Army Reduces Training, Tightens Spending as Fiscal Year Ends Amid Higher Fuel Costs and Border Mission Expenses

U.S. official and internal documents reviewed by ABC News. The cuts range from elite schools to unit-level training and have triggered a wave of abrupt cancellations and unusually aggressive spending scrutiny months before the fiscal year ends on September 30.

U.S. official said. The service has drastically expanded its operational footprint at home and abroad while absorbing ballooning personnel expenses and covering missions tied to Department of Homeland Security funding lapses, including at the southern border and construction projects.

U.S. 1 billion this year, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The Army is expected to be reimbursed for covering some of DHS' expenses incurred during the record 76-day DHS shutdown.

The Army's III Armored Corps commands some 70,000 soldiers and represents nearly half of the service's combat power. A document outlining projections to units shows the formation is expected to bear a lot of the brunt of the funding cuts. Those reductions include slashing roughly half of the formation's budget and gutting pilots' flight hours down to minimum mandatory levels.

An upcoming Army Sapper Course was canceled. An artillery course set to begin Monday at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was abruptly called off.

U.S. Officials explained. "Army commanders are taking all necessary measures to prioritize critical readiness and operational requirements, ensuring we operate responsibly within our currently enacted funding levels," Col. Marty Meiners, an Army spokesperson, said in a statement.