The cuts will mainly be in already-empty posts — not actual soldiers — including in jobs related to counter-insurgency that swelled during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars but are not needed as much today. About 3,000 of the cuts would come from Army special operations forces.

No actual soldiers lost from the ranks.

According to the plan, the Army will cut about 10,000 spaces for engineers and similar jobs that were tied to counter-insurgency missions. An additional 2,700 cuts will come from units that don’t deploy often and can be trimmed, and 6,500 will come from various training and other posts.

Desk riding soldiers positions cut.

There also will be about 10,000 posts cut from cavalry squadrons, Stryker brigade combat teams, infantry brigade combat teams and security force assistance brigades, which are used to train foreign forces.

Actual direct combat troops positions cut.

In response, the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its recruiting last fall to focus more on young people who have spent time in college or are job hunting early in their careers. And it is forming a new professional force of recruiters, rather than relying on soldiers randomly assigned to the task.

HAHA… professional recruiters instead of soldiers doing a recruiter duty rotation… what could go wrong?

Potential Enlistee: “So, have you been to combat?”

Recruiter: “No.”

Potential Enlistee: “So… um…how long have you been in?”

Recruiter: “Oh… about six months”

Potential Enlistee: “No, I mean, how long have you been in the Army, no just doing recruiting duty?”

Recruiter: “Oh… I enlisted to be a Recruiter and got out of AIT six months ago. Was assigned to this desk after I graduated and have been here since”

Potential Enlistee: “…”