Gibson, Turner co-sponsor measure to set new permanent minimum strength requirements for land forces

U.S. Reps. Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio) introduced legislation on Thursday that would establish new minimum end-strength requirements for military land forces going forward.

The Protecting Our Security Through Utilizing Right-Sized End-Strength (POSTURE) Act would head off a planned draw-down of military land forces and establish new minimum end strength requirements for the future.

“It remains evident that the administration continues to jeopardize both our military and our national security, and by doing so, the peace that president Reagan spoke of is virtually extinct,” Gibson and Turner, the chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, said in a joint statement.

The bill states that a draw-down of land forces is expected to continue through fiscal year 2018, and it would head that draw-down off.

“This bill ensures that our land forces will not be depleted as a result of the administration’s flawed assumptions about the current security environment,” Gibson and Turner said. “Our military’s ability to meet new and complex global demands is essential to our national security and a continued force draw-down would be catastrophic.”

The bill would set new permanent active duty end-strength minimum levels at 480,000 for the Army, 329,200 for the Navy, 184,000 for the Marine Corps and 317,000 for the Air Force.