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Show Lean Years for Volunteers The Salt Lake Tribune A flourishing volunteer military faces lean years ahead. Few temptations are stronger than the urge to sit back and enjoy success. And few administrative challenges are tougher than that of forcing a prospering organization to prepare for leaner times ahead. Thats the situation the nations volunteer military services find themselves in now. Ask virtually anyone in the defense establishment about our volunteer soldiers and theyre likely to indulge in a bit of boasting. In Fiscal Year 1983, the volunteer services set new records for recruitment and retention. Even more encouraging, the quality of recruits was better than ever, better even than during the draft era, which ended So despite the Reagan administration's insistence that a draft is not necessary, current plans could make a return to the draft inevitable. Some analysts argue, however, that with an increased demand for recruits, not even a draft would keep the quality of enlistees as high as it is now. But theres another option that would expand the pool by help keep quality high enlisting more women. That simple solution would relieve pressure on recruiters and wage scales and perhaps allow politicians to avoid the sticky issue of reinstituting the draft. Ironically, however, the Reagan administration has all but dismissed the idea that women can be useful in the military. That in 1972. attitude has encouraged the worst tendenfew of a half the Only years ago, Armys cies of the Pentagon to resist the inclusion of recruits had failed to complete high school. women. Resistance only exacerbates the But in 1983, 88 percent of its recruits had but not problems that are inevitable diplomas. In the Air Force, the most attracare incorporated into as women tive service to volunteers, 98 percent of the the various services. recruits had a high school education. Women are prohibited from combatant But there is plenty of reason to worry which restricts the range of their usejobs, that the success wont last. For one thing, the fulness to the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. of is available young people pool shrinking But, as Rep. Les Aspin, pointed out in fast as the last bulges of the baby boom a recent study for the House Armed Services move into their 20s. Committee, only a few Air Force jobs Then too an improving economy offers fighter pilots and bomber crews involve more lucrative possibilities to potential reactual combat. cruits. Many of those fine recruits of 1983 Aspin has proposed that the Air Force be ended up in uniform only because their first required to recruit more women and that it Andy Rooney or second job choices fell through or because remove quotas on various jobs. For instance, cutbacks in student aid made college imposwomen have traditionally been attracted to sible. administrative and medical support specialSo unless the economy gets bad enough to ties. Why should there be a limit on the percompensate for the shrinking pool of young centage of women who can fill those jobs? people, the services clearly must be preUsing more women in the Air Force pared to compete harder for them. That, of might help relieve pressure on the other sercourse, means spending more money, putvices. But the real value of the proposal ting more resources into recruiting efforts could turn out to be in the example it sets. The Chicago Tribune as well as offering better wages and comfor Sure, there are jobs that are This morning I got up early and went to pensation. women, and there are other jobs that most my basement office to do some work. I say d Even so, there is good reason to doubt to than women are simply less office. Thats just for tax purposes. What it that the volunteer concept will continue to the average male. But there are areas in is, is a typewriter on provide the military with sufficient manevery branch where women can fill far more a small table bepower. The Congressional Budget Office has slots than they do now. tween two longer taprojected that by 1989, the services will need During World War II, when there was a bles that I made. One to recruit one out of seven young men of shortage of men in the workforce, women is cherry, the other in order to fill the enlistmilitary age proved they could hold down industrial jobs. walnut. Sometimes I ed ranks. When the men returned, the women were call them desks." But about 30 percent of those young men fired and America once again cultivated the Theyre simple but I are disqualified for physical, mental or mormade them myself myth of female fragility. al reasons. Another hefty proportion will atand I like sitting beBut that myth carries a price a willtend college, shrinking the pool of potential ingness to waste a great deal of talent. Given tween them in front recruits by half. the projections we have seen, can Americas of my typewriter Mr. Rooney armed forces continue to subscribe to that even when I cant All those figures assume that troop think of anything to write. as same will 1989 the be in today. myth? expensive strength It was before 6 a.m. and I wasnt ready Yet the Five Year Defense Plan advocated It is not farfetched to predict that, in the an for calls administration for coffee yet, but for some reason the idea the of the the end, Reagan by feasibility military buildup increase in enlisted personnel