The Marine Corps is bracing to lose another 8,000 active-duty Marines on top of what already had been planned as it faces deep, federally mandated budget cuts. Marine Commandant General Jim Amos said, during a breakfast with reporters in Washington, the additional manpower reduction would drop the service to about 174,000 active-duty personnel. The Corps is currently drawing down from a peak of more than 202,100 Marines to 182,100 by fall 2016, but must plan to go deeper now as a result of sequestration cuts, the drastic budget reductions triggered March 1 by Congress’s inability to reach an agreement on a better way to reduce the federal deficit.
