bill ingram, director of the army national guard. the podium.r donna, a reporter for "usa today." the organizer of today's lunch on the speakers committee and the 2009 president of the national press club. skipping over the speaker momentarily, rachel oswald, a at national journal news wire. brigadier general james whitham. mary french of army magazine. chief master sergeant mitch enlisted advisor to the chief of the national guard bureau. watson a retired daily newspaper editor. a veteran of the national guard and a member of the national post.club american legion known asfales better sergeant shaft, a columnist at military.com. [applause] as the defense department a leanerow to create less costly military force without compromising readiness ournd guest today points to the national guard as a key part of solution. today's national guard general "the mostrass says is come patent, relevant and battle tested national guard in the history of the nation." if testimony before the senate defense appropriations committee called the guard a "cost-effective proven solution" allows the nat

lieutenant general bill ingram director of the army national guard. speaking over the podium. a reporter for "usa today." the organizer of today's launch on the speakers committee and 2009. skipping over the speaker momentarily. rachel a reporter at national journal global security news wire and vice chairwoman of the club press freedom committee. editor in chief of army magazine. chief master sergeant senior enlisted adviser to the chief of the national guard bureau. will watson a retired daily newspaper editor. president of the watson group. and john. better known as sergeant shaft who is a columnist at military.com. [applause] as the defense department ponders how to create a leaner, less costly military force without comprising capabilities and readiness. our guest today points to the national guard as a key part of the solution. today's national guard general frank says is, quote, the most competent, relevant, and battle-tested national guard in the history of the nation. in testimony before the senate defense appropriations committee last year, he called the guard a, quo

you know, i went to the retirement ceremony for lieutenant general bill ingram this week. he was the tag of north carolina. we served together as tags, him in north carolina and me in illinois. he got promoted to general, i got demoted to congress. his retirement ceremony, he got up and spoke. what was the first unit that the army called up out of north carolina in 2001 when we were ready to go to war? it was the attack helicopters. the a.h. 64's. they were the shock absorber. they were the insurance policy for america. you know, while we're talking about, about the pentagon, when you look at the pentagon today, you look at the ktive duty military establishment, we have more generals and admirals today than we had in world war ii. we have an army of less than 500,000 people, in world war ii it was about five million, today we have more generals. every one of those generals and active duty has a staff and they have trucks and drivers and so on and so forth. 250 now, they have 250 -- one and two-star generals serving active duty in the army. we have now, division, you need t

bill. >>> so just how bad is this year's drought? it could be the driest year in 500 years. lin ingram is a climate expert. she looked at old tree rings, fossils and layers of sediment. droughts in the past would last for decades. a surface water dries up, people have to go deeper to find underground sources. our john fowler live now in napa county where drillers are relying on an ancient method john to find water. >> right now these drillers told me they have just hit 120 feet. this is one of six water wells being drilled today in the napa valley. now the owner of this vineyard told me that he's willing to spend upwards of $30,000 on the chance for water because his other well just ran dry. >> reporter: this afternoon near dry creek road, this drill rig began going deep. under ground water here is harder and harder to find. >> when i first started drilling here 30 years ago, 300 feet was the norm. >> reporter: now they're going up to 1,000 feet deep. so many wells needed for vineyards, that the aquafore is shrinking. >> maybe napa should reconsider storing so much water for winter. >> reporter: he says he