Army growth plans may exceed cost estimate - plans to grow army by 75k more troops

Army growth plans may exceed cost estimate
By Megan Scully CongressDaily January 23, 2008

The cost of the Army's plans to grow its active-duty and reserve ranks by nearly 75,000 troops over the next several years could exceed the $70.2 billion the service expects to spend through fiscal 2013 to augment the force, congressional investigators concluded in a report released Tuesday.

The Army's cost estimates are "not comprehensive and may be somewhat understated," according to the GAO report, which urges the Defense Department to provide more thorough cost information to Capitol Hill by March 30.

The cost estimate does not include $2.5 billion needed to cover the costs of healthcare and education programs for the new troops, according to GAO. The Army's projections also may underestimate the number of civilian personnel needed to support the larger military force.

In addition, the projections do not take into consideration Army Chief of Staff George Casey's intention to accelerate recruiting efforts for the active-duty Army and Army National Guard, in the hopes of expanding the force by 2010.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39094&dcn=todaysnews

DOH!

They're going to need to change the authorized end-strength figures to make that happen, and that requires either robbing Pete to pay Paul, or getting an authorization to grow the branch.