Army Relief Act of 2005

SUMMARY

The United States Army is stretched dangerously thin. This nation is fighting on multiple fronts with an Army sized for peacetime. This legislation calls for troop levels commensurate with the threats we face from abroad.

The United States Army Relief Act, introduced by Third Way National Security Project Chairman Senator Joe Lieberman and Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bill Nelson and Jack Reed, along with Representatives Ellen Tauscher and Mark Udall. The United States Army is stretched dangerously thin. This nation is fighting on multiple fronts with an Army sized for peacetime. This legislation calls for troop levels commensurate with the threats we face from abroad. This legislation was introduced on the heels of a report that Third Way issued in May entitled Boots on the Ground: Increasing the Size of the Army to Meet the Missions of the 21st Century. That report recommended an increase in Army end-strength by 100,000 troops, the amount called for in this legislation. The report made that recommendation after finding that current low troop levels have:

• Imperiled the Army’s ability to meet potential future threats;
• Endangered soldiers by reducing or eliminating proper rotation, rest and training cycles;
• Made recruitment of new soldiers and retention of existing soldiers difficult; and
• Drained communities of essential first responders through its historically high reliance on the Guard and Reserve.

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