Sequestration: Army warns that cutting another 100,000 troops puts into question our ability to respond to large scale contingencies

Senior Army officials warned Tuesday they may have to cut more than 100,000 additional soldiers over the next decade unless automatic spending reductions forcing the military services to slash their budgets are stopped. 

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Army Secretary John McHugh said the losses would undermine the service’s ability to be prepared for wartime missions. “Today we find our Army at a dangerous crossroads,” McHugh said.

The Army has already planned to trim its ranks from a wartime footing of 570,000 soldiers to 490,000 due to previously planned budget reductions approved by Congress in 2011, according to McHugh said. But if the automatic cuts, known as sequestration, are extended into future years, tens of thousands more soldiers, including members of the Army National Guard and Reserve, will have to be let go due to a lack of money, he said. 

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Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff added, “If we cut another 100,000 out, we put into question our ability to respond to large scale contingencies,”

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