WASHINGTON, D.C., OCT. 9, 2007 – The senior leadership of the active Army and Army National Guard used the Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting as the forum to sign a memorandum of understanding to rebalance force structure and resources.
Under the agreement, The Army National Guard will retain 17 tactical combat formations and four field artillery units at a cost of $4.8 billion over the next five years. The money will be coming from the current budget and is programmed for future budgets. Some of the money will be coming from supplemental appropriations.
The Army National Guard is to grow to 358,200 soldiers by Fiscal Year 2013; almost 321,000 of those soldiers will be in the operational force. At the same time, the guard will create a special account for soldiers who are in transit or in school.
The memorandum is to be reviewed through FY 2013.
Speaking before the ceremony, Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, director of the Army National Guard, said, “What a great day for all of us. …As an Army we have come a long way.”
In explaining the changes, he said, “We don’t need to grow a lot of force structure. We’ve got to fully man, train and equip our organization.” Adding, the agreement recognizes “The equipment is out there for this; the money is out there for this.”
Vaughn said that the new “Active First” recruiting campaign, where a potential solider would serve 30 months in the active force and finish his or her obligation in the Army National Guard or Army Reserve, would be a great help in growing all three components.
He said that the discussion that led up to the signing could be a model for the future. “This is the way we need to go in [solving] some of the hard things.”
POC:
John Grady
Director of Communications
Association of the United States Army
(703)-907-2613
jgrady@ausa.org