The military sequestration the Army community has feared has already started. Since the start of the 2015 fiscal year, the Army has cut 17,000 troops, putting its overall troop levels at 491,365 soldiers. This is slightly above the 490,000 target set by Congress.

The Army is supposed to bring its troop levels down to 450,000 by the end of 2017. To achieve its target of 40,000 fired troops in two years, cuts will occur at virtually every Army installation and at all levels. Since the announcement in July, military sequestration has become a popular talking point among presidential candidates, who hold varying opinions on whether or not a shrinking Army is a good idea.

Here’s the current breakdown of the Army’s strength, from the Army Times:

The official end strength figures from the Defense Manpower Data Center show a Regular Army population of 317 general officers, 79,256 branch commissioned officers, 15,038 warrant officers, 392,327 enlisted soldiers and 4,428 West Point cadets.

The Army’s reserve components had a combined strength of 466,281, with 350,023 soldiers serving in the Army National Guard and 198,552 in the Army Reserve.

Slightly more than 70,200 women are serving in the Regular Army, including 19 general officers, 14,506 branch commissioned officers, 1,423 warrant officers, 69,353 enlisted soldiers and NCOs, and 854 cadets.

(Photo Credit | US Army, Flickr)