Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-26

regular service, and Brig. Gems.
William e. Gilmore, Frank p.
Lahm and Benjamin D. FouloiS.
A Sad Commentary.
That an Army unit should be so
large as to require four generals
to properly supervise its activities
and yet should have a promotion
! system so faulty as to permit only
three officers to reach the rank of
colonel is a sad commentary on
the present method of handling
the advances in rank in the
service.
Under the present system of
promotions there can be no more
Air Corps officers promoted to the
rank OF colonel until the present
Air Corps lieutenant colonies are
reached on the single promotion
list for the entire Army. Though
there are II authorized vacancies
for colonies in the Air Corps, the
present Air Corps lieutenant coll
onelS may not be promoted to fill
the vacancies because lieutenant
colonies OF Infantry or Artillery
or some other branch of the serv-
Ice happen to stand ahead of
them on the general Army promo
ton list. AT the same time these
officers of other branches of the
service who are in line for promo
ton cannot be promoted to fill the
Air Corps vacancies because of
the specialized requirements Of
the flying service.
The only solution for the prob
lem, in the opinion of Air Corps
officers, is the creation of sep
arate promotion list for the Air
Corps, so that Air Corps officers
may be promoted, when the need
arises, to fill vacancies in the next
higher grade. Until some such
system is worked out, they say,
there cannot be q properly bal
anced of1cer personnel for the
corps.
High Mortality Rate.
The reason for the present I'M
satisfactory situation in the Air
Corps is the fact that more Air
Corps officers are killed, injured
or detached from the service by
designations than in any other
corps. The Air Corps creates 40
per cent of all vacancies in ON
GERS ranks in the Army. Though
so many of these vacancies occur
in the Air Corps, they must be
filled by promotions in the gen.
eral list of the entire Army.
Thus, when major of the Air
Corps leaves the service, promo
ton comes to the first captain on
the promotion list, whether he be
In the Air Corps, Infantry, Caval-
~, Artillery or any other branch
OF the service. Though an Infan-
try captain may be promoted to
NIL the vacancy, he remains in
the Infantry. The Air Corps does
not get another major and the
duties OF the former officer must
be taken over by some one of
lesser rank until such time as, in
the normal course of Army pro-
motion, an Air Corps captain is
slated for promotion.
There now is but one bill pend
ing before Congress dealing with
Army Air Corps promotions. This
is Senate bill No. 4, introduced by
Senator David Reed of Pennsyl-
vania, on April Is, 1929, during
the first session of the Seventy
| first Congress. This was passed
by the Senate May Is, 1929, and
now is up for consideration by the
House committee on military af-
fairs, to which it was referred De-
cember IL last.
Not Fully Satisfactory.
This measure, as it now stands.
is not entirely satisfactory to Air
Corps officers. It does not help.
for example, they say, the war
time pilot who lost his place on
the promotion list during the 9 or
10 months he put in training, dur
ing which period ground officers
assigned to the Air Corps contin-
ued to advance, though subjected
to none Of the hazards of flight
training.
The Furlow bill, which died at
the close of the last Congress,
though much more satisfactory to
all grades of Air Corps officers,
has not yet been reintroduced in
the present session of Congress.
The father of the original bill,
Allen ]. Furlow Of Minnesota, was
not reelected to the present Con-
gresS.
In dealing with the situation in
his annual report, recently made
public, F. Trubee Dawson, AS
Sistant Secretary Of War for Avia-
ton, said of the Air Corps promo
ton problem:
Legislation is the only remedy.
The Furlow bill, as it passed the
House the last two sessions of
Congress, or the Air Corps pro-
visions Of Senate bill No. 4, as
originally introduced by Senator
Reed in the first session of the
Seventy first Congress, are un-
questionably the most satisfactory
solutions to this most pressing
problem. I again urge that one
OF these measures, or one contain
ing their provisions in substance,
be enacted into law at the next
session of Congress-"
The situation manifestly is most
unsatisfactory and injurious to
the morale and esprit de corps Of
the Air Corps. The remedy is
known. The matter Is in the
hands of Congress, and Congress
alone. The Congress should act,
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