Sgt. Major of the Army Kenneth Preston talks about how the Army is getting bigger to a group of soldiers in Heidelberg on Thursday, but he cautioned them that downrange deployments are not ending anytime soon. (Mark Abramson / Stars and Stripes)
HEIDELBERG, Germany — The Army is close to reaching its goal of adding 65,000 troops, which ultimately will help ease the strain of long deployments, the service’s top enlisted man said Thursday.
Sgt. Major of the Army Kenneth Preston was in Germany to talk to soldiers and answer their questions before he met with U.S. Army Europe commander Gen. Carter Ham.
Preston, a 33-year veteran, came to Europe from Iraq and was slated to travel to Italy on Friday.
"You got to have a bigger Army," Preston told the soldiers at a gathering on Patrick Henry Village. "Imagine if we were still at 33 brigades."
The active-duty Army how has 40 combat brigades, and it wants to grow to 48 brigades, Preston said.
The goal is also to grow from 482,400 active duty soldiers to 547,400 by 2010, and with a force of 541,000 now, that goal is well within reach, he added.
"When you look at the Army’s number one mission right now, it is to support the global war on terror. The Army’s number two mission is Army transformation," Preston told Stripes.
One goal of having a bigger Army is changing how the Army deploys, he said.
Preston pointed out that even when soldiers return home after a long deployment, the training, qualifying on various equipment and weapons and other duties detracts from their time with their families.
"We are going to feel the effects of the 15-month deployments for awhile," he said.
One person in the audience asked if bolstering the Army’s ranks could include reinstituting the draft.
Preston dismissed the idea: The Army has been an all-volunteer force for 35 years, and there are no plans to change that, he said.
Preston also preached about the importance of retaining soldiers and recruiting the cream of the crop from American society to reach the Army’s growth goals and master the service’s advanced technology.
There’s a reason that more than 70,000 soldiers have chosen to re-enlist this year, he said.
"They want to continue to be part of something bigger than themselves," Preston said. "It is not only what you get in a paycheck every month, it goes beyond that."
Another goal is not just to sign people up who want to become soldiers, but encourage them to stay in the Army and become noncommissioned officers, Preston said.
