Reorganization plan of United States Army


The reorganization plan of the United States Army was implemented from 2006 to 2016 under the direction of the Brigade Modernization Command.
This effort formally began in 2006 when General Peter Schoomaker was given the support to move the Army from its Cold War divisional orientation to a full-spectrum capability with fully manned, equipped and trained brigades; this effort was completed by the end of 2016. It has been the most comprehensive reorganization since World War II and included modular [|combat brigades], [|support brigades], and [|command headquarters], as well as rebalancing the active and reserve components.
The plan was first proposed in 1999 by Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki but was bitterly opposed internally by the Army.

Origin and initial design

Before Schoomaker's appointment, the Army was organized around large, mostly mechanized, divisions of around 15,000 soldiers each, with the aim of being able to fight in two major theatres simultaneously. Under the new plan, the Army would be organized around modular brigades of 3,000–4,000 soldiers, intended to deploy continuously in different parts of the world and to organize the Army closer to the way it fights.
An additional 30,000 soldiers were recruited as a short-term measure to ease the structural changes, although a permanent end-strength change was not expected because of fears of funding cuts. This forced the Army to pay for the additional personnel from procurement and readiness accounts. Up to 60% of the defense budget is spent on personnel; at the time, each 10,000 soldiers cost roughly US$1.4 billion annually.
In 2002, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs held a key conference: the "Belfer Center Conference on Military Transformation". Co-sponsored by the United States Army War College and the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Security Series, on November 22 and 23, it brought together present and former defense officials and military commanders to assess the Department of Defense's progress in achieving a "transformation" of U.S. military capabilities.
In 2004, the United States Army Forces Command, which commands most active and reserve forces based in the Continental United States, was tasked with supervising the modular transformation of its subordinate structure.
In March 2004, a contract was awarded to Anteon Corporation to provide "Modularity Coordination Cells" to each transforming corps, division and brigade within FORSCOM. Each MCC contained a team of functional area specialists who provided direct, ground-level support to the unit. The MCCs were coordinated by the Anteon office in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 2007 a new deployment scheme known as Grow the Army was adopted that enabled the Army to carry out continuous operations.
The plan was modified several times including an expansion of troop numbers in 2007 and changes to the number of modular brigades.
On 25 June 2013, plans were announced to disband 13 modular brigade combat teams and expand the remaining brigades with an extra maneuver battalion, extra fires batteries, and an engineer battalion.
In 2009 an "ongoing campaign of learning" was the capstone concept for force commanders, meant to carry the Army from 2016 to 2028.

History of "Army Force Generation" (ARFORGEN)

The Secretary of the Army approved implementing "Army Force Generation", a transformational force generation model, in 2006.
ARFORGEN model concept development began in the summer of 2004 and received its final approval from the Army's senior leadership in early 2006.
FORSCOM, Department of the Army AR 525-29
In 2016 the Army force generation process ARFORGEN was sidelined because it relied mostly on the Active Army, in favor of the total force policy, which includes the Reserve and National Guard; in the new model, the total force could have fallen to 980,000 by 2018, subject to DoD's Defense Strategic Guidance to the Joint Staff. By 15 June 2017, the Department of the Army approved an increase in the Active Army's end-strength from 475,000 to 476,000. The total Army end-strength increases to 1.018 million.

Planning process, evolution, and transformation

The commander-in-chief directs the planning process, through guidance to the Army by the Secretary of Defense. Every year, Army Posture Statements by the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff of the Army summarize their assessment of the Army's ability to respond to world events, and also to transform for the future. In support of transformation for the future, TRADOC, upon the advice of the Army's stakeholders, has assembled 20 warfighting challenges. These challenges are under evaluation during annual Army warfighting assessments, such as AWA 17.1, held in October 2016. AWA 17.1 was an assessment by 5,000 US Soldiers, Special Operations Forces, Airmen, and Marines, as well as by British, Australian, Canadian, Danish, and Italian troops. For example, "reach-back" is among the capabilities being assessed; when under attack in an unexpected location, a Soldier on the move might use Warfighter Information Network-Tactical. At the halt, a light Transportable Tactical Command Communications system could reach back to a mobile command post, to communicate the unexpected situation to higher echelons,
a building block in [|multi-domain operations].

