The U.S. Army is considering letting the budget drive its strategy. That would be a mistake.

A recent Army study — the Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Assessment — proposes potentially cutting more than 19,000 soldiers from U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii in the event of sequestration. These proposed cuts fly in the face of U.S. strategy in the Asia-Pacific, risk making the Army less important in this part of the world, and would hurt our local economy.

To be fair, Congress put the Army in a tough spot. The Army is drawing down after more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, shrinking to 440,000-450,000 soldiers by the end of fiscal year 2017.

In addition, Congress continues to threaten sequestration — arbitrary, across-the- board spending cuts — unless leaders can agree on a balanced budget.

If imposed again in fiscal 2016, the Army will have to find additional savings by shrinking to 420,000, a risky proposition.

Congress must act responsibly by removing the sequestration threat so Army leaders can improve their planning and avoid these strategically unwise cuts.

Regardless of budgetary decisions, Hawaii is the last place the Army should consider cutting soldiers in light of America’s commitment to rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. There is bipartisan consensus that the rebalance is right for our country. If resourced correctly, the Army can strengthen its strategic role in the region, with Hawaii as the foundation.

In his recent visit here, Gen. Raymond Odierno, Army chief of staff, said that Hawaii is "an important part of our defense strategy" and an "incredibly important part of our Army and what we do here in the Pacific."

After U.S. Army Korea, Hawaii is home to the Army’s most forward soldiers capable of responding to crises in a fraction of the time compared to those in Washington and California.

The 25th Infantry Division uses the tropical environment to ready soldiers by training them at its Jungle Operations Training Course, making soldiers here more ready for this region than forces based on the mainland. Moreover, soldiers in Hawaii can more routinely participate in peacetime exercises with the region’s other large armies in areas of mutual concern ranging from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to countering terrorism and drug and human trafficking.

The Pacific Pathways Initiative is illustrative of how Gen. Vincent Brooks, U.S. Army Pacific’s four-star commander, is capitalizing on Hawaii’s strategic location and putting the rebalance into practice. The Army is developing small, capable units to help cultivate military partnerships through exercises with some of our most important allies in the region — Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and India. Gen. Brooks described this as "the very best evidence of what it means for the United States to have strategically rebalanced its focus in this critically important Indo-Pacific region," and he is right.

Peacetime exercises strengthen our ability to do more with our partners while helping them develop the skills to respond to crises on their own. Strengthening ties with military forces in these countries could open new avenues for diplomatic, cultural and business partnerships to flourish, relationships that over time can bolster civilian institutions and the rule of law that are key to underwriting stability in Asia.

Hawaii offers opportunities for this training with our allies like nowhere else. Not simply because of our location, but because of our deep cultural ties with nations of the Asia-Pacific. Not so tangible perhaps, but very real. And we go forward with Armed Forces leadership here that has an increased sense of steward- ship, a rich and broadened role in Hawaii’s communities, and a commitment to the future of our state.

The next step for Congress is to eliminate the threat of sequestration to give the Army the certainty it needs to plan for the future.

As the Army evaluates its future in a post-Iraq, post-Afghanistan world, its leaders would be wise to avoid cutting soldiers in Hawaii that risk making the Army less significant in a region of the world that is increasingly important.