The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-20
DEFENSE TEST TO . HONOR PERSHING
Country To Learn Results
 Of This New Army Work

general of the armies of the United States, will cease to be an active of ficer of the Rew army in the making of which he has been the controlling force. On that day he will be GA years old and, under the law, will automati- cally be transferred to the retired list, says the New York Times.
 With the day of his retirement draw ing near the question is asked: What will be General Pershing's monument?
 His place in history as leader of the American expeditionary forces in France, is the usual reply.
 The organized reserves of the United States and the new army" say his as- sociates in the war department.
 A Welding Of Forces
 One of General Pershings friends, a man who served with him in France, remarked the other day that, secure as Pershing is in history as one of the great allied, chieftains, the outstanding achievement of his career is his work in building up, in the face of almost insurmountable obstacles, the present military organization of the United States, with the regular service, the national guard and the organized re- serves closely and harmoniously welded together. :. In view of this remark. significance attaches to the recent formal announce ment at the war department that the President had approved the proposal for a countrywide demonstration of national defense plans to be September 12. For this defense test" will occur the day before General Pershing is due to retire and on the sixth anniversary of the Battle of St. Mihiel. {;
 It would be hard to conceive of more appropriate date for displaying the mobilization plans of the new army, because St. Mihiel marks the first time the American army as an independent and composite unit under American command took the field in France. Pre- vious to St. AIihiel, American divisions had parts in operations with French and British units. ,-.a}
 Plans Are Not Secret
 "The defense test" said General Pershing the other day, will explain what preparation for national defense means. It is to be day during which every one will learn his place should our security be threatened. Our plans are not secret and we propose to afford the people an opportunity to become familiar with them. This test will be a LryOuL TOT our SI0dH TSBuldE dEIly forces and the national guard, but more especially will 1t show the preliminary steps required for the prompt utiliza- tion of our large reserve force of pa triotic citizens"
 The defense test will involve each of the nine corps areas into which the nation is divided and its fundamental purpose will be to illustrate the prine a;aln Ae laoa1 0p0a nj finr f0ukarAA hv the war department. What is this new army of the United States? That question was put to General Pershing, and at his direction an outline of the new military system was prepared by a member of his staff. It follows iu part:
 s'The present army of the United States is different from any other army which we have had in the past. FoF- merly we depended upon q small regua lar army, upon various units of the national guard and upon what the statutes used to call the "unorganized militia"
 Three Parts. To Army
 'tAs a result of our World war ex- perience Congress enacted the national defense act of 1920, providing for a single army of the United States with three components-the regular army, the national guard and the organized reserves. It prescribed that the various cornponents of the army should be or Ranized into tactical units and that peAce-time units should be arranged as the basis of & complete and immediate mobilization. This is the governing principle underlying our present organi- zation. .-'
 "Under that act the country is divided into nine corps areas, to each of which are allotted one regular, two national guard and three reserve divisions. After conducting intensive studies into the military effort which might be re- uuired in the event of a future war of any magnitude it was determined that we should possibly be required to put two million men into the field in our initial mobilization.
 "In the regular army we now have 135,366 officers and enlisted men, in- cluding 1,102 cadets at West Point. Of this number more than 33,OO0 men are outside the continental limits of the United States, in the Philippines, PanamH and Hawaii. The regular army, however, is not merely a gar rison force it is primarily a training nucleus.
 Ready For Emergency
 "The present strength of the national guard totals 164,856 officers and en- listed men. By supporting their various guard units the several states have maintained and kept in training local organizations, ready for the emergency call of the federal government. It is thus that we provide that well regu- lataA militia which 0ur Constitution states is essential to the security of free state. The national guard is ready to take the field alongside the regulars and defend the critical parts of the country against an enemy advance until the larger man-power can be mobilized, trained and concentrated for active op- erations.
 "When we next go to war we shall not have a mass of miscellaneous and unrelated units. Adjutants-genera and other officers of the national guard have attended conferences in corps area localities and in Washington with the regular staff and have adjusted their administration and organization so as to fit easily and readily into that com plete and immediate mobilization which the national defense act cOntemplates.
 Reserve Officers
 "Yet the hundred thousand regulars in the continental limits of the United States and the 164,000 guardsmen would not make up that two million that might be needed in a future na- tional crisis. Under the act of 1920 there have accordingly been organized about eighty thousand reserve officers. Tn the beginning these were veterans of the World war. Gradually, as they