Last year the Pentagon announced that the Army would increase troop strength levels by up to 22,000 to meet projected operational requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan.  To fund that increase, the president requested $33 billion in supplemental funding for FY2010.  Now, as the Army is preparing to decide on how many additional troops are actually required, there is some indication that the Army may be able to make due with only 15,000 additional troops.  It has been reported in the press that Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey wants to make sure that the withdrawal from Iraq is proceeding on time before he makes his final recommendation to Secretary Gates.  According to reports, the recent increase of violence in Iraq is causing military commanders to reconsider the pace of that withdrawal, but not the August 31 deadline.  The Pentagon and the White House have repeatedly said that meeting the plan to withdraw combat forces from Iraq by the end of August and most other forces by December 2011 is critical to determining how many additional forces are needed and whether or not the Army can meet its other important goal of increasing time at home between deployments to 2 years.