The Post-9/11 U.S. Military

The crisis after 9/11 forced every branch of the military to reevaluate its mission set, its structure, and its identity. Fifteen years later, the process is ongoing. Last week, a congressional report highlighted the debate over whether it should be enlarged or reduced from its current 475,000 soldiers. In that same time, U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) grew from a few thousand to 70,000 today. The Air Force expanded its corps of drone pilots and still seeks to double its current number. The changes are far reaching, and the sum total is a military that has demonstrated its plasticity in Afghanistan and Iraq while remaining prepared for its traditional role in conventional warfare.

Among the military branches, the Army may have undergone the greatest structural changes, and this allowed it to successfully approach the new challenges of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Lieutenant General (Ret.) Guy Swan told The Cipher Brief that “…one of the most significant changes since 9/11 was moving to a brigade-centric force structure.” The larger division-centric structure was designed with conventional warfare in mind, and by making each brigade more logistically and operationally self-sufficient, the Army could engage missions with more agility than in previous years.