Implementation and current status

was a transformation and re-stationing initiative of the United States Army which began in 2007 and was scheduled to be completed by fiscal year 2013. The initiative was designed to grow the army by almost 75,000 soldiers, while realigning a large portion of the force in Europe to the continental United States in compliance with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure suggestions. This grew the force from 42 Brigade Combat Teams and 75 [|modular support brigades] in 2007 to 45 Brigade Combat Teams and 83 modular support brigades by 2013.
On 25 June 2013, 38th Army Chief of Staff General Raymond T. Odierno announced plans to disband 13 brigade combat teams and reduce troop strengths by 80,000 soldiers. While the number of [|BCTs] will be reduced, the size of remaining BCTs will increase, on average, to about 4,500 soldiers. That will be accomplished, in many cases, by moving existing battalions and other assets from existing BCTs into other brigades. Two brigade combat teams in Germany had already been deactivated and a further 10 brigade combat teams slated for deactivation were announced by General Odierno on 25 June. At the same time the maneuver battalions from the disbanded brigades will be used to augment armored and infantry brigade combat teams with a third maneuver battalion and expanded brigades fires capabilities by adding a third battery to the existing fires battalions. Furthermore, all brigade combat teams—armored, infantry and Stryker—will gain a Brigade Engineer Battalion, with "gap-crossing" and route-clearance capability.
On 6 November 2014, it was reported that the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, currently stationed in South Korea, was to be deactivated in June 2015 and be replaced by a succession of U.S.-based brigade combat teams, which are to be rotated in and out, at the same nine-month tempo as practiced by the Army from 2001 to 2014.
Eleven brigades were inactivated by 2015. The remaining brigades as of 2015 are listed [|below]. On 16 March 2016, the Deputy Commanding General of FORSCOM announced that the brigades would now also train to move their equipment to their new surge location as well as to train for the requirements of their next deployment.
By 2018, Secretary of the Army Mark Esper noted that even though the large deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan had ceased, at any given time, three of the Armored Brigade Combat Teams are deployed to EUCOM, CENTCOM, and INDOPACOM, respectively, while two Infantry Brigade Combat Teams are deployed to Iraq, and Afghanistan, respectively.
In 2019 Esper asserted that the planning efforts, including Futures Command, the SFABs, and the Decisive Action [|readiness training] of the BCTs are preparing the Army for [|competition] with both near-peer and regional powers. The Army and Marine Corps have issued "clear explanations and guidance for the 429 articles of the Geneva Conventions".
The Budget Control Act could potentially restrict funds by 2020. By 2024–2025, the Fiscal Year Development Plan will have reallocated $10 billion more into development of the top six modernization priorities, taking those funds from legacy spending budgets.

Reorganization plans by unit type

The Army has now been organized around modular brigades of 3,000–4,000 soldiers each, with the aim of being able to deploy continuously in different parts of the world, and effectively organizing the Army closer to the way it fights. The fact that this modernization is now in place has been acknowledged by the renaming of the 'Brigade Modernization Command' to the "U.S. Army Joint Modernization Command," on 16 February 2017.
By 2021 the Army of 2030 was envisioned to consist of Brigades for the close fight, Divisions for Large scale combat operations, Corps for enduring, sustained operations, and Theater-scale commands. ''See Transformation of the United States Army''

