announced Thursday their force structure decisions and stationing plans for the reduction of the regular Army from 490,000 to 450,000 soldiers.
As part of the reductions, Fort Eustis will only see a reduction of 94 soldiers, according to Senator Tim Kaine’s office. These cuts will start in October.
These reductions include inactivating an engineer diving team and transportation detachment, reducing military and civilian positions at U.S. Army training and Doctrine Command, reducing civilian positions at 93rd Signal Brigade and converting civilian positions to military positions at TRA-DOC’s combined field operating agency.
250 soldiers will be cut from Ft. Belvoir and another 127 will be cut from Ft. Lee.
The reductions, which will also include 17,000 civilian employees to be cut from the payroll, are part of a longstanding plan that has been publicly discussed since last year.
Congress has been regularly briefed on the plan, but there has been discussion inside the Pentagon leadership that the cuts could grow even deeper if there are additional mandatory budget reductions from Congress.
“People are our most valuable resource said U.S. Army Col. William Galbraith, 733rd Mission Support Group commander. “While 94 cuts are minimal in the big picture, these people are still an integral part of Joint Base Langley-Eustis family and have made valuable contributions to the mission here.”
Officials expect to make this reduction over the next two years. The end strength cuts of 40,000 is expected to be completed by 2018.
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