WASHINGTON — About 2,000 more active-duty soldiers will be stationed at Fort Lewis during the next five years as the Army increases its forces, the Pentagon said this week.
Now, 28,000 soldiers are stationed at the post outside Tacoma. The additional troops and 5,000 more civilian personnel will bring the levels at Fort Lewis to about 35,000 by 2013.
“This is going to be big,” said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, a senior member of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. “We always like to go in the plus direction.”
Some of the new forces headed to Fort Lewis were expected.
To add to the three Stryker brigades there, the post will receive an Expeditionary Sustainment Command headquarters, which will be led by a brigadier general and be responsible for keeping supplies moving during major deployments.
There also will be new medical, military police and construction management forces assigned to the post.
“We knew this was coming, but we didn’t know the extent,” said Joe Piek, a Fort Lewis spokesman.
Other Army posts will see even greater growth. Fort Bliss in Texas will triple in size to nearly 40,000 soldiers by 2013, and Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Drum in New York and Fort Bragg in North Carolina also will see significant gains.
Most other posts will stay roughly the same, with a few losing troops.
The omnibus appropriations bill approved this week by Congress provides almost $380 million for military construction at the post. Dicks said that funding level will have to be sustained or even grow.
Dicks and other lawmakers also were concerned about how the growth would affect nearby communities and school districts.
“We are going to have to keep working on impact aid,” said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, whose district includes Fort Lewis.
Dicks said that later this year, the Army will take over 510 housing units at the adjacent McChord Air Force Base.
Under current plans, McChord and Fort Lewis are expected to combine some functions and operate jointly in the next several years.
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