Getting 30,000-35,000 troops into some of the world's most backward terrain in six months will be the most ambitious troop movement yet in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it will compel an already strained military to move large forces faster than ever before, military officials said Wednesday.

Until Tuesday, officials thought they'd have until the end of next year to deploy all the additional troops, but even before the president spoke at West Point, some Pentagon officials privately said they were dubious that the military could deploy that many troops so quickly.