x1 makes it easy to find what you love. call or go online and switch to x1. only with xfinity. i'm jim sciutto in for wolf blitzer. 8:00 p.m. in fallujah, iraq, wherever you are watching from around the world, thank you for joining us. we begin the memorial day here in washington as america pauses to honor its fallen. these are live pictures of the ceremony just about to get under way right now at the vietnam veteran's memorial. it commemorates the 58,220 u.s. soldiers who died in the vietnam war. and a short time ago, president

obama and defense secretary ash carter laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns at arlington national cemetery. the president also delivered remarks praising the heroism of the fallen soldiers. >> those who rest beneath their silence, not only here at arlington but veteran cemeteries around the country and the world and those who remain missing, they didn't speak the loudest about their patriotism. they let their actions do that. whether they stood up in times of war, signed up in times of peace, or were called up by a draft board they em bodied the best of america. >> our barbara starr is at arlington national cemetery

today. barbara, i know you're in the section known as section 60 there. can you tell us and our viewers who's buried there. >> reporter: well, jim, here in section 60, this is the place where so many iraq and afghanistan military members are buried. those who fell on the battlefields, now familiar names to so many americans, fallujah, ramadi, kandahar, jalalabad, this is a place, i'm going to have the camera pan over a little bit. this is the place we first started coming here, this was an empty green meadow. and over the years, you've seen 15 years of war that this country has been at and you see those who have served some of our youngest military members in these conflicts. this is where they were laid to rest. in so many cemeteries across the country, families, friends,

battle buddies, mothers, fathers, grandparents, young children coming out to pay their respects. but even just regular neighbors. we've met many people just from the area who said they wanted to come here today. so it's an extraordinary thing. people have often referred to section 60 as the saddest acre in america because so many young people are laid to rest here but i think when we're here, we see grief but what we also see is not the saddest acre in america but the acre full of the most love for america's fallen. jim? >> you see all the lives touched there too. the children, the family members paying tribute today. barbara starr, thanks very much. well, the iraqi army said it has begun an operation to storm fallujah. many drive isis out of the center of the city. it's been there for two years

now. iraqi forces have retain several towns and villages to the west of the city. this comes a week after they kicked off an offensive to take back fallujah entirely from isis. cnn senior international correspondent frederik pleitgen joining us from london. fred, one big concern is that there are tens of thousands of civilians still trapped in fallujah. how dire is the situation for them? >> reporter: it's really dire for them. it's interesting because over the past week this fighting has ramped up, jim, a couple of people have managed to get out of fallujah and about 50,000 still remain trapped inside the city and essentially with isis in there, they are or the remaining population is human shields for isis at this moment in time. they mix in with the population. they go into houses. they fight from there. and certainly something that makes it a lot more difficult, for instance, for the u.s. to target isis from the skies but of course, also makes going in

there for the iraqi security forces and its allies, militia, a lot more difficult to do in the next coming hours and days that they want to move into the real center of fallujah. now, one of the things that the u.s. said is remarkable though is the extent that the iraqi security forces have advanced. earlier today, colonel steve warren was on "new day" and talked about the advances of the iraqi security forces. let's have a listen. >> a year ago here in iraq, the barbarians were at the gates. baghdad was threatened and in theory, was in direct danger of being invaded by these animals that we call isil. now we've driven them back. they've lost almost 45% of the territory they once held here in iraq. they've lost 20% of the territory they once held in syria. so we are seeing the iraqi security forces that in 2014, quite frankly, collapsed under the pressure that isil put on them. we're seeing them begin to

rebuild. >> that rebuilding effort, however, is the first one that's pretty much in progress, jim. you could see these advances that have been made there in fallujah. one of the things that's a reality is that there are ir iranian shiite militias that's a grave concern for the people inside the city of fallujah, jim. >> frederik pleitgen with the latest. let's talk more about this operation. cnn military analyst and former commanding general of the u.s. army in iraq with general mark joining me now. thank you for joining us on this memorial day. >> blessed memorial day to you. thanks for having me. >> as you know well, american troops suffered some of the worst losses in fallujah during the war in iraq in 2004, more than 100 soldiers, many of the marines died battling al qaeda-linked surgents. so here we are now two years, more than two years after isis

