AN ARMY OF NONE: Are some of the Army’s best soldiers being forced out?

The Army is in a talent crisis. Its most recent study on the issue, in 2010, found only 6 percent of Army officers thought the service did a good job of retaining its best leaders.

The Army fights to keep private industry from leeching its best soldiers. With better pay, more comprehensive benefits and a stable location, the private sector seems tempting compared to military life.

But former Army officials and experts who spoke to Federal News Radio as part of our special report: The Army is Shortchanging its Future Force say the service is forcing out some of its best leaders even without the appeal of a private sector job luring them away.

The reports also says that “as the Army continues the drawdown of its total force from 1.3 million to 980,000, experts fear the service will push out the wrong people at an even faster rate.”

Retaining good soldiers is difficult even with good policy, and Washington and the Pentagon aren’t even getting the policy right.