US army to cut brigades

KENTUCKY, FORT CAMPBELL (AP):

Fort Campbell and Fort Knox, both in Kentucky, are each going to lose an active duty combat brigade under a restructuring plan announced by the United States (US) Army. The brigades that will be eliminated by 2017 are the 4th Brigade Combat Team; 101st Airborne Division, which is currently deployed to Afghanistan, based at Fort Campbell; and the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, which is Fort Knox's only combat brigade.

Fort Campbell sits on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. Robert Jenkins, a Fort Campbell spokesman, said yesterday that the community should not necessarily expect a mass exodus of troops because the soldiers in the deactivated brigades would be transferred to other units.

The US Army also announced plans to eliminate one of three combat brigades at northern New York's Fort Drum.

The cuts are part of a massive restructuring to slash the number of active-duty combat brigades from 45 to 33, and cut the overall size of the Army by 80,000 over several years.

The cuts will take place over the next four years. A brigade is about 3,500 soldiers, but the head of the regional liaison organisation said additions to the other two brigades will reduce the overall cut to about 1,500.

A brigade is usually about 3,500 soldiers.