took over this city. how important is it for you, for the soldiers who served under you to take fallujah back? >> multiple attacks in fallujah, jim. i was there in 2004 when the first assault went against that city. we were in baghdad supporting that operation and fallujah has a special place in military history, truthfully of it. it's not that big of a town. it's a small dispersed city. mostly one and two story buildings but there have been some very difficult fighting there over the years. mainly because it's a sunni hot bed. and what you've seen this week and what i was fascinated by was the rapidity by which multiple suburban towns around fallujah fell over the last week. especially the town and the fact the iraqi army announced this morning that they were entering phase three of this operation by

putting counterterrorism forces inside this city. as you just mentioned though, something to watch closely within the next few days is what's going to happen with the counterterrorism force that has gone inside the city, the iraqi army that's conducting the assault, mostly from the south and the northeast, and the shia militia so far stayed outside the city. that's critically important and we'll be watching that. >> shia militia backed by iran. there are reports that senior ir iranian commanders on the ground there as well. meanwhile, you have u.s. air power backing up the iraqi forces. they've been doing artillery strikes as we've been seeing there. how does the u.s. avoid the impression that this is a joint u.s./ir u.s./iranian, if not by planning but the ground. >> there's a lot of coordination. again, the army has been the one

that's actually conducted the maneuver and the assault towards the city. the shia militia have been around the position in the city. as you see iraqi tanks and yes, they are going into the city with support from iraqi artillery, we don't think we would have seen after the rebuilding of the iraqi army, mixed with coalition air power, especially the american ones. it's precisely targeting the isis forces inside the city of fallujah. as fred mentioned, estimates are between 400 and 1,000 fighters. that's what the intel estimates are saying but certainly holding human shields within the last couple of days, in fact, executed some of the men and boys within the city of fallujah who refuse to fight for isis. this is going to be a tough fight. the iraqi government says they should close it down within two days and clear the forces. i doubt that, jim.

>> are you worried about iran supporting our iraqi allies on the ground and the u.s. in effect on the same side as iran in this battle? >> truthfully, i am not. i think a lot of the iranian, shia militias, i don't want to call them iranian, it's coming out of the core and supported by the iraqi government. i think they have actually been relegated to a secondary role which is a good thing. it's only if you do see these militias starting to take a primary role that i would be concerned, jim, and that's what we have to watch but right now, that's not happening. >> i know you're a long time combat commander. you lost men and women, so our thoughts with you and the people who fought with you. >> thank you, jim, for that, and cnn has been doing a great job continuing to mention that today. it's not only the young men and women who fought and died but their families grieving as we

saw at arlington a few minutes ago. it's a tough day for those of us who i think most of us take a big shot of bourbon and toast those who gave their all who gave the fight for freedom. >> the least we can all do. thank you very much. coming up next, donald trump pledging his support to veterans but he still hasn't released the details of money he claims he's raised for vets. and fears over the zika virus. they call to be postponed. we have a live report from brazil. without warning. if you've had a heart attack, a bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another one. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. bayer aspirin. ii wake up and i just. feel like sticky. we have the windows open, the ac on, i'd close it in the middle of the night, he'd open it in the middle of the night, it was a nightmare. my new tempur-breeze stays cool to the touch. not cold, but cool. it naturally adapts to your body and somehow creates the perfect temperature for you. sleep cooler. wake more refreshed.

discover the new tempur-breeze. and now thru june 5th, save hundreds on an adjustable base when purchased with a tempur-breeze mattress. came out today thousands of people to run the race for retirement. so we asked them... are you completely prepared for retirement? okay, mostly prepared? could you save 1% more of your income? it doesn't sound like much, but saving an additional 1% now, could make a big difference over time. i'm going to be even better about saving. you can do it, it helps in the long run. prudential bring your challenges

when age-related macular have degeneration, amd we came up with a plan to help reduce my risk of progression. and everywhere i look... i'm reminded to stick to my plan. including preservision areds 2. my doctor said preservision areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula that the national eye institute recommends to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd... after 15 years of clinical studies. preservision areds 2. because my eyes are everything. when you didn't know we had hundreds of thousands of places to stay all over the world. or that we searched billions of flights to get you here. a few weeks ago, you didn't even know where here was. now the only thing you don't know,

is how you're gonna leave. expedia. technology that connects you to the people and places that matter.

