The adjutant general of the Wisconsin National Guard is calling on Congress to wait before enacting proposed reductions in the size of the U.S. Army, including the elimination of 274 positions in Wisconsin.
More than 27,000 soldiers across the nation would be cut from both the active duty Army, along with the National Guard and Army Reserve. In Wisconsin, 151 of the positions to be eliminated would be soldiers in the Guard.
In a statement released Monday, Major General Donald Dunbar said Congress should delay the cuts until after the National Commission on the Future of the Army presents it findings next year. Dunbar said if that report supports the cuts, then Congress should increase the size of the Guard and Reserve to offset cuts in the active duty Army.
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“You will save money in the National Guard and Reserve over the active duty, and that would be a way to maintain a total-force Army at least the size we had on 9/11,” said Dunbar. “When you come right down to it, does anyone really believe the world’s safer today than it was Sept. 10, 2001?”
Dunbar added that if the proposed cuts are made, they would be difficult to reverse.
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