The Army will remain the same size in 2018 under President Trump’s first defense budget released Tuesday.
The administration has proposed no additions for the 476,000 active-duty force authorized by Congress last year, though the other services could see an overall increase of nearly 6,000 troops, the Defense Department said.
Trump has promised a dramatically larger Army of 540,000 soldiers, yet DoD has proposed a larger $574.5 billion base budget for the coming year that would instead spend increases on training, maintenance and efforts to shore up the existing military’s ability to fight wars.
Meanwhile, the Army is still trying to add 16,000 active-duty soldiers, 8,000 to the National Guard, and 4,000 to the Reserve force. Those additions were authorized last year by Congress.
Trump’s first full-year defense budget does call for increases in the other services.
The Air Force would get nearly 4,000 more airmen for a total of 325,100, the Navy could gain 1,400 sailors for a total of 327,900, and there would be an increase of 574 Marines for a total of 185,000.