that can camp out in between our teeth, if we'll let it. use gum® brand. soft-picks®. proxabrush® cleaners. flossers and dental floss. gum® brand. the presidential race now. donald trump took center stage in the nation's capital on sunday speaking at the annual rolling thunder event to honor the fallen. trump has been courting the veteran's vote but one issue is dogging him lately. the status of money he said he raised for veterans charity. cnn political reporter sarah murray joining me now live. just remind our viewers if you can where that 6 million came from for veterans and when we will know exactly where it's going. >> reporter: sure, jim. you remember that donald trump skipped the fox news debate saying he was going to hold his own event and do it to raise

money for the veterans and since then, been kind of a little bit complaining about it only gotten bad press from it and that's because his campaign has struggled to answer questions about how much they actually raised and where that is going. donald trump insists he'll put those to rest tomorrow. take a listen at what he had to say at rolling thunder. >> our veterans have been treated so badly in this country. you have a secretary that last week said, no, the wait time doesn't matter. forget about wait time. i know people and i've gotten so know so many vets and we just raised almost $6 million for the vets because i didn't do a television show. i said, let's do this and we're announcing on tuesday all of the groups that we put up this money and we raise this tremendous amount of money because we love the vets and that's announced on tuesday. all of the groups that have gotten the money will be announced on tuesday. we're having a big press conference and it's going to be great and a great day.

>> now, jim, as of last month, our cnn investigative team confirmed about $3 million in donations that went from that event to veterans charities and we also confirmed that donald trump donated a million dollars of his own money and shed more light on exactly how much was raised and where the rest of that money might be going. >> sarah murray, thank you very much. cnn political director david chalian. and donald trump had another target as well. he went after the federal judge who's ordered the release of documents. this relates to the case against trump university. let me play for you and our viewers what he said in a rally in san diego about this judge. >> i have a judge who is a hater of donald trump. a hater. he's a hater. his name is gonzalo. we happen to believe is mexican. you know what, i think the mexicans are going to end up

loving donald trump when i give all these jobs. >> so a couple points there. why would he bring up the ethnicity of the judge? >> i don't know. i honestly don't know why a presidential candidate would mention someone's ethnicity. there's a serious case that hillary clinton is involved in judicial watch and suing to get all those documents from the state department and that judge happens to be african-american. imagine if hillary clinton came out and said, i can't believe this judge is making me give all these documents. he happens to be african-american. i mean, there would be an outcry. so i don't get it. politically, i mean, every time the republicans who are trying to get to like donald trump t, y to embrace him and think he's going to start to become a more traditional candidate, he says something like this which offends a whole group. >> i mean, if you look at how any of the lawsuits he's dealt

with, just throughout the course of this campaign, the miss america, the talent agency stuff he dealt with. he takes on a legal opponent as vociferously as a political opponent if not more so and this is part of a complete takedown of a judge that he just believes is not on his side in the case. and he's going to do everything possible to try to discredit in some way. why the ethnicity is part of that is beyond me. >> he must have it in for him. >> hillary clinton went after the state general to turn him into a partisan inspector general and couldn't get a fair shake but she never talk about his race or ethnicity. that's the line he's been willing to cross in modern american, no others would do. >> the judge is american. born of mexican parents but born in indiana. >> that's the nature of our country. italian irish right here.

