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Show Army Reserve Units Successful Members of Mayor Edward Robert's Rob-ert's committee appointed to aid in the recruitment for Pleasant Grove's proposed Army Reserve Unit, are encouraged by the growing grow-ing success of the program in other oth-er Utah communities and throughout through-out the nationa as a whole. Back in 1947 the U.S. Army established es-tablished an experimental unit in Universal Military Training at Fort Knox, Ky. The Army was frank to admit that the unit was designed to give it an opportunity to gain experience in the running of training installations in the j evc"t Congress authorized UMT. A secondary purpose was to give the American people an opportunity to see how UMT would actually work. The experimental program was a small one. Only a small number S of men were trained. The Army ' however, got an insight into some of the problems involved in training train-ing youngsters for combat duty in the short space of six months. Today at Fort Knox and four other stations across the country, several thousand young men are undergoing six months of active duty training as a prelude to 7'2 years' duly in the Army Reserve. The Army does not consider the present program to be UMT. It bears only superficial resemblance to the 1917 experiment and falls far short of what experts consider is necessary for Universal Military Training. The 35-year-goal to provide Universal Uni-versal Military Training for all qualified young men came a step closer, however, last August 9, when President Eisenhower signed the Reserve Forces Act of 1955. Not a new law but an amendment amend-ment rf two existing laws which constitute the basis of our Reserve Forces, the RFA provides among other things for the training of young men for reserve components R.FA permits young .men 17 to 18',2 years of age to enlist in a Preserve or National G-uard Unit, take six months of active duty training, and return to their home unit to serve an additional 7 2 years. This Reserve or Guard service ser-vice will include 48 drill sessions plus two weeks' field training a year. At six installations Forts Leonard Leon-ard Wood, Mo.; Knox, Wy.; Jackson, Jack-son, S.C.; Bliss, Tex.; Ord, Calif.; and Camp Chaffee, Ark. thousands thous-ands of youngsters are getting their first taste of army life. At Fort Knox. Ky., in early December, Decem-ber, several hundred were finding the experience a new and interest-(Continued interest-(Continued on page 4) Army Reserve (Continued from page 1 ) ing one. Officers and enlisted instructors of the Armored Replacement Training Center, commanded by Brig. Gen. Samuel L. Myers, found the R.FA group younger than any the Army had dealt with in recent years. Drawn from all parts of the country and having enlisted in National Na-tional Guard or Reserve Units, the youngsters had their youth in common. com-mon. Reasons for enlisting for six months active duty training varied with the individual. Eighteen-year-old Lucius Carney, Carn-ey, of Farmington, Ga., said he enlisted en-listed to "get it over with," adding add-ing "I have a job back home and I need special training. So, I wanted want-ed to be able to go to school without with-out worrying about my army service." ser-vice." Watching the instructors impart their battle-won knowledge to the trainees quickly dispels the idea that RFA training is anything less than training for combat. The Army's Ar-my's program aims to produce a trained soldier in the six months he is on active duty, and no time is wasted on boondoggling projects or unnecessary extras. Recognizing that they are dealing with growing grow-ing youngsters, the instructors pay constant attention to seeing that the trainees get proper rest, food, ana exercise. sx uit: Liaiiueeo j.m out with army food and become more accustomed to army life, the pace of training increases. Every man gets eight weeks of basic combat training, which in i the words of the army directive are to make him fit "to participate as a member of the infantry rifle platoon." Each trainee comes to the basic school from a National Guard or Reserve unit. His assignment in that unit determines where he will get his future training. If, for example, ex-ample, he has come from a Guard or Reserve tank unit, he will take Advanced Individual Branch training train-ing at Fort Knox. If he is to be trained in another specialty, he is sent on to the proper post. If it is to be armor, individual training takes another ten weeks; infantry advanced takes eight weeks. Dunng their six months' training train-ing men who came in from Reserve units are paid $50 per month. Equipment and medical and dental care are the same as provided for all enlisted personnel in the Army. Secretary of the Army Brucker in asking for support says that thousands of patriotic young men, "will be- eager to come into the Reserve under this plan when they understand its advantages. It is our task to get the word to them." In commenting on the progress being made locally in enlisting the requisite number of Reserve personnel, per-sonnel, Committee Chairman Bob Cornaby said, "Progress to date has boen slow, but we are not discouraged." |