Seems to me any smart captain who isn't selected for major below the zone who look at the career prospects in the Army, and on civvy street, know it's a good time to go to grad school and/or get a job rather than just waiting around.
I don't mean to minimize the problem, but I'm not sure what to do about it long term.
The end of the four/five year obligation is when an officer decides whether the Army is a temporary gig, in part to pay back a service obligation and education, or whether its a 20-30 year career. Historically, many choose the citizen-soldier path and not the career path. I did, because my wife made it clear she had no interest in a career as an an Army wife, moving every 2-3 years from post to post. As much as I love the Army and loved my time in service, I made the right choice. Still married and we have four great kids.
BTW, this NYT story is an MSM smoke-screen campaign, because they want to bury the real story, which is the Army is about to report fantastic, over-budget, re-enlistment numbers, which show Iraq is having no significant impact on recruiting. They put this story on page one so their readers won't get any news that deviates from their war is lost theme.