>> same. >> third party challenges and commentator bill kristol said just a heads up over the holiday weekend, there will be an independent candidate. an impressive one with a strong team and a real chance. do we have any idea who might be on this list? >> no. bill kristol being bill kristol and loves to stir the pot. he dislikes donald trump strongly and leading the effort to find a conservative alternative to trump. >> let's take folks out of the running. who's not on that list? >> we saw ben sass, the senator from nebraska and not interested in filling the role. >> i interviewed him recently and reiterated that to me. but listen. my guess is that at this point, if bill kristol is the financial backing that he's put together, the strategic backing he's put

together for someone to be this vehicle, if it hasn't emerged by now, it's not likely going to be a household name. this is somebod i think if somebody does step up and do this, we're now at the stage where a lot don't know there would need to be a big education component to who this person is and why they might provide an alternative. the country is not closing the door to the notion that there might be a better option than either donald trump or hillary clinton. so it's not that there's not an opening that the american people are willing to listen to. it just seems we're so late in the game past these filing deadlines that if you don't have somebody already known in some way, you create a much tougher task for yourself. >> typically, if a republican like bill kristol comes out with a candidate, you would typically say any other year, that person more likely to take from the republicans than the democrats but would that hold true this year with so many frustrated with the major parties? >> i don't see how that would

take away from hillary clinton. we don't know with donald trump's new strengths are. does donald trump take part of hillary clinton's traditional working class democratic voters? do those go to trump and some go to the third party candidate and squeezes hillary? i don't think the option they're talking about here anymore is to win. i think it's to win a few states. if you don't get a majority of the electoral votes, our presidential election gets kicked to the house of representatives controlled by republicans. that's one of the pot-stirring things here. is can they kick the general election to the house? >> to the house. >> stay with us. we'll bring you back. one top democrat says that bernie sanders campaign is all but over but sanders certainly not ready to give up the fight. is he leaving the door open for a possible vp slot? we'll talk about that and more when we come back. what's it like to be in good hands? like finding new ways

to be taken care of. home, car, life insurance obviously, ohhh... but with added touches you can't get everywhere else, like claim free rewards... or safe driving bonus checks. even a claim satisfaction guaranteeeeeeeeeee! in means protection plus unique extras only from an expert allstate agent.

it's good to be in, good hands. that's why i run on quickbooks. details. i use the payments app to accept credit cards... ...and everything autosyncs. those sales prove my sustainable designs are better for the environment and my bottom line. that's how i own it.

jen stops working, but her aleve doesn't. hey mom! because aleve can last 4 hours longer than tylenol 8 hour. what will you do with your aleve hours?

keeping it low key. she and former president clinton took part in chappaqua new york. secretary clinton shook hands and mingled with others in the crowd. added more campaign dates as well in california. but bernie sanders is going full steam ahead in california eight days before the primary. sanders has two events on his campaign calendar today. he takes part in the community discussion later today and holds a rally tonight. both events in oakland. for more on the democratic primaries, let's bring back cnn political director david chalian and ryan lizzo. bernie sanders is determined to fight on until the end. now pushing to remove some clinton supporters from key convention spots. how does this fight play out? >> well, it's going to play out

in two different phases. one way for the next week because he's got a week left. he's been playing hard in california and all due respect, i know that washington, dc votes on the 14th but with new jersey and california being the two big delegate prizes remaining, bernie sanders has put everything into california in the last month basically and going to have a week there to continue to make the arguments he's making and then there's going to be another phase which is after hillary clinton crosses the threshold of 2383 she needs to secure the democratic nomination which will likely happen next tuesday night, then sanders is going to have to figure out how to handle himself in the new phase. it's no longer about the rallies and going to woo voters because that would be over. it will be about negotiating with the clinton team and that part, we've yet to see how it will play out. you're right, they're indicating they really want to play some big cards as it comes to the convention. the platform committee, the credentials committee. make sure that they are getting

a fair shake. >> speaking of this negotiation, if you want to call it, he seems to be leaving the door open to a vp slot. listen to what he said on nbc this weekend. >> i would hope if i am not the nominee, would be somebody who has a history of standing up and fighting for working families, taking on the drug companies whose greed is doing so much harm, taking on wall street and corporate america and fight for a government that works for all of us, not just the 1%. >> would you take the call if hillary clinton asked her to be your running mate? >> right now, again, here we are in california. knocking my brains out to win the democratic nomination. that's where i am right now. what happens afterwards, we'll see. >> so he said someone fighting for america, taking on the banks. who does it sound like? >> bernie sanders to me.

