WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The U.S. Army, projecting a shortage of 3,500 active-duty officers by 2007, is boosting the incentives it offers to try to hold on to experienced commanders,a report in Sunday's edition of The Washington Post said.

    The officers, primarily captains and majors, are needed for newcombat brigades and other units that are critical to plans for expanding and reorganizing the nation's ground forces, the reportsaid.

    The need for officers is expected to be acute in career fields strained by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as

transportation, aviation, Special Forces and military intelligence, Army personnel statistics show.

    The Army projects it will fall 7 percent short of the number of active-duty officers it needs with ranks from captain to colonel, with shortages rising to 15 to 50 percent for dozens of specifi cranks and skills, according to the report.

    The looming officer shortage is part of a wider manpower crunch the Army faces stemming from the surge in demand for U.S. groundforces at home and overseas since the 2001 terrorist attacks. "We are worried," Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey was quotedas saying. "So what we're trying to do is give them an incentive to stay."

    One new Army program increases from 400 to 600 the number of slots for junior officers to attend fully funded graduate school on the condition they serve three additional years for each year of study, Harvey said.

    The Army has also accelerated and expanded promotions --primarily for lieutenants and captains -- to fill holes in its leadership ranks, shortening the period of 42 months two years ago to 38 months for a lieutenant to become a captain, the report said.

    In addition to speeding promotions and rolling out incentives to entice officers to stay, the Army is also using involuntary 545-day call-ups to compel inactive officers to leave civilian life for duty in Iraq, the report said. Enditem