Show N IM I 1 puts new N ew rm face pace on old army universal training program called modern democratic by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator why should universal military training be necessary at all alla how does the pr present bent plan differ from the draff draft this is the ibe second in a series of articles on ib this pertinent subject washington what is ig universal military training the more I 1 learn about it the more I 1 am convinced that most of the people both s supporters and opponents have very little idea of what it really is I 1 m more interested in the people who oppose because I 1 think they are doing themselves and their children a great injustice by allow ing their thinking to remain out of focus I 1 d be willing to bet that nine tenths of the general public who dis cuss the question are looking past the object of dis cassion u s s i n their ideas focused on Q something which no longer exists they have not examined what is actually in front of them and therefore are ar guing from a completely wrong hypothesis old ideas stick in other words baukhage Lauk hage many people do not realize what is NOT it Is NOT anything like the military ice conscription which some of us knew from personal contact in the past and others knew from hearsay as proposed in the national security training act Is totally dif dlf ferent in many essential principles from the draft under the selective service system first why Is it necessary le lek me quote the reasons given by the house of 0 representatives representative armed services committee a as digested in the november issue of the army information digest which article should be read in its entirety for or a real grasp of 0 the subject the united states has tradition L 1 ally depended heady beavy upon the civilian reserve components in ev 4 ery major war the regular forces have bave constituted less than 10 per cent of the total strength these wars have been fought by citizen solders sold ers directed and organized by a small nucleus of professionals 2 in the past geographical isola tion has provided adequate time for training and large numbers of americans breth from civil life and unskilled the art of war before it was nee essary to send them into battle any future emergency however such cushion of time can be expect V aed there must be sufficient trained forces in being on any future emer gency day 3 athe the regular forces today conati tute no more than the tradition al nucleus of profess onal milita military y skills furthermore they are spread thinly over a large area of the world engaged in occupation duties in the circumstances the size and de gree of readiness of the reserve corn ponente become matters of ot the most vital concern for if these reserve components are not adequate the overall military strength of the united states Is a hollow shell 4 A the reserve components are far T below their authorized strengths and are without hope of filling their quotas by voluntary means alone these authorized strengths depre sent the barest minimum estimate of manpower requirements 5 the national guard is at irately 16 per cent of its author iced strength the organized units of the organ zed resen e corps at 14 per cent and the unassigned reserve pool at 35 per cent summer of 1947 the 1 1200 members of the unassigned reserve pool are merely names on paper untrained and un organized 6 UNIT would build up the reserve components to their authorized strengths and would achieve a sta ability and an increased efficiency of our ready forces that do not now obtain the alternative would be a regular army of about 4 7 consideration was given the claim that future warfare would be of the pushbutton variety lequar ing only a handful of scientists this claim is a dangerous illusion if there is another war it will be more total than the last and will ill involve a greater number of human beings without any hope of distin aguish ng rig the combatant from the noncombatant the war in all ability will come into the cities and the homes of the people of the united states in such event the survival or recovery of the nation might well depend on the presence of well disciplined and able bodied men in every community the foregoing then we were re ome of the reasons which guided the armed services corn coin cittee of the house to vote out a national oat ional security training act the act would set up four agen cies NATIONAL SECURITY TRAIN ING CORPS consisting of all young men to be trained although these young men legally would have military status they would not be members of the armed forces would be subject to no duty other than training and would become members of the military establish ment only in a national emergency NATIONAL SECURITY TRAIN ING commission which would set the policies standards sub stance and character of the train ing program the commission would consist of three paid members ap pointed by the president two members including the chairman to be civilians and one to be from the a armed ed forces ZERAL GENERAL G ADVISORY which would provide the commis sion with the best technical advice on the moral religious and aduca dional phases of the program the board of 10 to 25 members would be composed largely of civilians serving part time with pay but would include at least three mem bers hers of the armed forces it would have no policy making authority SELECTIVE TRAINING SYSTEM similar to the selective ice system of world war 11 II which would register examine classify assign defer deliver and maintain records of men registered under As you note although military tra n ng rig in the modern sense which is more than ever train ng rig in many valuable civilian skills is the basis of the national security corps it is devoid of many factors which have made universal service in the past trad t anally objectionable to the american people in these days any military train ing insofar as it involves killing is objectionable to the balanced per sodality sona lity but since we have not some of the teen agers from all states who are trying a six month expert at fort knox eliminated the predatory forces in the world have not even isolated them certain measures of self pro pectin like are necessary what are the features of mill tary training which stick in the craw of the average free amen ameri i can probably the first the thing flung that used to overwhelm me at certain moments in my early months in the army is the lack of freedom no longer was I 1 a free man whose lib erty could be curtailed only y after a jury trial and the judgment of my peers suddenly I 1 was conron confronted ted by the articles of war the court martial system and in some cases although I 1 personally never suf much from it even in war time the petty tyranny of a supe nor in rank but the trainee under the proposed national security training act is not subject to the articles of war at all during the first phase of his training and only conditionally dur ing the additional six months of service depending on which option he may elect |