Thousands comment on future Army reductions

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- A regional economic development group says thousands of people have commented on possible future cuts at Fort Leonard Wood.

The Army estimates the southern Missouri installation could lose more than 5,000 civilian and military positions by 2020 after a round of much smaller cuts last year. The Army anticipates trimming its overall forces by more than 140,000 in that time period after 13 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Sustainable Ozarks Partnership had encouraged the public to weigh in by Monday's deadline for comments.

The group says 2,255 people sent letters to the Army from its website and that 1,879 people signed an online petition. These numbers do not take into account the emails and letters that were sent directly to the Army by individuals.