Training & Development Associates, a Laurinburg-based consulting firm, presented those figures Friday.

Three congressmen and a state legislator were among about 300 people who attended the Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base BRAC Regional Task Force's Community Impact Assessment at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church. A final report will be presented in May.

The surrounding civilian community will gain about 25,600 people with military-related workers, their families and "economic migrants" who move to the area to take advantage of opportunities, the consultants estimate.

Allowing for losses at Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base, the community will add 4,647 active-duty soldiers, 1,893 Army civilian workers, 616 contractors working directly for the military and 1,000 to 3,000 defense contractors, said Wayne Freeman, president of TDA.

The numbers do not include the hundreds of Air Force reservists who will come to the area for monthly training, Dordal said.

Development will be "good for the tire store, good for the restaurant," said Rep. Robin Hayes, a Republican from Concord.

Rep. Bob Etheridge said the federal government needs to be involved in addressing educational needs.

"It's not enough any more to say it's a local responsibility or it's a state responsibility when we have the mobility of population that we do in America," said Etheridge, a Democrat from Lillington and former state superintendent of public instruction.

Etheridge, who is on the House budget committee, said Wednesday he will propose zero-interest bonds for school construction and increase money for Impact Aid, payments which go to local school districts that educate children of federal employees.

"We have children in North Carolina going to school in converted closets, in converted bathrooms," Etheridge said.

The schools face "an uphill battle" and "sympathy but not a lot of funding," said Paul Dordal, executive director of the BRAC Regional Task Force.

Military growth through 2013 will bring economic benefits and opportunities, but there will be challenges with schools, transportation and emergency response, officials said.

Rep. Mike McIntyre said the All American Center for Workforce Innovation will use wireless communication technology to connect "every public school, community college, university, JobLink Center throughout our 11-county region."

Col. Dave Fox, Fort Bragg's garrison commander, praised the task force for its role in planning, serving as a liaison between the military and civilian communities and identifying problems created by military growth.

"This is how to do it, how to do it right," Fox said. Military people are interested in good schools for their children and good jobs for their spouses in the civilian community, Fox said.

The 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Act mandated that Army Forces Command, a four-star headquarters, and Army Reserve Command, a three-star headquarters, move to Fort Bragg from Atlanta by September 2011.

The law calls for the Army to take over the real estate of Pope Air Force Base and convert it to an Army airfield.

23rd Fighter Group and its A-10 attack jets have moved to Georgia. The 7th Special Forces Group is supposed to move to Florida.

The groundbreaking for the $292 million headquarters building probably will be in August, he said.

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