A Larger Army

Critics of the Army reorganization into brigade combat teams claim we are reducing the number of deployable line battalions and so we are really making the Army smaller. The pre-reorganization brigades had three line battalions of three companies each. The new brigade combat teams have two line battalions of four companies each plus a targetting and surveillance (recon) battalion.

Critics don't count the recon unit as a line unit and fail to consider that the new battalions are a third larger. So I disagree, and point out that if you include the recon battalions as line units you have more battalions in the new organization. And if you look at companies, we have more line units even without counting the recon battalions as line units.

This article on captain retention notes:

The Army needs even more company-level officers today, as it expands the number of its deployable brigade combat teams.

More companies means more captains are needed. Because the deployable Army is indeed getting bigger.