Grow the Army Grow the Army is a transformation and restationing initiative of the United States Army announced in 2007 and scheduled to be completed by fiscal year 2013 . The initiative is designed to grow the U . S . Army ' s force by almost 75 , 000 soldiers , while realigning a large portion of the force in Europe , moving units located there to the continental United States in compliance with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure suggestions . Growth Plans . Soldiers . The plan was announced in a United States Army press release on December 19 , 2007 . It calls for a total force growth of 74 , 200 soldiers , expanding the Active duty army force by 65 , 000 soldiers , the United States Army Reserve by 1 , 000 soldiers , and the Army National Guard by 8 , 200 soldiers . To support the growth , the Army simultaneously announced the restationing of 30 , 000 Soldiers in combat support and combat service support units throughout the United States as well as various overseas locations . Units . The army announced that the total active duty force structure would grow by six Infantry Brigade Combat Team s and eight support brigade s of various types . This would grow the force from 42 Brigade Combat Teams and 75 modular support brigades in 2007 to 48 Brigade Combat Teams and 83 modular support brigades by 2013 . However on April 6 , 2009 , Defense Secretary Gates announced that the Army will stop the growth of Army brigade combat teams at 45 versus the initially planned 48 . Logistics . The plan called for US $ 66 , 400 , 000 , 000 in spending in construction between 2006 and 2013 . This construction comprised 743 projects , including 20 new Brigade complexes . One third of the entire Army was scheduled to be realigned during the Grow the Army and BRAC plans . History . As part of the 2003 – 2008 restructuring plan , the Army moved from using division - sized units to brigade - sized units as the basic unit of deployment . As such , the 2007 army consisted of 42 brigades , forty of which were divided evenly amongst ten division - level commands , while two were independent . The six newly activated brigades will be designed as separate independent brigades , without division - level commands . The timeline of the Brigade Combat Team growths calls for the reflagging of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team , 1st Infantry Division as the independent 172nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in fiscal year 2008 ; this was accomplished during a reflagging ceremony on March 19 in Schweinfurt , Germany . The 2nd Brigade will subsequently be reformed at Fort Riley , Kansas . A similar event occurred in September 2010 , when the 2nd Brigade Combat Team , 1st Armored Division in Baumholder , Germany , reflagged as the 170th Infantry Brigade . Meanwhile , the 4th Brigade Combat Team , 4th Infantry Division will be retained at Fort Carson , Colorado in 2008 , the 1st Brigade Combat Team , 1st Armored Division will activate at Fort Bliss , Texas in 2009 . Three new units were to be formed in 2011 . These were to be the 5th Brigade Combat Team , 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart , Georgia , the 5th Brigade Combat Team , 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson , and the 6th Brigade Combat Team , 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss . However , Secretary Gates cancelled the activation of these three brigades in 2009 .