this is so different than 2008 where hillary clinton and barack obama, even though it was a hard fought primary, they didn't have deep ideological differences. sanders is different. when hillary clinton bowed out, she wanted things from obama like paying down her campaign debt. that's not where sanders is. he wants policy. like to influence the democratic party and keep the pressure on hillary clinton to make sure she's at least looking at his issues and hillary clinton running against donald trump who a lot of republicans, has disaffected a lot of republicans has a strategic decision to make for her running mate. does she move to the middle or pick someone to bring in some of those disaffected republicans? i think bernie sanders keeping pressure on her is going to make that impossible. she's going to have to stick with the base. >> it's the idea of the beholder, that term. and the one thing the clinton campaign will tell you over and over again. they believe their road map to success is taking the obama coalition and making sure that all those folks turn out.

it seems as we watched hillary clinton move left throughout this nomination race to sort of where her party is and seems the entire strategic plan is about reigniting the enthusiasm among the obama coalition that the idea she would pick some old like dlc centrist bill clinton seems like an unreasonable idea. >> too polarized. >> it seems this won't be terribly difficult for her to find someone to meet sanders'. >> they lost the senate. 2010 and 2011 wiped out the bench of the democratic party. she's got sanders, elizabeth warren. not that many fire brand lefties she can appeal to. >> david chalian, thank you very much. deadly flooding in texas and a storm traveling up the east coast. we'll bring crow the layou the . those who died in tduty.

we'll be right back. try new alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. they work fast and don't taste chalky. mmmm. incredible. looks tasty. you don't have heartburn. new alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. enjoy the relief. amazing sleep stays with you all day and all night. sleep number beds with sleepiq technology give you the knowledge to adjust for the best sleep ever. save $500 on the memorial day special edition mattress with sleepiq technology. plus 36 month financing. know better sleep. only at a sleep number store. once i left the hospital after a dvt blood clot. what about my wife... ...what we're building together... ...and could this happen again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered,

was this the best treatment for me? i spoke to my doctor and she told me about eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots. but eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. knowing eliquis had both... ...turned around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless you doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. eliquis treats dvt & pe blood clots. plus had less major bleeding. both made switching to eliquis right for me. ask your doctor if it's right for you.

flooding lingers in parts of texas. authorities searching for three people missing after record-setting floods there. the flooding blamed for at least six deaths in total. meteorologist tom saider joining me. give us an update on the flooding, the forecast in texas. are they going to see some relief there now? >> they are going to see relief, jim, for a couple of days. unfortunately, it looks like the long-term forecast at least into the middle and the end of this week, promises more rainfall. we've got two stories. one is more of a nuisance rain

on the coast. we'll get there but this is tragedy. a one and 500 year flood event for residents in and around houston. this on top of the one in 500 flood event they had last month. what are the chances of that? now that the death toll is up to 7. yesterday, it was 5 and around the san luis pass finding the remains of a person swept away and the counties in flood warnings seem to be the fort bend, montgomery county, over 200 water rescues on friday alone. most of the rain was north of houston but all the rivers flow through that area. so the rivers are rising like the san jacito river over 120 feet. when you get in close and look at the color of purple here, friday, over 19 inches in a 48 hour time period and a broader picture, you'll be able to see problems we have later on this week around san antonio. but with that heavy rain north of houston, all the rivers are

rising quickly. yesterday, mentioned two prison facilities had to be evacuated. 2600 inmates moved to higher ground. thousands have been evacuated but unfortunately with the death toll at 7, we have still three that are missing and that's a big, big concern. no rainfall right now or in the near future for the next 24 or 48 hours and houston may get a break for the next 5 to 6 days and now we'll continue to look at this freak of nature. this incredible amount of moisture dropping heavy amounts of rain down to areas in the south of texas. >> we know it's been a soggy memorial day for the folks on the east coast and outside as well. what's the latest on that? >> this is a slow mover and unfortunately, this is a good reminder, june 1st, when the atlantic hurricane season came in. bonnie did not make landfall as a tropical storm. it was a depression. so this is a good reminder and that this doesn't have to be a