of about the Reagan administration wants so badly of a cup of cocoa had crossed my mind as Id will depend on women recruits, the same started downstairs. Id decided not to make a 160,000 troops. That would mean recruiting one out of group it has encouraged the Pentagon to commotion in the kitchen and wake everyone. snub. every qualified males who is not attending I rolled a piece of paper in my typewriter and sat there staring at it. All I could think of was cocoa. I hadnt thought of a cup of cocoa in nine years and now I couldnt get it out of my mind. You know, of course, what I did. My most Here are briefs from The Salt Lake Tribis a different newspaper story, packed with serious character flaw is that I dont deny une of 100, 50 and 25 years ago. laughs, thrills and l players from Glenda myself much. I went back up to the kitchen, March 16, 1884 Farrell as sob sister to Ned Sparks as the found some good Dutch cocoa that had been in the cabinet for years and made myself The last dance of the series of the Harreporter. some. ShelClub be sociables will at mony given March 16, 1959 dons academy on Tuesday evening. MaDownstairs again, sitting between my White sweater awards for eight quarters dame Adelaide Ristori will treat the theater wood, in front of my trusty typewriter with of outstanding participation and leadership goers to three fine tragedy performances my cup of cocoa, I thought how good life was. in the University of Utah Womens Recreanext Friday and Saturday evenings and SatThe cocoa was delicious and I found myself tion Assn, have been presented to Yvonne urday matinee. wondering why more people dont drink coSarro and Jo Anne Parry. March 16, 1934 coa instead of coffee in the morning. Paul Muni, for the first time in a brilliant It was sleeting outside and as I drank the participation awards went to d cocoa I could hear the little pellets of wet ice career turns to comedy in Hi Marcia Barrett, Carol Cutler, Margaret Nellie at the Paramount starting Friday. It Howe, Sally Smith and Jackie Winterose. windows. It made hitting the ground-leve- l New York Times Service FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla Eight years ago, Jimmy Carter won the Florida and then primary by being Mr - beat President Ford by running as Mr. years ago, Mr. Carter was ousted by a candidate who ran not so much as Ronald Reagan as Mr. r. First and Second Cup of Cocoa ts well-suite- (18-1- me feel better than ever. The first cup of cocoa was so good and it was so very pleasant just sitting there, dreaming, that I went back up to the kitchen to get what was left in the pan. I do not understand the cycles of life, the ups and downs of the spirit. From the moment I came back into the kitchen, the day which had begun so well started downhill. I The Way It Was A-- fast-pace- Boundary Solution I have a solution for the Salt Lake City School Board of Education concerning boundary changes. Give East High School all the boundaries, numbers, teachers and programs that they would like, then divide the leftovers between the three remaining high schools. You see, with four of the seven board members representing the East High area, that's the way it works out in every case. MARILYN RICHARDS Humane Horse Meat In reference to the recent controversies and dialogue over the sale of horse meat for human consumption in America, I would like to make some observations from the huin 1968, 1 mane point of view. As a teen-age- r would have supported the movement to protest the sale of horse meat for human consumption. Then, in college, I worked at the stable of a Maryland humane society and learned the realities of the end of an equine's life. The value of scrap horses was then very low. Cruelty cases and many horses turned in by their owners reflected this. We tried to give them a last happy summer, and then called the rendering plant to put them down in the fall. I took the deaths of these horses quite personally. Yet. later that winter even worse I cruelty and starvation cases came in and realized that escape from the Tenderer's pistol could mean greater sorrow later. This has been a hard winter in Utah, and a lot of horsey re showing their ribs due to lack of food Several related cruelty cases have already been reported in newspapers At a recent local auction, horses brought about 25 center per pound from the slaugh- - RICHARD E. MOLE Logan Morality Experts suggest the Utah Legislature appoint a Committee on Public Morals, initially appointing Maurice Swapp of Bountiful, Mau-rin- e Brimhall of Salt Lake City, Joyce Beech of Ogden, and someone of similar ilk from area. the Provo-OreThis committee should be delegated broad regulating duties in the areas of movies and TV (including cable) we watch, books and magazines (from libraries, schools or sellers) we read, and the sale of any commodity or service which might have moral implications for the public. This committee should have the power to censor reading and viewing material, or seize commodities and ban services, which they consider offensive. The Legislature must realize that there are only certain gifted people, such a those named, who are able to decide what is morally fitting for the rest of us more munuane I beings. One big advantage that might be gained Scarlet Patch I went to a Salt Lake County Commission meeting Feb. 15. It will probably be said that I was there because I want sex objects