By host Tom Ashbrook:

There is news from the Pentagon this weekend that the US Army is now promoting 97 percent of all captains to the rank of major, a dramatic jump in promotion rates, and more evidence — say critics inside the military and out — that the army is lowering standards because it is stretched too thin.

Last week, two reports out said the Army is coming dangerously close to a “breaking point,” stretched and over- stretched by the war in Iraq. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld responded heatedly last week, saying, in effect, “balderdash.” But the warnings keep coming.

Hear about the thin green line and loud warnings now of a US Army stretched to its limits.

Guests:

Tom Bowman, Military Affairs Correspondent for the Baltimore Sun.;
Retired Marine Col. Mackubin Owens, Associate Dean of Academics and Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval War College in Providence, RI.;
John Arquilla, Professor of Defense Analysis, Naval Postgraduate School.;
Tom Donnelly, Resident Fellow in Defense and Security Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of AEI’s “National Security Outlook” and “The Military We Need.” He is also Editor of the Armed Forces Journal.