To accommodate the anticipated strength increase of 74,200 by 2010, the Army revealed its plan Dec. 19 to station new active, Guard and reserve units at larger posts across the country. The move would affect 380,000 soldiers and their families, and require $66 billion to build 20 brigade complexes, 69,000 barracks spaces, 4,100 family housing units and 66 child development centers through 2013. Under the plan:
* Fort Carson, Colo., Fort Stewart, Ga., and Fort Bliss, Texas, will each gain two infantry combat brigade teams;
* Fort Hood, Texas, will gain an air defense artillery brigade; Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, will gain a military police brigade;
* Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., will gain a maneuver enhancement brigade;
Fort Bliss, Wash., will gain a fires brigade; Fort Lewis, Wash., will gain an expeditionary sustainment command, and;
* Fort Polk, La., will gain a battlefield surveillance brigade;
* Fort Drum, N.Y., and Fort Richardson, Alaska, would gain maneuver enhancement brigades, once environmental analyses at each post are complete;
* Two extended brigades would relocate from Germany to Fort Bliss and White Sands Missile Range, N.M., and;
* Two heavy brigade teams would remain in Germany.
The Army’s new plan for stationing its growing number of troops will affect 380,000 soldiers and family members and cost more than $66 billion in construction projects through 2013.
Announced Dec. 19, the plan is the largest Army transformation since World War II, and moves the force toward a "modular," or brigade-centric, posture. The Army’s vice chief of staff told reporters at the Pentagon today that the design represents a holistic improvement across the entire service branch.
"We’re changing the footprint of our Army to a make it more agile, more expeditionary, but also to place our formations and our family members in post camps and stations that have a higher quality of life, have a higher quality of training ranges," Army Gen. Richard A. Cody said.
Plans will be implemented as the force expands its active duty Army, Army Guard and Army Reserve by 74,200 soldiers by 2010. In accordance with a 2005 base realignment and closure analysis, the plan:
— Stations two infantry brigade combat teams each to Fort Carson, Colo.; Fort Stewart, Ga.; and Fort Bliss, Texas.
— Stations eight support brigades across the country, including an air defense artillery brigade at Fort Hood, Texas; a military police brigade at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; a maneuver enhancement brigade at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo; a fires brigade at Fort Bliss; an expeditionary sustainment command at Fort Lewis, Wash.; and a battlefield surveillance brigade at Fort Polk, La. A maneuver enhancement brigade will be restationed to Fort Drum, N.Y., and Fort Richardson, Alaska, pending completion of an environmental analysis.
— Retains two heavy brigade combat teams in Germany for two years. The two extended brigades tentatively will relocate in fiscal 2012 and 2013 to Fort Bliss, and White Sands Missile Range, N.M., respectively.