out for children to see and buy. If the moral way to stop these things is to destroy a family and their business or to blame your neighbor because you can't con- - Forum Rules Public Forum letters must be submitted exclusively to The Tribune and bear w riters full name, signature and address. Names must be printed on political letters but may be withheld for good reasons on others. Writers are limited to one letter every 10 days. Preference will be given to short, typewritten (double spaced) letters permitting use of the writers true name. All letters are subject to condensation. Mail to Public Forum, The Salt Lake Tribune, Post Office Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. trol your children, then I must have been raised wrong. I was raised to respect my neighbor's race, religion and beliefs Are we now to give the people of the Key Hole a scarlet patch to wear? They gave the Jews a yellow patch to wear so all others would know they were Jews. A scarlet patch would be suitable for all us immoral people Its much easier to have your judging done for you Mike Stewart said he could see the owners of the Key Hole had complied already It was too bad they seemed to be' the ones pointed at the most They had already been tried and hung Did it matter that things brought to show the commissioners were never sold in the Key Hole? Not really Do tion. r. year-roun- d rt Tribune Readers Opinions by such action, would be to allow the Legislature, now hard pressed within its convening span to properly protect the public morals, to concentrate on such problems as education and flood control. J ABBOTT Ogden Now Mr. Not- - has returned in the person of Gary Hart, who is running as Mr. and hopes to campaign in the fall as Mr. This has been a grand winter for contrarians. While the conventionaries were handing Mondale the nomination on a platter, we were suggesting the possibility of upset Readers of this column were on notice that Sen. Glenn might catch on. (Right principle, wrong man; the only political figure I know who predicted the Hart surge was Sen. Bob Packwood.) Now that the foot is on the other shoe, with Hart being prematurely crowned, contrarians say consider the vulnerabilities. First, dismiss the phony vulnerability: He cannot be stopped on a charge that his ideas are not new or his approach is not different. For example, Mr. Not-'- s espousal of a $10 per barrel oil import fee is as sensible as it is The proposed fee would break the power of the Arab-le- d cartel forever, and if combined with a domestic windfall tax, would take a huge bite out of the deficit while encouraging energy conserva- Nor will Hart be slowed by expostulations at his demagoguery. His smear of aid to El Salvador as providing American boys to be "bodyguards to dictators is outrageous, wrong, and unworthy of the thinking mans candidate, but face it isolationism appeals to a majority of Democannot tell for sure whether the deteriora- crats. 1. Harts issues tion in my attitude toward life from that vulnerability. moment on was caused by actual events or As a Westerner, he is against gun control; whether it was some chemical change in my if exploited, that position could hurt him in brain that made things seem less good than like south Florida. More important, places they had seemed a few minutes before. he has said he favors restructuring entitleThe cocoa left in the pan had a skin on top ments. Thats Goldwater talk realistic of it now. I had forgotten that cocoa did that. after an election, but devastating before. I heated it and poured myself what was left 2. Harts media vulnerability. At first, he and headed back downstairs. One of the had to be worshipped for coming out of noscrews on the knob to the cellar door has where; now he has to be punished for it. The loosened and it caught my index finger as I race is on to discover the warts on Lochin-vaopened the door with my free hand. It was a 3. Harts second-thougvery slight pain but it made me jerk back vulnerability. and I spilled a little of the cocoa with the For Democrats, Mr. Not-ha- s come along this scum on it on the rug. way before. McGoverns nomination led to I continued downstairs, put the cup of electoral disaster and Carters seizure of the cocoa on one of my tables and came back up party led to catastrophe in 1980. For Novemto the kitchen to get a wet sponge to clean up ber Democrats, the need for a new face is what Id spilled. Democrats, the powerful, but for lesson is never love a stranger. I to back the time By got my typewriter, The discovery of a new Mondale will the cocoa was cold and it was almost 7 a.m. I noticed a little water was coming in at the make a fight out of this nomination, with the Sen. Glenn whose defense top of one of the windows that needed new freshly feisty was a highlight of Sundays Atlanta decaulking. The oil burner in the next room pitch a possible compromise in case of went on and I got thinking about our oil bill. bate convention deadlock. The fallback position At about 7:15 I made a few hits at the for stop-HaDemocrats would be Sen. Ted keys of my typewriter and noticed right Kennedy, who has positioned himself so far above the fray as to be in another world. away that my fingernails needed cutiing. Within a few minutes Id begun to think of all The loser in all this, we contrarians arthe work I had to do in the next week. Ive got gue, is President Reagan. The