Isles to lose Stryker Brigade

The $1.5 billion 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, one of the biggest Army projects in Hawaii since World War II and one that required land purchases and roads and new ranges to be built, is now going away.

The Army is looking at sending the brigade’s several hundred eight-wheeled armored vehicles to a National Guard unit in Washington state.

The service announced Thursday that as part of a big drawdown to 450,000 from 490,000 soldiers to be carried out by the end of fiscal 2018, the Hawaii Stryker Brigade will be reduced in size, lose its eponymous vehicles and become a “two maneuver battalion” infantry combat team.

Schofield Barracks will experience a net reduction of 1,214 soldiers with the Stryker change, a 25th Infantry Division and garrison headquarters reduction, and inactivation of explosive ordnance disposal and quartermaster field service companies, the Army said.

The division will retain a 14,500-soldier strength in Hawaii, which is lower than the total of 16,900 soldiers before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the service.

At Fort Shafter, force structure changes include reducing military and civilian positions in the Army Corps of Engineers and in a contract support battalion, but also the activation of an air defense brigade headquarters, with a net reduction of 229 soldiers, according to the Army. Fort Shafter will wind up with 2,004 soldiers, according to Hawaii’s congressional delegation.

Additionally, the Army is cutting 17,000 civilian employees, but where those cuts will occur is not clear.

The Army said it faces “an extremely difficult fiscal environment,” with strategic downsizing mandates and sequestration cuts estimated at $95 billion over 10 years.

The cuts to reach 450,000 active-duty soldiers “will impact nearly every Army installation, both in the continental United States and overseas,” the Army said.

The Army had assessed potentially eliminating two brigade combat teams and the 25th Infantry Division headquarters at Schofield Barracks, which would have meant the departure of nearly 16,000 soldiers and a big hit to the economy, according to congressional members.

All things considered, the cuts announced Thursday could have been far worse for Hawaii, officials said.

“There are areas of our country that actually took pretty sizable cuts to their Army force structure,” said U.S. Rep. Mark Takai, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. “Any cut to our force structure in Hawaii is not good, but in light of the worst-case scenarios that we were hearing six months ago, today’s news is actually good.”

Takai also noted that Hawaii will be getting an unknown number of air defense headquarters soldiers at a time when “few places in the country are actually seeing increases in force structure.”

The decision to shrink the Army from 490,000 active-duty soldiers to 450,000 was made months ago, but details on how it would be accomplished were briefed to Congress only in recent days. The proposal is drawing fire from many lawmakers, especially those whose states or districts are hit hardest, as critics point to fears of a military crisis with Russia and the prospect of being at war with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria over an extended period.

The worst-case scenario for the Army in Hawaii would have been the loss of 19,800 soldiers and civilian workers from Schofield Barracks and Fort Shafter. The Army previously said it had 22,500 soldiers in the state.

Army officials said the plan calls for cuts at nearly every installation in 2016 and 2017, with Fort Benning, Ga., and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, taking the largest reductions. Benning is to lose 3,402 soldiers, or 29 percent of its current personnel, as the Army converts the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division to a smaller unit known as a battalion task force. Elmendorf-Richardson is to lose 2,631 soldiers, or 59 percent of its personnel, as the 4th Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division undergoes the same conversion, according to figures released by the Army.

Fort Hood, Texas, the Army’s largest base, would lose 3,350 soldiers, or 9 percent of its personnel. Among others, Fort Bliss, Texas, would lose 1,219 soldiers, or 5 percent; and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., would lose 1,251, or 5 percent.

The Army estimates that the overall cut of 40,000 soldiers will result in savings of $7 billion over four years.

U.S. Army Pacific, headquartered at Fort Shafter, said the conversion of the Alaska brigade into an airborne infantry battalion and the change to the Hawaii Stryker Brigade would mean a reduction of 3,800 soldiers in the Pacific region.

Commanders have repeatedly stressed that “size matters” and maximum engagement is key in the so-called re-balance of U.S. forces in the Pacific, where foreign leaders worry about a diminishment of U.S. military clout.

U.S. Army Pacific said it has 106,000 assigned personnel.

“Though there will be a small decrease in numbers overall, the Army has retained significant capability within the theater and remains on a strong footing with the re-balance,” said Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander of the Army in the Pacific.

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who also is on the House Armed Services Committee, said the decision to cut 40,000 soldiers “wasn’t made with the best strategic interest of our country in mind, nor what’s in the best interest of our troops.”

“When I look at the continued growing threat of varied types around the world, and what our troops have been doing and what they are continuing to do, when you reduce their numbers, it’s not because these threats around the world are being reduced,” she said.

The remaining soldiers will end up carrying a greater share of the load, Gabbard said.

The number of regular Army brigade combat teams, the basic deployable units of maneuver, will be reduced from a wartime high of 45 to 30 by the end of fiscal year 2017.

If sequestration is not addressed further, the Army said its troop strength will be further reduced to 420,000 soldiers by the end of fiscal year 2019.

The 25th Division on Thursday was unable to provide the number of Stryker soldiers and vehicles on island.

Retired Lt. Gen. Frank Wiercinski two years ago suggested re-evaluating whether the Stryker Brigade should keep its 320 armored vehicles or revert to a light infantry unit without Strykers when he was still head of U.S. Army Pacific.

Stryker brigades were located in Alaska and Washington state, while the “Tropic Lightning” division in Hawaii was returning to its jungle-fighting roots following Iraq and Afghanistan.

“If I’m focusing the 25th Infantry Division now on Southeast Asia, and back to being the jungle fighters that they’ve always been, what’s my relevance of Strykers?” Wiercinski said at the time. The Stryker Brigade then had about 4,200 soldiers.

Retired Army Col. Al Frenzel, director of the Oahu Council for Army Downsizing, which supports a smaller Army presence, said removing the Stryker combat vehicles from Schofield is a “no-brainer decision whose time has finally come.”

“This is great news for Oahu and particularly Makua Valley and Pohakuloa Training Area,” Frenzel said. “The Stryker vehicles should never have been positioned on Oahu; it was a very poor political decision with huge costs to taxpayers and Hawaii’s environment.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.