11.30.16

Sullivan Works to Reverse Obama’s Army Drawdown; Future of Alaska’s 4-25 Looks Promising

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today signed the Conference Report to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This bill includes increased funding authorization to increase force structure for all four services. The NDAA authorizes an additional 16,000 U.S. Army soldiers, halting and reversing an ongoing drawdown of Army forces by the Obama administration. This drawdown included the 4-25 Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) Airborne (ABN) at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), Alaska.

“Since the Army’s announcement a year and a half ago, I have fought day in and day out against an ill-advised reduction of Army forces in Alaska and for an increase in overall Army force structure,” said Senator Sullivan. “We are a nation at war, we have troops in combat, and we have more complex and diverse threats today than at any point since the end of World War II. We need a larger military – Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines Corps – and I have fought as a member of the Armed Services Committee to give our nation’s uniformed leaders the manpower and resources they need to protect our great nation.

“This year’s Defense Authorization finally halts – and even begins to reverse – a harmful trend of the last eight years by increasing the force structure for all four services. With a new authorized force level of 476,000 and President-elect Trump’s pledge to further increase the size of the U.S. Army, I am optimistic that we have finally relieved the pressure that drove the Army to its decision to dramatically reduce the 4-25. After getting assurances from U.S. Army leadership that they would halt the reduction of the 4-25, I am now more hopeful than ever that we are on the right path for the United States Army and the right path to ensure that all of the soldiers of the 4-25 stay where they belong and where they are needed most – in Alaska.

“Lastly, I want to thank Senator Murkowski and Congressman Young, and the countless Alaskans throughout the state who continue to make the case that Alaska is the most strategic place in the world, has the nation’s best training areas, and has the country’s warmest and friendliest military communities.”

BACKGROUND:

By the end of FY 2017, the United States Army was on a path to drawdown to 460,000 soldiers. This reduction, part of multi-phased drawdown from 490K to 475K and then from 475,000 to 450,000, was the key driver behind the U.S. Army’s decision to convert the 4-25 IBCT (ABN) from a full brigade to a battalion task force, removing 2,600 soldiers form JBER. The Conference Report to the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization authorizes an additional $719 million to fully resource an Active Duty Army Force Structure of 476,000.  This force level is 16,000 more soldiers than the previously authorized level of 460,000, and 6,000 more soldiers more than the Army’s current force level of 470,000.

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