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Grow the Army was a transformation and restationing initiative of the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
announced in 2007. The initiative was designed to grow the U.S. Army's force by almost 75,000 soldiers, while realigning a large portion of the force in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
, moving units located there to the
continental United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...
in compliance with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission suggestions.


Growth plans


Soldiers

The plan was announced in a United States Army press release on December 19, 2007.Army Announces Stationing Decisions
Maj. Thomas McCuin, United States Army. Retrieved 05-05-2017
It calls for a total force growth of 74,200 soldiers, expanding the
Active duty Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations, the equivalent term is active service. India The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be ...
army force by 65,000 soldiers, the
United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020, ...
by 1,000 soldiers, and the
Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...
by 8,200 soldiers.Army.mil Grow the Army Informational Page
United States Army. Retrieved 04-03-2008.
To support the growth, the Army simultaneously announced the restationing of 30,000 Soldiers in combat support and combat service support units throughout the United States as well as various overseas locations.


Units

The army announced that the total active duty force structure would grow by six
Infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...
brigade combat team The brigade combat team (BCT) is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the U.S. Army. A brigade combat team consists of one combat arms branch maneuver brigade, and its assigned support and fire units. A brigade is normally commanded by ...
s and eight support
brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...
s of various types. This would grow the force from 42 brigade combat teams and 75 modular support brigades in 2007 to 48 brigade combat teams and 83 modular support brigades by 2013. However on April 6, 2009, Defense Secretary Gates announced that the Army will stop the growth of Army brigade combat teams at 45 versus the initially planned 48.


Logistics

The plan called for US$66,400,000,000 in spending in construction between 2006 and 2013.Grow the Army Stationing Information Brief Page 2
United States Army. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
This construction comprised 743 projects, including 20 new Brigade complexes. One third of the entire Army was scheduled to be realigned during the Grow the Army and BRAC plans.


History

As part of the 2003–2008 restructuring plan, the Army moved from using division-sized formations to brigade-sized formations as the basic deployment formation. The 2007 army consisted of 42 brigades, forty of which were divided evenly amongst ten division-level commands, while two were independent. The six newly activated brigades will be designed as separate independent brigades, without division-level commands. The timeline of the Brigade Combat Team growths calls for the reflagging of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division as the independent 172nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in fiscal year 2008; this was accomplished during a reflagging ceremony on March 19 in
Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban a ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
.Dagger brigade Switched patch in Activation Ceremony
Kimberly Gearhart, United States Army. Retrieved 04-03-2008
The 2nd Brigade will subsequently be reformed at
Fort Riley, Kansas Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in G ...
. A similar event occurred in September 2010, when the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division in Baumholder, Germany, reflagged as the 170th Infantry Brigade. Meanwhile, the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division will be retained at Fort Carson,
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
in 2008, the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division will activate at
Fort Bliss Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss h ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
in 2009. Three new units were to be formed in 2011. These were to be the 5th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division at
Fort Stewart Fort Stewart is a United States Army post in the U.S. state of Georgia. It lies primarily in Liberty and Bryan counties, but also extends into smaller portions of Evans, Long and Tattnall counties. The population was 11,205 at the 2000 census. ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...
, the 5th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, and the 6th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss. However, Secretary Gates cancelled the activation of these three brigades in 2009.


Sequestration

In 2014 the Army initiated a plan to cut its force size by 100,000 troops down to 420,000 personnel due to the United States budget sequestration in 2013, effectively ending the Grow the Army initiative.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grow The Army United States Army projects