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U.S. Army Proposes to Cut Its Troop Numbers Below 1 Million

U.S. Army National Guard recruits at Middletown Armed Forces Reserve Center in Connecticut on June 20, 2020.

U.S. Army National Guard recruits at Middletown Armed Forces Reserve Center in Connecticut on June 20, 2020.

Photo: U.S. Army by Sgt. Matthew Lucibello/DVIDS
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The Army would fall below 1 million soldiers for the first time in two decades under a new budget proposal as leaders struggle with recruitment in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

The active-duty Army would drop from the 485,000 soldiers Congress authorized for this year to 473,000, a reduction of 12,000 people, as part of the service’s fiscal 2023 budget proposal. When combined with flat National Guard and Reserve forces, the service would have a total of 998,500 soldiers.