Evening star., 1936-01-05
TINE LIST Battalion, United 81


Naval Reserves, in the District
Of Columbia, began the new
- year by drilling as q unit
Heretofore, because of crowded armory
conditions, each Of the three divisions
composing the battalion has drilled on
separate nights-Monday. Tuesday and
Wednesday. However, in the future
the entire battalion will Grill on Tues
day nights. This announcement was
made with the beginning Of the new
year by Lieut.. James E. Sullivan, com.
mander of the battalion. The first
drill as a battalion unit will be Tues.
day night.
This change, 1t was announced
which has been under consideration
for some months by the commanding
officer, results from the fact that thu
local battalion has to undergo all in
spections as a unit and the need o.
acquainting the personnel of the three
fleet divisions with battalion opera
tions. Battalion drills, heretofore
have only been held on special occa'
sions, such as at the time Of the an
nual inspection and on Navy day.
Officers of the battalion expressed
themselves as being well pleased with
the new schedule following its an
nouncement last week. The change
is not a new one. since the battalion
has in former years unoer other COM
manding officers drilled as a unit. The
split-up drill by divisions was intro
duced in order to give the personnel
more working space, as the limited size
of the present drill hall makes the
holding of a battalion drill difficult
The reversion to battalion drills will
meet the same handicap for lack OF
space, but division officers are hopeful
that with doubling up of classroom
instruction and several other new
changes the handicap will be reduced
to minimum.
The new schedule of operations calls
for an officer of -the-deck detail on
each drill night. Duties of this officer
will include writing the log. supervising
the cleaning of the drill hail. seeing
that the bells are struck on time and
that the routine of the drills are fol-
lowed on schedule. The divisions OF
the battalion will be assigned this duty
by months. The lst Division has been
ordered to this duty for the month Of
January.
The battalion commander has ap-
pointed a board of officers to study the
various means of taking care Of the
expansion of the divisions in the event
that the proposed bill to increase the
division allotment from 56 to rs men
is passed by the present Congress.
The members Of the board are:
Lieut.. q. g. w. C. Jennings, execu-
tive officer Of the Sd Fleet Division;
Lieut.. q. g. e. c. Carusl, battalion
adjutant: Lieut.. u. g. r. j. ZanZot
and Ensign H. Arthur Lamar, recruit
ing officer. Lieut.. Jennings will serve
as senior member of the board.
Recruiting operations will be held
on each Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock.
instead of on Monday A new recruit
class will be organized Tuesday night.
Applications will be received on that
date and on each Tuesday thereafter.
The following officers have been
named as delegates and alternates
to the convention of the United States
Naval Reserve Oficers' Association.
which will be held at the Willard
Hotel on January 9, 10 and II:
Lieut.. James z. Sullivan, who will
attend as president of the local chap
ter of the association; Lieut.. John
Fewell. Ensign F. w. Lemly. Lieut..
Comdr. F. P. Quigley, Lieut.. E. I.
Snyder, Ensign H. Arthur Lamar,
Lieut.. John Cleland and Lieut.. c. H.
Williams.
Oficers in charge of the local ar
rangements of the Reserve officers
convention announced last week that
all plans had been completed. The
official meetings will be held at the
Willard and the banquet, which con-
cludes the convention, also will be
given there. Lieut.. John Fewell, local
chairman. in commenting on this
affair, expressed a hope that as many
of the Naval Reserve and Marine
Corps Reserve officers, whether they
are members of the association or
not, would attend.
The coming convention is expected
to be one of the most important in
the history of the organization, COM
ing at a time when naval expansion
is being discussed. It is probable
that one of the most important dis
cussions to take place will be that
for expansion of the Reserve forces
by adding 20 men to each feet divi-
sion. As the National Guard received
a large increase from Congress last
year, and the President has indicated
that he wanted to do as much for the
Reserve as for the land forces, it is
expected that Congress will look
favorably on the request for expan-
sion of the Reserve.
It was pointed out that the Navy
has become so technical that it is diff
cult to train men for duties with the
Fleet in a short period Of time after
the declaration of war. and therefore,
the proper place to make plans for
an increase is to provide for more
men in the Reserve, where the men
are subjected to weekly drills and
exercises and two weeks of sea train
ing so that they can take their places
aboard ship as soon as war is declared.
The increase. of course, involves an
appropriation of money, as members
of the Fleet Reserve. the active unit
which drills each week. receive a
days pay for each night of drills,
but the number of drills is limited.
The size of the divisions now is kept
at Sc because of the limitation Of
funds. However, it is contended that
the comparatively small amount OF
money needed to provide the addi-
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