Show puts new fake face on old ar army universal training program called modern democratic by news analyst and commentator why should universal military training be necessary at alt all how doss does the present ent plan differ from the draft this is the second it in a series of articles on thit pertinent subject washington what is universal military training the mo more re I 1 learn about it the more I 1 am convinced convince d that most of the people both bot h UNITs supporters and opponents have very little idea of what it really is im m more ore interested in the people who oppose because I 1 think they are doing themselves and their children a great injustice by allowing their thinking to remain out ot of focus id be willing to bet that tha t nine f tenths of the general public who dis cuss the question a are re looking past 1 1 j the object of dds cu c u B s 1 0 n their ide ideas as focused on something which no longer exists they have not examined what Is be actually dually in front of them and therefore are arguing from a completely wrong hypothesis old ideas stick in other words Dauk liage many people do not realize what is NOT it I 1 Is a NOT anything like the military service conscription which some of us knew e w from personal contact in the past and others knew from hearsay as proposed in the national security training act Is totally tot ily dlf dif lerent ferent in many essential principles principles f from m the draft under the selective service er v ice system first why Is it necessary let me quote the reasons given by the house hou a of representatives armed services committee as diges digested ted in the november issue of 0 the army information digest which article should be read in its entirety for a real grasp of the subject the united states has tradition 1 ithe ally depended heavily upon the civilian reserve components in every e ry major war the regular forces have constituted less than 10 per cent of the total strength these wars have been fought by citizen soldiers directed and organized by a small nucleus of professionals in the past geographical isola 2 ion con has provided adequate time for training and equipping large numbers of americans fresh from civil life and unskilled in the art of war before it was necessary to send them into battle in any future emergency however no such cushion of time can be expected there must be sufficient trained forces in being on any ny future emergency gency day the regular forces today conati 3 tute no more than the traditional nucleus of professional military skills furthermore they are spread thinly over a large area of the world engaged in occupation duties in the circumstances the size and degree of readiness of the reserve components become matters of the most vital concern for if these reserve components are not adequate the overall military strength 0 of the tha united states stales is a hollow shell the reserve components are tar far 4 below their authorized strengths and are without hope of filling their quotas by voluntary means alone these authorized strengths represent the barest minimum estimate of manpower requirements the national guard is at 5 innately 16 per cent of its authorized strength the organized units of the organized reserve corps at 14 per cent and the unassigned reserve pool at 35 per cent summer suin mer of 1947 the 1200 members of the unassigned reserve pool are merely names on paper untrained and unorganized would build up the reserve 6 components n ponente to their authorized strengths tren cath s and would achieve a stability and an increased effi efficiency c lency of our ready forces that do not now obtain the alternative would be a regular army of about consideration was given the 7 claim that future warfare would be of the pushbutton variety requiring only a handful of scientists this claim is a dangerous illusion it if there Is another war it will be more total than the last and will involve a greater number of human beings without any hope of distinguishing gui shing the combatant from the noncombatant the war in all probability 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 ot of well disciplined and able bodied men cien in n every community the foregoing then were ome jams of the reasons which raided guided the armed services corne come noltee of the house bouse to vote out a national security training act the act would set up four agencies NATIONAL SECURITY TRAINING CORPS consisting eon of du 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 establishment only in a national emergency NATIONAL SECURITY TRAINING commission which would set the policies standards substance and character of the training program the commission would consist of three paid members appointed by the president two members including the chairman to be civilians and one to be from the armed forces GENERAL ADVISORY BOARD w which would provide the commission s with the best technical advice on the moral religious and educational phases of the program the board of 10 to 25 members would be composed largely of civilians serving part time with pay but would wo uld include at least three members of the armed forces it would have no policy policymaking making authority SELECTIVE SELE TRAINING SYSTEM similar to the selective service system of world war ir II which would register examine classify assign defer deliver and m maintain inthir records of men registered under As you note although military mIlitar 7 training in the modern sense which is more than ever training train ng in many man y valuable civilian skills Is the basis of the national security corps it is is devoid of many factors actors which h ich have made universal service in t the h past traditionally objectionable to the american people in these days any military training insofar as it involves killing is objectionable to the balanced personality sona lity but since we have not some of alie teenagers from all states who are trying a six mouth expert ment at fort knox N k eliminated the predatory forces in the world have not even isolated them certain measures of self pro lection like are necessary what are the he features of military training which stick in the craw of the average tree free american probably the first cirit the thing 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 liberty could be curtailed only after a jury trial and the judgment of roy my peers suddenly I 1 was confronted by the articles of war the court martial system and in some cases although I 1 personally never suffered much from it even in wartime ar the petty tyranny of a superior 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 during the additional six months of service depending on which option he may elect |