The Department of the Army announced today the locations for the active component modular brigade combat teams. The modular design and their stationing are both critical to ensure the Army is properly postured to maintain the high degree of readiness needed to meet its strategic commitments, including ongoing operations globally in the war on terror.
Todays announcement provided additional detail to decisions that were factored in to the Defense Department base realignment and closure recommendations revealed in May 2005. The decisions implementing the Defense Departments Integrated Global Presence and Basing Strategy (IGPBS) recommendations allow the Army to return up to 50,000 soldiers from overseas locations by the end of the decade.
This stationing of brigade combat teams (BCTs) allows the Army to continue its transformation to a campaign-quality force with joint and expeditionary capabilities that meet the future demands of the combatant commanders. The secretary of defense approved an increase in the number of active modular BCTs from 33 to 43 on Jan. 30, 2004.
The Army Modular Force Initiative is the Armys most important transformational initiative for a reason; it involves the total redesign of the Operational Army into a standardized, stand alone, larger, more powerful, more flexible and more rapidly deployable force that will enable the Army to change the way it fights and the way it operates, said Francis J. Harvey, secretary of the Army.
Two key recommendations of the global force presence realignment decisions include the return of the 1st Infantry Division (1ID) to Fort Riley, Kan., and the relocation of the 1st Armored Division to Fort Bliss, Texas. The 1ID will return in fiscal 2006 and the timing for the return of the 1AD is under review.
The Army selected locations for modular brigade combat teams based on existing and potential capacities, available training space, and current locations of similar and supporting units. The Army preserves its historic heraldry and lineage in this design. While the modular brigade combat teams follow historic division and brigade unit naming conventions, these units are of a completely different design than their predecessors. The essence of this transformational design is a new force that can be deployed singularly or in groups ready for employment in a variety of designs as self-contained modules over a dispersed area.
The Army modular force initiative involves the total redesign of the operational Army into a larger - more powerful - more flexible and more rapidly deployable force and moves us away from a division-centric structure to one built around the Armys new modular combat team.
The Army is committed to minimizing the turbulence for soldiers and families. Providing for our soldiers and their families throughout this process remains foremost in our planning, Harvey said.
Active Brigade Combat Teams Posture:
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Fort Benning, Ga. 1 Brigade Combat Team
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Fort Bliss, Texas 4 Brigade Combat Teams
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Fort Bragg, N.C, 4 Brigade Combat Teams
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Fort Campbell, KY 4 Brigade Combat Teams
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Fort Carson, Colo. 4 Brigade Combat Teams
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Fort Drum, N.Y. 3 Brigade Combat Teams
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Fort Hood, Texas 5 Brigade Combat Teams
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Fort Knox, Ky. 1 Brigade Combat Team
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Fort Lewis, Wash. 3 Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (Stryker)
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Fort Polk, La. 1 Brigade Combat Team
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Fort Richardson, Alaska 1 Brigade Combat Team
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Fort Riley, Kan. 3 Brigade Combat Teams
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Fort Stewart, Ga. 3 Brigade Combat Teams
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Fort Wainwright, Alaska 1 Stryker Brigade Combat Team
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Schofield Barracks, Hawaii 1 Brigade Combat Team, 1 Stryker Brigade Combat Team
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Korea 1 Brigade Combat Team
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Germany 1 Stryker Brigade Combat Team
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Italy 1 Brigade Combat Team
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Fort Irwin, Calif. (NTC 1 Brigade Combat
Team (-))
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Web link at http://www.army.mil/ . For more information, contact Maj. Desiree Wineland or Nancy Ray at (703) 697-7592 or (703) 697-7591 or e-mail: nancy.ray@hqda.army.mil
