Hagel Proposes Cuts To Army

Yahoo:

Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel is recommending shrinking the Army to its smallest size since the buildup to U.S. involvement in World War II in an effort to balance postwar defense needs with budget realities, defense officials said Monday.
Hagel is expected to announce that and other recommendations Monday in a speech at the Pentagon outlining his priorities for next year's defense budget.
Army leaders have been saying for months that they expect their size would shrink as the nation prepares to end its combat role in Afghanistan this year.
The Army, which is the largest of the armed services, currently has 522,000 active-duty soldiers and is scheduled to shrink to 490,000 by 2015 from a wartime peak of 570,000. Hagel is expected to propose cutting it further to between 440,000 and 450,000.
Earlier this month, Gen. Ray Odierno, Army chief of staff, told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations that an army of 420,000 would be too small for a world that has such an uncertain national security landscape. The minimum size, he said, would be about 450,000. He said shrinking to 420,000 would make a big difference in the capabilities of the force.

He's also recommending eliminating the A-10 (which is an awesome, but aged plane).  I'll believe it when I see it. No matter how inefficient, defense spending means jobs, and that's one thing we need.