The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-07-24
ORGANIZATION OF
THE new ARMY
Officers in Charge Of the Work say
Our Land Fighting Force win
be RevolutiOnized
tAssoclatea Press)

A<4AnSA SAtAs-4@ti%@
Washington, July 23.-America's
military establishment IS being prae-
tically revolutionized under the terms
of the new army reorganization bin
which became effective July ]. Army
officers say the work win not be COM
pleted for some months because of the
broad scope Of the measure passed &C
the last session Of Congress to place
the land forces on a permanent peace
basis.
While the regular army will contains
'nly 295s000 officers and men scatter
ed over the country and the insuiar
possessions, it win be so arranged in
conjunction with the national guard
and the reserve that rapid expansion
OF the nations fighting forces in time
of emergency viii be possible.
The national guard will have about
100000 officers and men, but the
strength of the reserve has not yet
been worked out and viii depend
largely on the enlistment of eligibies.
The regular army reserve as It for
merly existed. composed OF former en-
listed men furloughed to the reserve
TO complete their enlistment period
ceased to exist as such on July 1. In
its place there is established the en-
listed reserve corps and the officers
reserve corps. The members Of the
former, except veterans Of the world
war, are required to enlist for thres
years. Veterans of the world war
may enlist for only one year
The officers reserve corps is COM
posed of officers who held temporary
or reserve commissions during the
war emergency and graduates Of the
student officers training school.
To accomplish the reorganization
of the national guard and the initial
organization of the reserve, the army
bill provides for a general commit
tee to be composed of regular army
general staff officers and an equal
number of reserve or national guard
officers. In addition, So other c0m-
mittees, representing each state and
territory viii arrange the national
guard organization in each state and
territory. Some Of these committees
have not been appointed hg the gov
ernors and consequently this work has
not yet been put under way.
While no full plan Of organizations
has been made public. a tentative
plan to be placed before the commit
tee would divide the country into nine
districts with an army corps in each.
This corps would consist of one reg
ular, one ~ e rs d.
visions, SO aer-
gency the tgo &c
theoretically
much belo
filled up with 81 sstise
A full quota of officers drawn from
the officers reserve corps would be
available for these divisions at al
times.
The new regular army strength
provides for approximately 1900
commissioned officers. To provide this
number about 1000 reserve and tenn
poray officers have been kept on duty
and it is the plan to reach the full
officer strength by commissioning
about 1000 such officers and enlisted
men In the permanent army Officers
and men TO be 50 commissioned win be
selected by a board. known as the
Pershing board. headed by General
Pershing and including six other Of
ficers.
The bill broadens the scope Of The
reserve officers training corps at The
various educational institutions over
the country, provides instructors and
material for the schools and also an-
thorizes summer camps to last six
weeks for advanced training OF the
student officers. Graduates of the
training corps may be commissioned
IN the organized reserve.
The reorganization measure further
provides that the head of the militia
bureau of the war department. which
under the reorganization has juriz-
diction over national guard and err
serve affairs, shall be a national
guard guard officer not below the rank
of major who viii receive the pay and
allowances and have the rank while
on duty of major general in the
army.
The offices Of second and third as
sistant secretaries Of war are abolish
ed by the measure and their duties
absorbed by the assistant secretary
of war. who win be charged with the
procurement Of all military supplies
and plans for the mobilization OF naa-
terial and industrial establishments
needed in time Of war.