The U.S. Army has seen its missions grow in number and intensity in recent years with the global war on terrorism and the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The resulting levels of stress that have been placed on the Army's active and reserve components have generated public debate about whether the Army's present organization is adequate for the roles that the service is playing now and will play in the foreseeable future. At the same time, the Army has begun an extensive restructuring effort, called modularity, that is designed to significantly alter how the service is organized and how it operates in the field. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study-prepared at the request of the House Committee on Armed Services-examines the Army's capability to fight wars, sustain long deployments, and deploy rapidly to overseas operations, as well as its dependence on personnel and units in the reserve component. This study also analyzes eight options for restructuring the Army, each of which would either increase the Army's ability to perform some types of missions or decrease its reliance on the reserve component. The options offer a broad overview of the general types of policy choices and trade-offs that decisionmakers will face when considering the size, structure, and capability of any plan for reorganizing the Army. In keeping with CBO's mandate to provide impartial analysis, this study makes no recommendations.

"May 2005"--T.p.

The army's current and planned structure. The army's force structure prior to modularity -- How army uits are used in the field -- Concerns with the premodular structure -- Planned changes in the army's structure / Alternatives for the army's force structure. Policy choices and their implications -- Measures for evaluating the effects of changing the Army's force structure -- Alternatives that would increase the size of the army -- Alternatives that would reduce dependence on the reserve component -- Alternatives that would create new types of units / Appendix A: detailed descriptions of current and proposed army units. Theaters -- Corps -- Divisions -- Brigades -- New units from the options in this analysis / Appendix B: the army's plan for modularity. Overview of modularity -- Assumptions about the impact of modularity on the army's force structure -- Implications for warfighting -- Implications for the army's ability to sustain extended deployments -- Implications for the army's dependence on the reserve component -- Implications for deployment speed / Appendix C: the measures of army capability used in this study. Size and composition of the force -- Cost of the force -- Ability to fight wars -- Ability to sustain extended deployments / Appendix D: how CBO estimated the costs of options for restructuring the army. Methods for estimating investment costs -- Methods for estimating operation and support costs -- Results of the cost analysis.