Dwell Time and Force Packages; What the New Army Rotation Policy Looks Like

As announced by Gen Casey, the new Army plan for dwell time and force packages is detailed in a nice article from the Army Times.

You’ve heard the Army chief of staff say it before: “Dwell time is about to increase.”

But this time, the scheduled drawdown in Iraq may well put within reach the chief’s plan to get soldiers more time at home between deployments.

“We’re putting the Army on a rotational model much like the Navy and Marine Corps have been for a while,” Gen. George W. Casey said, explaining that this “is a huge institutional change” whose wheels will begin turning in October.

The force packages sound pretty robust, and continue deployment integrations of reserve/National Guard troops.

The rotational cycles, according to Casey’s plan, would make the following force package available starting in October 2012:

• One corps headquarters.

• Five division headquarters, including up to two National Guard headquarters.

• 20 brigade combat teams, including as many as four National Guard brigades.

• 92,000 enablers, such as aviation, military police, transportation and medical, about half of which would be National Guard and Reserve troops.

The plan for rotational cycles is designed for predictability.

By: Brant