carl smith, a great marine corps fighter pilot. he started in the navy but trained with jim amos back in 1970. you saw the handwriting on the wall and joined the marine corps and can attest to this. i was company and my son joe, who is a major in the marine corps reserve and we were hanging out. i hear a shout and it was jim and bonnie. they were stationed there at the time and we had a great visit. they could have just kept going and we would have never seen them or known they were in the p.x. they are the most engaged and positive couple you will ever meet. jim has confronted the challenges i mentioned earlier facing the marine corps. he is relentless in trying to reduce the suicides, an effort that he started when he was the acting person. he has refused to accept the status quo. and i know that this is an issue that wabse in his heart. when he had to take on a tough procurement issue, which the marines have been developing for decades and been in the pipeline and this was the vehicle to get the marines shipped to shore. he took

that's twice as high as carl smith and mind. so now if you said i want to be a young enlisted marine, i don't want to go through that sat and college and stuff, eight months. you sign up today, if you walk, go to the recruiter downtown washington, d.c. and you sign up, assuming you are morally, physically and everything else qualified, then you're looking to sit in will recall -- because we don't have room for you. it will be eight months before we can ship, the san diego. that's an indication that young men and women want to commend. our officer retention is probably higher today than i can ever remember. it's in the '90s. i'm talking captives but and you might think captain's don't like that stuff. actually they want to stay. it's in the 90 percentile. i'll tell you what i worry about. so that's all good. and by the way, just like your brothers in the army, we've been in some pretty tough times. this is not been -- i've lost 1123 marines now, killed in action since we crossed the border in march 2003. almost 14,000 wounded so

jeff gordon running right now, the first car one lap down in 20th place, needing to pass regan smith and carldwards to be in position to get a free pass. >> going right back to the same place here guys. loose in, real tight in the center, going -- going away bad. >> 10-4. >> you see those hands on the wheel inside that 24, pretty busy. >> and talking and giving feedback to alan gustafson but that is one of the hardest things to fix, loose in and loose off but tight in the middle situation. >> it is. and really, in my experience, if you fix the middle a lot of that fixes itself. they have not had it tonight. but that's good feedback from jeff. >> carl edwards in front of the group, he's first car one lap down. pitted under green before the caution, rain, took the wave around to take back one of the two he lost. if a caution would come out now he would get on the lead lap. his hopes of finding his way into the chase barely alive. >> taking a chance got them a couple laps down, took a wave around and trying to pit early and take a chance and gain tracks position and make it all happen. this car

carl smith, probably, neither one of us would have never made it. here is the average score for a young marine officer. the s.a.t. score is 1250. the 3.22 gpa. no felonies. none of that kind of stuff. no nasty tattoos that are visible, which is difficult in today's society. and you are heavily involved in sports and heavily involved extracurricular activity. the 3.22 gpa and sb -- s.a.t. scores at 1250. that is just to make the cut. then you start talking about -- i mean, i looked at a record this weekend that had an s.a.t. score of 1550. i did not even know it went that high. [laughter] that is twice as high as karl smith's and mind. -- and mine. ok, so you say you want to be enlisted marines and i don't want to go through all of the s.a.t. stop. eight months if you sign up today. if you go to a recruiter in downtown washington d.c. and you sign up and assuming you are morally, physically, mentally, and every other way qualify, you are looking at eight months. we do not have room for you. it will be eight months before you ship to san diego. that i

carl you are on booktv. please go ahead. >> thank you peter. this is a great privilege. mr. smith's book on eisenhower i got at the library and i am the middle of drafting a letter to david and his father. now that i see the two eisenhower's onstage together, it's going to have a third addressee, mrs. eisenhower as well. i have a -- i also want to say my earliest political memory is my mother saying general eisenhower was nominated at the 52 republican convention so that gives away what my age might be but i have a serious question concerning how history is recorded regarding the incident of may 1, 1960 and i have reference to mmo of general who was in a two president eisenhower. after checking with the present i informed mr. bissell of the cia that the u2 makar pressure may be undertaken provided it is carried out prior to may 1. that memo and less is written to cover general goodpaster -- suggests that the u2 might not have been authorized by a president president eisenhower but in fact would would have bea rogue operation directed by the director of central intelligence. if anyon

carl, you're on booktv. please, go ahead. >> caller: thank you, peter. this is a great privilege. just a week ago i got mr. smith'srary, and i'm absorbed in it, and i've also, i'm in the middle of drafting a letter to david and to his father. and now that i see the two eisenhowers on stage together, it's going to have a third addressee, ms. eisenhower as well. i have a specific -- i also want to say that my earliest political memory is my mother weeping when general eisenhower was nominated at the '52 republican convention, so that gives away what my age might be, but i have a serious question concerning how history is recorded regarding the u2 incident of may 1, 1960. and i have reference to a memo of general goodpastor who was an aide to president eisenhower writing that after checking with the president i informed mr. bissell of the cia that one additional operation, a u2 operation, may be undertaken provided it is carried out prior to may 1st. that memo -- unless it's written to cover mr., general goodpastor's rear end -- suggests that the u2 might not have been authorized by president eisenhower, but, in fact