Democrats to get that tax stuff together, too. are not tearing themselves apart, they are I dont care whether I ever have another occupying center stage and are contributing to each others fame. cup of cocoa or not. The Public Forum terhouse buyer. Though a lot mor- - than the 1968 Tenderer paid, this is not enough to cause the owners of the starving and neglected to bring their horses to market. The look in the eye of a starved mare, alone in her field on one of our frigid winter nights evokes more mourning in me than the horse just purchased for the slaughterhouse. It is preferable for unwanted horses to go to the slaughterhouse fit, than starved or brutalized by disinterested owners. The death of a friend is sad, but it is our duty to all animals to ensure good treatment to the end. The horse meat industry can encourage this through fair prices for the unwanted. Owners will sell horses in better condition to receive more money. Compared to a year or so ago, this industry now can pay only half as much for horses due to currency rates. Consuming horse meat in America would stabilize prices at auctions and ensure better care of no longer wanted horses. Four Not-Nixo- View of World Alters Between Recent issues of The Tribune have stressed ways to reduce the deficit. Now the City Council proposes to spend 3.2 million dollars to enlarge and beautify the bus bays downtown. Stop spending federal money, please! AGNES VAN ANKEN A19 Demo Winner Will Have To Stand Tall college. Even the most persuasive recruiter would need an exceedingly attractive package in order to meet that kind of quota. Stop Spending! 16, 1984 William Safire Women Could Be Answer When Military Dwindles Bv Sara Engram The Baltimore Evening Sun Friday, March the owners of the Key Hole matter? No, not really. They are only people. The most important thing was to use them as examples. Any of you who go to the Key Hole at Valley Fair Mall, go while you can. Their lease will not be renewed. I feel sorry for the store owners today. Stores have become play pens for some parents' children. How long are we going to let a few who call themselves "moral run our lives? Are y we so busy with our living that we cant see what's going on? Do you really believe they can legislate morals? You had better think twice. Lets stop passing the buck. Put responsiwith parents. bility where it belongs If wearing the scarlet patch means I believe in freedom of choice, free speech, freedom of religion and raising my children as I see fit. then I will wear it proudly. GERRY SNOW Magna day-to-da- Selecting a President In this year of aspiring presidential candidates who scurry around the land with painted smiles, kissing babies and pressing thousands of sweaty palms, one cannot help reflecting that there must be a better way of selecting our top executives. In the early summer, there will be two three-rincircuses" attended by thousands of frenzied, r.iieking people who have traveled thousands of miles to don plastic straw hats and dance up and down the aisles, brandishing their gaudy banners. Consider the waste of untold millions of dollars m these times of economic chaos These dollars are desperately needed for social and educational programs, highway and bridge repairs, flood protection, water and power projects, food and shelter for the needy, jobs for the millions of unemployed -the list goes on interminably. These dollars are now being wasted on political campaigns, in my opinion Would it not be vastly more efficient and g logical to make executive selection, unencumbered and uninfluenced by emotion, charisma and political machinations, by random computer selection from a pool of highly qualified individuals? To quote Arthur C. Clarkes comments in his futuristic book, Imperial Earth," which depicts life in the United States in the year 2276: There are some jobs that should never be given to the people who volunteer for them, especially if they show too much enthusiasm. We need a president who has to be, carried screaming and kicking into the White House but will then do a the best job he possibly can, so that hell get time off for good behavior. This may well be an idea whose time has come, revolutionary though it may appear. LEWIS W. MOREY Utility Jackpot I am disturbed about the irresponsibility of our public utility companies raising their rates with total disregard for the effect the increases have on their customers and the economy of the entire nation. It seems that Ma Bell and AT&T hit the jackpot about 15 years ago when some of the largest and most influential shareholders of AT&T formed a company called MCI" and then filed an antitrust action against AT&T. From then on, it was just a matter of arranging the right political climate and getting the right judge to force AT&T into divestiture. Now, each of these divested companies-ar- e claiming the corporate responsibility to guarantee each of the former shareholders of AT&T stock the same reasonable return on their investment as they were previously guaranteed by AT&T alone. Now, Utah Power & Light Co and Mountain Fuel are in a mad scramble, with the help of the Utah Public Service Commission, to furnish their shareholders as big a return on their investment as AT&T was able to stock split. d give through its I said I was disturbed. I am disturb that I did not, and do not, own any part of court-ordere- AT&T. NELSA NELSON Granger |
