Gallego Statement on Army Restructuring at Fort Bliss

Press Release

The Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Ray Odierno announced force reductions across the Army over the next five years of 80,000 Active Component Soldiers. Congressman Pete Gallego released the following statement:

"Fort Bliss is one of the nation's most critical installations -- a fact of which the Army is well aware," said Congressman Pete Gallego. "Although we are never happy to see any loss at Ft. Bliss, the reductions here are far less than reductions throughout the rest of the Army. That's a credit to the men and women of Fort Bliss and a testament to how critical their mission is to our national security. Even after restructuring, Fort Bliss will have more than three times as many active Army as it had prior to 9/11. It's the premier post in the Army for combined arms maneuvers that prepare soldiers and units for combat; the base also knows how to take care of military families.

Given the strategic importance of Texas to our national defense, we will continue to fight for premier installations like Fort Bliss.

Restructuring also brings to the forefront a congressionally-manufactured crisis known as the sequester. Cuts required by the sequester are irresponsible and will only hurt our national defense. I urge Congress to repeal the sequester before even deeper cuts are made."

Background

These reductions stem from the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the Defense Planning Guidance issued in 2012.
The majority of positions within the Brigade Combat Team (BCT) will be placed in other BCTs at Fort Bliss. (Approximately 2,100 of the 3,500 in the inactivated BCT will be reinvested; however, the total net loss is approximately 750 positions owing to BCT growth, reorganization, and modifications to non-BCT formations.)
Fort Bliss will retain approximately 26,700 active Army personnel. Before 9/11, Fort Bliss had approximately 8,700 active Army personnel.
The reduction at Ft. Bliss is one-fifth of the general Army reductions (i.e., approximately 2.9% reduction at vs 14% overall Army reduction). However, because Fort Bliss' loss is proportionally less than the Army-wide loss, Fort Bliss Army Active Component will represent 5.45% of total Army Force after the cuts whereas it represented 4.82% of total Army Active Component in 2012.

Source