BAGHDAD, Iraq — Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the rest of the Bush administration may be undecided on whether to send more troops to Iraq, but several soldiers he met with at Camp Victory here this morning here said extra forces would help.

"Sir I think we need to just keep doing what we're doing," Spc. Jason T. Green, with the 101st Military Intelligence Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division, told Gates during a breakfast session with about 15 U.S. soldiers.

"I really think we need more troops here. With more presence on the ground, more troops might hold them off long enough to where we can get the Iraqi Army trained up."

The troops may be somewhat at odds with military commanders, who worry that rushing thousands more Americans to the battlefront could prompt Iraqis to slow their effort to take control of their country.

Those concerns are "clearly a consideration" in mapping out future strategy, Gates said.

Just days into his new job as defense chief, Gates planned meetings in Baghdad with Iraqi government officials today, after a day of talks with his military commanders on Wednesday.

His hour-long question-and-answer session with troops over scrambled eggs Thursday was largely spent gathering insights from those closest to the action.

When he asked them whether adding forces would help, he got a roomful of nods.

"More troops would help us integrate the Iraq Army into patrols more," said Pfc. Cassandra Wallace, from the 10th Mountain Division.

The soldiers also told him they think the Iraqi Army is getting better, but that it should be bigger and that many of the Iraqis are still not showing up for duty.

Gates, who later helicoptered to Balad Air Base west of Baghdad for a special operations briefing, did not tip his hand much to the soldiers, who were from the 1st Cavalry Division, the 1st Infantry Division and the 10th Mountain Division.

But he said U.S. logistics and support troops are likely to be in Iraq for a lot longer than the combat forces — as efforts continue to stabilize the country.