Modular combat brigades

Modular combat brigades are self-contained combined arms formations. They are standardized formations across the active and reserve components, meaning an Armored BCT at Fort Cavazos is the same as one at Fort Stewart.
Reconnaissance plays a large role in the new organizational designs. The Army felt the acquisition of the target was the weak link in the chain of finding, fixing, closing with, and destroying the enemy. The Army felt that it had already sufficient lethal platforms to take out the enemy and thus the number of reconnaissance units in each brigade was increased. The brigades sometimes depend on joint fires from the Air Force and Navy to accomplish their mission. As a result, the amount of field artillery has been reduced in the brigade design.
The three types of BCTs are Armored Brigade Combat Teams, Infantry Brigade Combat Teams , and Stryker Brigade Combat Teams.
Armored Brigade Combat Teams, or ABCTs consist of 4,743 troops. This includes the third maneuver battalion as laid out in 2013. The changes announced by the U.S. army on 25 June 2013, include adding a third maneuver battalion to the brigade, a second engineer company to a new Brigade Engineer Battalion, a third battery to the FA battalion, and reducing the size of each battery from 8 to 6 guns. These changes will also increase the number of troops in the affected battalions and also increase the total troops in the brigade. Since the brigade has more organic units, the command structure includes a deputy commander and a larger staff capable of working with civil affairs, special operations, psychological operations, air defense, and aviation units. An Armored BCT consists of:
  • the brigade headquarters and headquarters company : 43 officers, 17 warrant officers, 125 enlisted personnel – total: 185 soldiers.
  • the Brigade Engineer Battalion , consisted of a headquarters company, signal company, military intelligence company with a TUAV platoon and two combat engineer companies. The former BSTB fielded 28 officers, 6 warrant officers, 470 enlisted personnel – total: 504 soldiers. Each of the combat engineer company fields 13× M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle Operation Desert Storm-Engineer, 1× M113A3 Armored Personnel Carrier, 3× M1150 assault breacher vehicle, 1× M9 armored combat earthmover, and 2× M104 heavy assault bridge.
  • a Cavalry Squadron, consisting of a headquarters troop and three reconnaissance troops and one armored troop. The HHT fields 2× M3A3 cavalry fighting vehicles and 3× M7A3 Bradley fire support vehicles, while each reconnaissance troop fields 7× M3A3 CFVs. The squadron fields 35 officers and 385 enlisted personnel – total: 424 soldiers.
  • three identical combined arms battalions, flagged as a battalion of an infantry, armored or cavalry regiment. Each battalion consists of a headquarters and headquarters company, two tank companies and two mechanized infantry companies. The battalions field 48 officers and 580 enlisted personnel each – total: 628 soldiers. The HHC fields 1× M1A2 main battle tank, 1× M2A3 infantry fighting vehicle, 3× M3A3 cavalry fighting vehicles, 4× M7A3 fire support vehicles and 4× M1064 mortar carriers with M120 120 mm mortars. Each of the two tank companies fields 14× M1A2 main battle tanks, while each mechanized infantry company fields 14× M2A3 infantry fighting vehicles. In 2016, the ABCT's combined arms battalions adopted a triangle structure, of two armored battalions plus a mechanized infantry battalion. This resulted in the reduction of two mechanized infantry companies; the deleted armored company was reflagged as a troop to the Cavalry Squadron.
  • a Field Artillery battalion, consisting of a headquarters battery, two cannon batteries with 8× M109A6 self-propelled 155 mm howitzers each, and a target acquisition platoon. 24 officers, 2 warrant officers, 296 enlisted personnel – total: 322 soldiers.
  • a brigade support battalion, consisting of a headquarters, medical, distribution and maintenance company, plus six forward support companies, each of which support one of the three combined arms battalions, the cavalry squadron, the engineer battalion and the field artillery battalion. 61 officers, 14 warrant officers, 1,019 enlisted personnel – total: 1,094 soldiers.
Infantry Brigade Combat Team, or IBCTs, comprised around 3,300 soldiers, in the pre-2013 design, which did not include the 3rd maneuver battalion. The 2013 end-strength is now 4,413 Soldiers:
As of May 2025, all IBCTs will covert to Mobile Brigade Combat Teams, equipped with the M1301 infantry squad vehicle to enhance mobility.
Stryker Brigade Combat Team or SBCTs comprised about 3,900 soldiers, making it the largest of the three combat brigade constructs in the 2006 design, and over 4,500 Soldiers in the 2013 reform.
Its design includes:
  • Headquarters Company
  • Cavalry Squadron
  • Stryker infantry battalions
  • Engineer Company
  • Signal Company
  • Military Intelligence Company
  • Anti-tank company
  • Field Artillery Battalion
  • Brigade Support Battalion