A proposed 2013 federal budget plan could set the Defense Department on a path to save $259 billion over the next five years by reducing manpower in the Army and Marine Corps. But the plan is not expected to cause an increase in the use of the Army and Air National Guards, a military analyst said/.../
Mobilization increases for the Army National Guard and Reserves won't continue as a trend, Todd Harrison, senior defense budget analyst for Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said.
About 75,000 Guardsmen and Reservists are currently on active duty, the Defense Department said.
"Now that troops are coming back, reliance on Army Guardsmen and Reserve will drop significantly - at one point in time we had close to 250,000 ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, we have less thatn 100,000 troops in Afghanistan and no troops in Iraq," Harrison said.
Cuts outlined for the U.S. military budget means a loss of eight brigade combat teams, Harrison said. The 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, of which the soldiers at the Duncansville Readiness Center are a part, is the only Reserve or Guard combat team in the U.S. military.
The budget preview seems to align with strategic guidelines that focus military to Asian-Pacific regions, Harrison said.
"It hasn't become part of public debate, but it is happening and driving decisions with the budget," he said.
"Our focus is more on Asia. North Korea is a problem, and China's power and influence is rising. Our presence there would be designed to reassure our allies in that region that we can defend them against China. We would also be sending a message to the Chinese."
While Army Guard mobilization is expected to drop, that may not be the case for the Air Guard because an Asian-Pacific presence would consist of air and sea forces, Harrison said.
"The United States has no need for a ground operation and would never have enough forces for one," he said.
By decreasing ground troops, Pentagon leaders are making an assumption that they won't call on the military for two major protracted ground operations such as Iraq and Afghanistan in the near future, Harrison said.
"Now that we are out of Iraq and getting out of Afghanistan, I don't think the country has the stomach to do that anymore," he said.