article_snippet: It's a cast of about 30,000 fighters with an opaque command structure.
article_snippet: And that makes it tough to be precise about numbers -- but by several estimates only one-third of about 30,000 fighters are from the regular army.
article_snippet: The aim is to stand up 12 brigades each of about 5,000 troops -- including three brigades of Kurdish peshmerga.
article_snippet: These should be ready for operations by the end of this year; the first brigade has already completed basic training.
article_snippet: In November, Gen. Dempsey said that roughly 80,000 effective troops would be needed in any attempt to win the city of Tikrit.