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US Army soldiers during a parade in South Korea
Photo: Ahn Young-joon/dpa
The US Army is cutting around 24,000 jobs due to a shortage of personnel in the force.
The move comes as part of a restructuring of the armed forces.
According to consistent media reports, no soldiers should be fired, but vacancies that cannot be filled should be eliminated.
Due to the personnel shortage, the Pentagon is now correcting its troop strength target from 494,000 soldiers to 470,000.
The US Army currently employs 445,000 active soldiers.
However, 7,500 staff are to be recruited in the areas of air defense and drone defense.
New task groups for cyber warfare, reconnaissance and long-range air strikes are also to be set up.
From the times of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the US Army is still structured too expansively.
It is said that many of the vacancies are no longer needed today.
Instead, they want to prepare specifically for today's challenges with a leaner personnel structure.
The US Army's special forces are to be reduced by around 3,000 posts.
Around 10,000 jobs will be lost at the pioneers.
Another 10,000 jobs are to be cut in combat units such as armored divisions.
The U.S. Army has missed its recruiting goal every year since 2014.
It's not just about ground troops, the Navy and the Air Force are also affected.
In 2023, the armed forces had only recruited 55,000 new recruits instead of the targeted 65,000.
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