The US Army is to add 28,000 soldiers to its ranks by the end of September.
The Department of the Army has announced the troops increase as directed by the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2017.
Major General for Military Personnel Management, Jason Evans said: “The Army is hiring. The added end strength will allow the Army to increase manning in its tactical units, enhancing overall readiness.
“The increased manning also provides additional promotion opportunities and retention incentives for our existing Soldiers and more opportunities for those who are fit, resilient and possess character who want to join the Army.”
Across the force, the active component end-strength authorization increased by 16,000 to 476,000; the Army National Guard increased by 8,000 to 343,000, and the Army Reserve increased by 4,000 to 199,000. This 28,000 increase means the total Army will number 1,018,000 Soldiers.
The recruitment push will focus on bringing quality recruits into the forces, with soldiers that are resilient, fit and have leadership qualities. In order to meet the recruitment targets, the Army will use a variety of tools including enlisted accessions, recruitment, training, and retention along with officer accessions and retention.
With respect to officers, the Army will create additional accession and retention opportunities to increase officer strength by 1,000, and will continue to leverage internal controls to increase retention of quality officers.
Gen Major Evans said that increased numbers will enable the US Army to better meet the challenges of an ever-uncertain security environment:
“We see a strong Army as a key factor in maintaining the security of the nation,” he said.
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