Washington, Sept 28, SPA -- The U.S. Army is making plans to expand its active and reserve forces by 74,000 troops in four years instead of five to ease stress on the force, Army Secretary Pete Geren said Thursday.Geren, the Army’s top civilian, said the plan was under discussion with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who favors adding troops more quickly to the Army, which has handled the biggest burden of the conflict in Iraq.“We concluded that we could expedite the growth by a year, and that would help relieve stress on the force. Secretary Gates has been supportive of the concept, and we’re working through the … details,” Geren told reporters.In one of his first acts as defense secretary, Gates announced plans to increase the size of the active Army to 547,000 by 2012 in large part by adding 7,000 troops per year over five years.Geren said accelerating the Army’s growth by a year would cost an additional $2.7 billion and would require recruiting more than 80,000 troops per year.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/486452