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Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, left, and Gen. Randy George are seated at a table. Driscoll looks at George as the general talks, making a gesture with his right hand.

Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, left, and Gen. Randy George, the service’s chief of staff, testify in June 2025 during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to examine the Army’s force and budget. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)

AUSTIN, Texas — The Army will consolidate its Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command in October under one four-star general, service officials said Thursday.

The exact parameters and start date of the consolidation are expected to be released next month in an order that will formalize the merger and provide details of how many staff are expected to relocate to Austin and how many will remain at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., said Maj. Chris Robinson, spokesman for TRADOC.

“Although the new command will have its four-star headquarters in Austin, this will not involve relocating all TRADOC personnel or operations,” he said.

Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, told Congress in May that the merged command will be named the Army’s Transformation and Training Command, and Austin was chosen because of its culture and its ideas for innovation and change.

Any military or civilian personnel affected by the merger can evaluate options to remain at Fort Eustis in a different job, Robinson said.

The changes, which will stretch into 2026, are part of the Army’s efforts to downsize and restructure the force to fulfill an order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The effort includes a reduction of about 20% of the military’s four-star generals and admirals.

A planning team has worked to determine what the consolidation will look like and included experts from both commands and the Army staff, Brig. Gen. Jennifer Walkawicz, TRADOC operations and planning officer, said in May during a news briefing.

Futures Command and TRADOC are both led by four-star generals. The Army has two additional four-star commands — Army Materiel Command and Army Forces Command — which are also absorbing other missions.

Under the merger, Futures Command and TRADOC will shut down and the new command will stand up under a new commander. Gen. James Rainey, commander of Futures Command, and Gen. Gary Brito, TRADOC commander, are both set to leave their positions in the summer but have agreed to stay on board until the new command and its commander are established, Walkawicz said.

The merger only involves TRADOC’s headquarters and its Center for Initial Military Training, which now has slightly less than 1,000 personnel, she said. About 650 of those are civilian employees.

The 128th Aviation Brigade, which trains aviation maintenance soldiers at Fort Eustis is not involved, Walkawicz said.

Army Futures Command employs about 970 people in Austin, and about 290 are service members, according to the Texas comptroller.

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Rose L. Thayer is based in Austin, Texas, and she has been covering the western region of the continental U.S. for Stars and Stripes since 2018. Before that she was a reporter for Killeen Daily Herald and a freelance journalist for publications including The Alcalde, Texas Highways and the Austin American-Statesman. She is the spouse of an Army veteran and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism. Her awards include a 2021 Society of Professional Journalists Washington Dateline Award and an Honorable Mention from the Military Reporters and Editors Association for her coverage of crime at Fort Hood.

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