Evening star., 1925-03-29
Army andNavy News
Bv NJ. II. McIntre.

reaching the age of Sc colonels who
are not on the general officers ell
gible list will be retired. Hence,
those having 10 years active service
| to their credit will be placed on the
retired list at "a per cent of their
pay for each year of service. No
credit is given for service at the
military or naval academies, but en-
| listed service is included. This is
applicable TO officers in all grades. and
7 they are place on the retired list
under the same regulation after 10
years active service. Announcement
will be made in the near future rela-
tive to the members who will be ap-
pointed to the board which will pre-
pare the list of eligible colonels for
promotion.
Officers below the rank of colonel
failing to qualify for promotion will
be retired for age in grade. Lieu
tenant colonels, when they reach the
age of so years, and captains, when
| they reach the age of As years, will
| both be retired at " per cent per year
for their total active service. In either
case, however, their retired pay will
not exceed IS per cent of their pay at
| the time Of their retirement.
In classifying officers below the
grade of colonel, the central examin-
| ing board will consider three distinct
| points, which are as follows:
Determining who is eligible for
promotion to the next higher grade.
The board will not walt until officers
are due for promotion, but an eligi-
| BILE list will always be prepared be-
| fore vacancies occur. In case an off,
| Ger fails to qualify for promotion, to
| determine what disposition will be
made of his case. Every reasonable
| opportunity will be given officers to
qualify for promotion, and under the
new law those who do not qualify will
| be entitled to a re-examination. Off
| GERS with less than 10 years service,
| exclusive of military and Naval
| Academy service, will be discharged
with one years pay.
ARMY.
Despite the fact that the Congress
| has failed to authorize sufficient ap
| propriations for the purpose of pro-
| ducing postwar improvements in
| small-caliber anti-aircraft weapons
six separate and distinct improvements
| have been worked out by the Ord
nance Department for defense Of
ground troops against aircraft at
| tack. The six postwar developments
| are as follows: Semi-automatic In
| fantry shoulder rifles, improved
tracer ammunition for caliber 80 ma
| chine guns. improved ball ammuni-
tion for caliber 80 machine guns,
improved mounts and sights for cali
Der 80 machine guns, caliber so ma
| chine guns with superior mounts and
sights to any used in the World War
and firing types of ammunition not
| encountered by planes in the World
| War, automatic 81 nm. 5000 f.s.
gun with supersensitive fuse and
| tracer shell.
The anti-aircraft fire in the World
| War. with the caliber 80 Browning g
machine gun on improvised mounts
| firing the present service ANN uni
| tion and wartime tracer, was prac-
| tically useless, the tracer ammuni-
| tion was very inaccurate, and IL did
not follow the trajectory of all am
| munition 1t is pointed out by ord
! nance officers that the present tracer
| ammunition which is being issued to
the service gives d brighter and
longer trace, is much more accurate,
there is a smaller percentage of
blinds and it follows the trajectory
| of ball ammunition and does not
metal foul.
The Improvement In connec ton
with the Browning machine gun,
caliber so is considered to be the
most effective small-caliber anti
aircraft weapon yet developed. This
| weapon will be the standard anti
| aircrat weapon for anti-aircraft bat
teries, and has tracer ammunition
which will trace 1900 yards and
armor piercing ammunition with a
maximum vertical range of around
5000 to 1000 yards. Its rate of fire
is about 500 to 500 shots per minute
which is about the same rate as the
caliber 80.
l. Development work now going or
in connection with semi-automatic
rifles, such as the Garand, Thomp.
son and Peterson, it is pointed out
by ordnance experts, will revolution.
lze the defense of ground troops from
loW-nytng enemy planes During the
world War ground troops were con.
tfnually attacked by low-fying hos.
tile aircraft, but the increased rate OF
nre which will be the result of this
development work means that these
low-hying planes will be subjected te
sucn olast or fire from the Infan-
trymen that the risk will be toe
great for the airmen to take
According to che Ordnance De-
partment the most important i'm
proNement of all is the automatic q
nm, which in cahber is about
half way between the small arm
and the artillery. It uses a. super.
sensitive fuse, fires a. shell at the
| NtiS -uiSH NelOClty or 5000 {, s and
carries tracer in its base. Within
Its range against planes 1t is point
ed out by ordnance officers that I,
Will be a very effective weapor
against aircraft, as the tracer will
enable direct gun-pointing instead OF
complicated fire-control systems
which are too slow for the faster
planes at low attitudes, such as the
diving pursuit plane.
It Is understood in Army circles that
Brig. Gen. Richmond P Davis, who at
present is commander of the Hawaiian
Coast Artillery district, is to be one of
the new major generals Gen. Davis
has an illustrious war record, and since
the termination of hostilities in 1918
he has acquitted himself with distinc-
| ton as commander of the Sd Coast Ar
tillery district, commandant of the Coast
Artillery School, and as commander of
the infantry brigade in the Hawaiian
Islands. He has been commended re
Gently in War Department orders for his
very excellent work with the Infantry
brigade in the islands, and his eleva
|