Army Will Add 30,000 Soldiers Over 4 Years

WASHINGTON — Strained by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Army will boost its forces by 30,000 for the next four years through emergency authority, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, told Congress on Wednesday.

But Schoomaker, testifying to the House Armed Services Committee, rejected calls from lawmakers for a permanent increase in forces, saying it would undermine efforts to streamline and modernize the Army.

He said he’d been authorized by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld “to grow the Army by 30,000 people ... under emergency powers.”

The Army is about 11,000 soldiers over the 482,000 troop limit authorized by Congress under the emergency provision the Pentagon invoked, largely through “stop-loss” orders that block soldiers from leaving or retiring and through reenlistment incentives.

Schoomaker told reporters after the hearing the Army would move quickly to add nearly 20,000 more soldiers, saying, it wanted to achieve the goal “as quickly as we can.”

He said money for the additional troops would come from the $87-billion emergency spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan Congress passed in November.

Schoomaker said he wanted the additional troops to be incorporated into the Army’s efforts to transform itself into a lighter, more mobile force for post-Cold War conflicts.