US Army to cut 40,000 troops over next two years

The U.S. army plans to cut 40,000 troops over the next two years, affecting all of its domestic and foreign posts, USA Today reported on Tuesday, adding the army also planned to cut 17,000 civilian employees. The cuts would reduce the active-duty army from its current size of about 490,000 soldiers to about 450,000. The troop reductions were initially announced in February 2014 when then Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel unveiled the Pentagon's budget for the 2015 fiscal year. Defense officials confirmed on Tuesday the army was moving ahead with the plan to reduce uniformed and civilian personnel and was expected to announce details on Thursday about which units would be affected by the cuts.