Army’s top enlisted leader: we still need soldiers

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) — The Army’s top enlisted leader says the smaller Army of the future will still require new professional soldiers.

Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler spoke Thursday at Fort Jackson and addressed 1,100 of the service’s newest military graduates.

Chandler thanked the families of the men and women who came to help celebrate their soldiers’ graduation from basic combat training, saying they had given their greatest treasure to the service of the nation.

The 30-year Army veteran told soldiers that even though plans call for slimming the military, that doesn’t mean the service is packing up its tents and going away.

Chandler says every single job the Army does starts with a private, and it will continue to need new men and women.