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Jeff LPH 3 sends in more good news coming out of the Brandon Administration. From Army Times<\/a>;<\/p>\n Amid a major land war in Europe, the Biden administration\u2019s fiscal 2023 budget request would temporarily shrink the active duty Army to 473,000 troops if enacted by Congress.<\/p>\n That could leave the service at its smallest size since 1940, when it had just over 269,000 troops. Other historical lows include an authorized 476,000 in fiscal 2017 and nearly 478,000 in fiscal 1999 at the nadir of the post-Cold War drawdown.<\/p>\n The administration\u2019s proposed budget would:<\/p>\n Army officials who briefed reporters on the budget request claimed they \u201cproactively made the decision to temporarily reduce our end-strength\u201d due to struggles recruiting quality soldiers. The service has also requested to reduce its end-strength target for fiscal 2022 to 476,000. The plan is to regrow the active force back to 485,000 troops across the five-year budget plan, though it\u2019s not clear when that will occur.<\/p>\n \u201cThe genesis of [the cut] was really recognizing that as we look ahead to recruiting projections…we weren\u2019t going to be able to get where we needed to be in [fiscal 2022 and 2023] without making some decisions about changing our standards,\u201d said Army Under Secretary Gabe Camarillo.<\/p>\n Camarillo added that \u201cthis is not a budget-driven decision \u2014 it is entirely about quality, and we will look to build back up our end strength.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed to \u201ca tight labor market\u201d as one of the reasons behind the Army\u2019s recruiting struggles, though the Army is \u201clooking…at our recruiting approaches to see what changes we need to, or what we can, make to adapt to the current recruiting environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Army Recruiting Command, or USAREC, is implementing significant updates to its recruiting strategy, though it\u2019s not yet clear whether the efforts will succeed. Their \u201cmission modernization\u201d push has also coincided with the labor squeeze and more stringent medical and prescription history screenings for applicants.<\/p>\n The service has also loosened short-term enlistment options in an effort to bring in more troops. But that seemingly did not prove enough for the Army to meet its end strength goals.<\/p>\n Camarillo did not directly answer a question about whether the Army will bring back voluntary separation or early retirement authorities to facilitate the end strength cuts.<\/p>\n Camarillo only added, \u201chow we take the cuts and where we absorb the cuts is still something that we\u2019re looking at.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile, Old Joe clarified his comments from over the weekend in which he threatened Putin with regime change and chemical warfare. That’s not what he said, you’re interpreting his words wrong<\/a>.<\/p>\n Biden was asked about his other two comments that required clarification from the White House, including a comment to American troops about what they would see when they got to Ukraine and his comment about regime change in Russia.<\/p>\n \u201cNone of the three occurred, you interpreted the language that way,\u201d he complained.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n