hurricane. i-95 north of savannah shut down for hours. we had people like on the highways. looking at problems. they couldn't get off because other area roads were closed as well and it's just a good soaking now for our center, from the center, still in south carolina all the way this plume of moisture through the outer banks up through delmarva to the north of nantucket. so because, jim, this is a slow mover, it's going to be more than dampen the day and barbecues and community parades. it's going to do this for a couple of days. not just the flooding that we've seen in south carolina and the eastern part of north carolina but the next couple of days, just what was a tropical storm at one point is now just the remnants of but because it's moving so slow, we'll see some, probably some problems with flash flooding in several communities mainly along the coastline. for those that have been trying to get to the beaches, rip currents are a big, big problem now. some beaches are closed, we know. but we'll watch this the next

couple of days and create problems of its own but thoughts and prayers with many communities in and around the houston area. >> got to watch out for those. unprecedented fears over the olympics with the spread of the zika virus. now some want the games postponed and moved out of brazil. we'll check the facts and the fears after this. ou stay connected to each other and to your customers. with centurylink you get advanced technology solutions, including an industry leading broadband network, and cloud and hosting services - all with dedicated, responsive support. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you're free to focus on growing your business. centurylink. your link to what's next. is better for your skin than wearing no makeup at all? neutrogena® cosmetics. with vitamins and antioxidants. now with foundations in shades for more skin tones.

if you have allergy congestion muddling through your morning is nothing new. introducing rhinocort® allergy spray from the makers of zyrtec®. powerful relief from nasal allergy symptoms, all day and all night. try new rhinocort® allergy spray.

postponed or cancelled? questions about the games in rio de janeiro brazil. some concerned about the spread of the zika virus there. cnn international correspondent ivan watson in rio.

we saw this open letter to the world health organization. more than 100 doctors and professors recommend holding the olympics in rio as planned, not worth the risk. has there been a response? >> reporter: absolutely. the world health organization has come back and it says there is no global health risk to justify postponing or moving the games. it says that it insists that zika, the zika virus is found in around 60 countries. more than 30 countries in the region here and it's standing by its health advice which includes advice for pregnant women simply not to come here for the olympics in roughly two months time and also for people to practice safe sex and found zika can be transmitted through sexual contact and it is also issued an advisory going back to may 12th saying visitors should stay away from poorer neighborhoods of rio because

there's open water and sanitation and poorer sanitation and that is a breeding ground for mosquitos and puts people at greater risk. jim? >> real challenge there. so many challenges going on in brazil now. ivan watson live from rio. on the day we remember fallen u.s. troops, we want to ask two distinguished american soldiers about what the troops need right now. their message military leaders right after this. if you have allergy congestion muddling through your morning is nothing new. introducing rhinocort® allergy spray from the makers of zyrtec®. powerful relief from nasal allergy symptoms, all day and all night. try new rhinocort® allergy spray.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ time to reflect. in washington and across the country today, ceremonies honoring america's war dead. the somber observances as a reminder that u.s. soldiers remain very much in harm's way around the world today. there are some 15,000 american

troops currently deployed in iraq, syria and afghanistan. that includes special forces helping in the war against isis as well as those involved in the coalition air attacks in syria and iraq. they're part of more than 1.3 million u.s. military personnel stationed around the world today. let's talk about the current state of the u.s. military, what the military's needs are. both of my guests have distinguished military careers. lieutenant colonel hurtling served for 37 years rising to role of commanding general in the u.s. army. long deployments in iraq. lieutenant colonel rick francona flying recon missions there in the vietnam war, later assigned as military attache in the middle east and including syria. thank you for your service and thank you for joining me today. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us. >> general hurtling, you said that the major challenges facing the u.s. military, certainly

include personnel issues, the strain on forces, but primarily now, funding in the age of sequestration. >> yeah. the 2011 budget control act, jim, really affected the military significantly. and i tell you, i was still on active duty 2011 through '13 when that first went into place and many of my colleagues said this cannot last. we took a real hard look at what we were doing to try to improve our efficiencies and our effectiveness and i think it was very good and as that lasted through '15, '16, '17 and '18 we'll see a deter ration of the force that will be significant and i think the service chiefs, army, navy, air force, marine corps have juggled their demands well and they have cut fat.

