Gates to expand US army

Tuesday, 21 July 2009 13:14 Press TV
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U.S., July 21 (Press TV) As the US feels the strain on its armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, the country's defense secretary talks of plans to expand the Army by 22,000 soldiers.
Speaking at a Pentagon news conference with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that the military has reached a point where "its ability to continue to deploy combat units at acceptable fill rates is at risk."
Gates argued that the goal of the increase is to ease the strain of deployment, as many troops have faced repeated lengthy rotations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"This is an important and necessary step to ensure that we continue to properly support the needs of commanders in the field, while providing relief for our current force and their families," Gates explained.
The defense secretary said the increase will last three fiscal years, expanding US troop levels from the current 547,000 to a maximum of 569,000.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a 30,000 increase in the number of US soldiers could add between $2 billion and $4 billion a year in costs.
This is while previous reports indicate that the US House of Representatives and Senate committees have passed bills that would funnel more money into the department in charge of foreign policy.
Under the bills, the State Department will receive about 25% more from what was spent in 2008 and nearly double the amount in 2005.
Meanwhile US President Barack Obama's 2010 defense budget seeks to "rebalance military spending," giving greater weight to funding irregular warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Under the new plans, the Pentagon may be forced to cut traditional weapons spending, and expand resources to protect ground troops and computer networks.

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