Army to Cut Up To 24,000

In bad times there are a few fields that are generally considered to be more stable then the rest, fields where hopefully you can lay low during a recession and still find yourself in a job at the end of it. Generally speaking service in the armed forces is one of those safe places, at least from a long-term employment point of view.

Well it looks like that logic may be going out the window for up to 24,000 soldiers and 5,000 officers in the next couple of months. According to information release by a Pentagon official the Army will be reducing its force in the next couple of months, as the conflicts that have kept soldiers overseas are winding down to a trickle.

In a meeting with the Senate Armed Services Committee Thomas Lamont, an assistant secretary of the Army, said the following,” I hate to throw out numbers, but I have seen numbers that would approach enlisted category perhaps as high as mid-20s, 23, 24,000. On the officer contingent, again these are very rough numbers and all based again on assumptions and attrition rates, officers may go up” These statements were originally reported by a reporter for CBS News.

If these cuts go through the Army would be in good company. Both the Navy and the Marines have already announced plans to get rid of jobs. For those of you who missed out on our earlier coverage of cuts to the US Navy here is an excerpt that will get you up to speed:

“Skipping on all of the obvious Village People jokes, most people who were in the navy thought that they were secure in their jobs and it turns out that they were not. Ever since last June about 16,000, primarily those in the middle of their careers, have been waiting to see if they were going to get the pink slip. For a few months it all seemed to be hanging in the air, maybe they would be out and maybe they would be in, but now the ax has fallen and it is coming in two rounds.

The first wave and the second wave will not be far apart. The second wave of lay-offs is expected to be announced near the end of this month, so, as you can imagine there are a lot of sailors who are going to be a little bit unhappy as they go home for the holidays in search of a new career under the Christmas tree.

At least their commanding officers have the dignity to be unhappy about what they have to do, unlike in the corporate world where a vague statement is made by the PR department. Captain Winton Smith, Naval Station San Diego’s commanding officer, had this to say about the layoffs to a local reporter, “Nobody ever wants to pass this sort of bad news to somebody. It’s a very difficult thing for any commanding officer to sit down with a hard charger and to tell them to prepare for the next chapter of their life.” He was ordered to relieve two sailors of their posts this week.

Where are the jobs coming from? Well, according to the information that we have currently the 16,000 sailor’s jobs will come from a variety of different places. While all of the sailors in this round have been in the military for between 7 and 14 years, we also know that the job duties cut were wide ranging. Some of the positions cut include everything from religious program specialists to aviation mechanics.”