they are now cutting muscle and soon going to cut bone. >> colonel, you have said the biggest challenge is troop draw down. similar problem to what general hertling is talking about. >> we see escalating threats. if you look at the russians and the chinese, what they're doing, going through this draw down and much of it driven as the general said by the funding issue, they're increasing their weapons capabilities. just look at the russians. since we fielded the main battle tank, they fielded three new withins and a missile that dwarfs us and electronic warfare systems state of the art and introducing new lines of aircraft. we're meanwhile we are stagnating and as the general said cutting muscle instead of just fat and this has got to stop and we'll continue down the slope and find ourselves faced with adversaries that outclass

us in almost every area. >> general, there's such a tiny fraction of the american population that are bearing the burden of the multiple deployments and the two longest wars ongoing in iraq and afghanistan. as we have the draw downs, does that put more of a burden i imagine on the soldiers still deployed? >> yeah, it certainly does, jim. we heard the president today remind people and i said this last week and shocked the crowd saying less than 1% of america serves in uniform. the president said the same thing today. i don't think people understand that a great deal of this burden is falling on a significantly small number of forces. when you're seeing some of the things as i said before, the service chiefs juggling how do you get the best for your money and the biggest bang for the buck in terms of readiness and people and while you're talking about drawing down, where you save the most money that the service chiefs forced to do, the

draw down requires more soldiers to pick up more tasks to deploy more often putting more stress on their families and this very small component of the force is carrying an unbelievably heavy load. >> before we go, it struck me today the president used the word combat to say three u.s. soldiers killed since last memorial day were in combat but the administration denied a combat role. was that telling? >> you know, they've said they've died in combat, even the secretary of defense chairman said that. they're trying to walk a fine line saying killed in combat but they weren't on a combat mission. i think many of us take exception to that looking at young men and women in the air right now dropping bombs in iraq and syria. that's combat. >> general hertling, rick

francona, thanks to you for joining us and your service. >> best to you on this memorial day, jim. >> thank you. we want to take a quiet moment to remember those four americans killed in iraq and afghanistan in the last seven months while serving their country, our country, mcclintock died in afghanistan in january. he left behind a wife and an infant son named deckland. his wife wrote this and her husband saying, quote, matthew's greatest wish was to be a father, a husband and a green beret. he got to do all of those things in his too short life. his son will know his father was the greatest man i'm dreamed 0 know and a hero. president obama remembered the three americans killed fighting isis in iraq in a ceremony this morning at arlington national cemetery. >> charles keetding iv, charlie, chuck or c4 was born into a

family of veterans, all-american athletes and a gold medalist. naturally charlie and the love of his life brooke celebrated their anniversary on the fourth of july. she called him the huge goofball everybody wanted to be friends with. the adventurer who surfed and spear officialed and planned to sail around the world. josh yeah wheeler said sister said he made something of himself. as a kid, josh was the one who made sure his brother and four half sisters were dressed and fed and off to school. when there wasn't food in the cubboard, he grabbed the rifle and came back with a deer for dinner. louis cardin was the sixth of seven children, a californian with an infectious wit with a joke at the ready to help someone get through the tough time. when his siblings ran around,

the mother would say watch this baby's safety margin and she said she was raising a marine. >> our thoughts here at cnn are with the families of mcclintock, keating, wheeler, cardin and other that is have lost their lives in the line of duty as we honor them on this e moirl day. i have had the privilege of embedding with u.s. service men and service women. seeing them do their work. it is great work. often at great sacrifice. sadly too often with the ultimate sacrifice. i know that i thank you and my family does, as well. that's it for me today. the news continues now with brooke baldwin in "the newsroom." ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ hi there. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you so much for being with me on this e moirl day. you will hear some inspirational stories as we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice and those serving right now. let's begin in cincinnati, the fallout of a killing of a beloved gorilla when the primate held a 3-year-old boy for a terrifying ten to 15 minutes saturday. you can hear the people watching screaming. somehow this child managed to climb through a barrier, fell in to this exhibit. horrified witnesses watched as the endangered