Government Executive Get the latest on need-to-know topics for federal employees delivered to your inbox. email Army Leaders Have Agreed to Cap Troop Size, Top General Says Gen. McConville and the acting secretary have agreed the force will not grow past 485,000 active-duty soldiers next year. But can they keep it from shrinking? Staff Reporter Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville has signaled for months that he would like to grow the force by as many as 70,000 additional soldiers, but that he expected he would have to make do with less. On Monday, the Army’s top general appeared to surrender, finally, to the idea that more limited defense spending levels are expected in President Joe Biden’s first Pentagon budget request.