Not all personnel are expected to relocate from Ft. Eustis, VA to Austin, TX when Training and Doctrine Command merges with Army Futures Command, which is expected sometime this fall, according to the Army.
The Army Transformation Initiative, released in early May, lays out a plan to restructure multiple commands within the force, including the merging of AFC and TRADOC. The new combined command will be named “Transformation and Training Command” and will be headquartered in Austin, Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George has told lawmakers.
An Army execution order officially directing the merger is expected early next month, and the merger is expected to begin Oct. 1, according to a July 10 media advisory that was initially shared with local news outlets but was later provided to Inside Defense upon request.
TRADOC “in its current form” will not move to Austin and not all personnel or operations currently at Ft. Eustis will relocate, the Army stated in the advisory.
The advisory was sent out last week in response to reports the service deemed inaccurate about a full-scale relocation of TRADOC.
“When units inactivate or change mission, a move for military personnel is not automatic. Several factors — such as rank, current position, and stabilization, among other factors — determine whether a soldier will relocate,” the Army stated.
“There may even be opportunities for soldiers to transfer to a different unit on Ft. Eustis. Each soldier can work with the Army to explore assignment options that support their career goals and family needs. In most cases, Army personnel will stay at one assignment for two or three years.”
Among the reports of possible cuts to Ft. Eustis was one that came from a letter written to George and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll by all 12 members of Virginia’s congressional delegation. The letter stated “community stakeholders” had informed the members that TRADOC’s G-2 section, consisting of about 250 positions, could be eliminated.
Members of both houses of Congress, for the past two months, have implored top Army officials to provide more details on the ATI, including the merging of the two commands.
The House Armed Services Committee’s fiscal year 2026 defense authorization bill, which moved out of committee Tuesday night, includes an amendment that would require the Army secretary to brief the committee on the AFC-TRADOC merger by Dec. 1. The briefing must include information about the roles and responsibilities of the new command, realignment of resources, costs and force-structure changes.
Similarly, the Senate Armed Services Committee released the text of its defense authorization bill Wednesday, and it requires the Army secretary and chief to submit a report on the AFC-TRADOC merger to the congressional defense committees no less than 60 days before executing the merger.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), a Senate Armed Services Committee member, noted during a call with reporters last Friday that AFC was stood up just seven years ago as an outgrowth of TRADOC dedicated to modernization, and members in Congress are wondering why the Army suddenly wants to put them back together.
“Futures Command came out of TRADOC, and TRADOC was really big and Futures Command was kind of a small piece — an important piece certainly, but a small piece. But now it seems like the big TRADOC is being put under Futures Command, which seems to be kind of inverting the pyramid the wrong way. So, I want to understand why that is,” he said.
Kaine said he has a number of questions about the ATI, but “not in the negative way.” The plan is “big and ambitious,” but to date hasn’t been “socialized with us as much,” he said.
Originally published Inside Defense