Evening star., 1937-11-21
Personnel of State Staff
Of Guard to Be Reorganized
Departmental Heads to Be Given Bet
ter Equipped Employees to Handle
Detailed Work.

Drastic reorganization Of the en-.
listed personnel Of the State Stan
Detachment Of the District National
Guard is being studied by Col. John
w. Oehmann. commanding the mi
litia. The general purpose Of the
plan. 1t was explained, Is to give the
officers personnel which. will be Of
more aid to them in carrying out
their specific duties and relieve the Of
flcers Of some of the heavy detail
which they now have to shoulder.
The proposed changes, 1t was in
dicated. will give better balanced
organization In this general SUPER
visory group and instead OF loading
UP the rolls Of each department with
Just enlisted men, the latter will
be picked for their special training
and ability.
The officers Of the State Staff have
many specific duties to perform, the
most important Of which is to keep
volumes of data required by the War
Department in the many reports
which mus. be made in the course
OF the year. This involves the keep
ing Of many records. and 1t has been
found that the ordinary enlisted men
who have been assigned there in the
past have not been trained sufficiently
to give the heads of the department
much aid, and the officers, because
OF their arduous duties have had
little time to give them the special
training required.
The paymaster has many payrolls
to handle as well as other funds, in
cluding the duty Of keeping account
Of allowances from tho Government
to see that they are not exceeded.
This requires highly special training.
Likewise the ordnance department
has thousands of dollars worth OF
armament to account for, as well az
to keep the records of shooting made
on the range. The Inspector Generals
Department has many details Of re-
ports on inspection, which cannot
be handled without q great amount
OF detail work on the part Of some
one who must be thoroughly IA
mi.iar with the regulations and other
requirements.
The officers have been told to
search for special personnel who will
be OF material aid to them in carry
ing out their duties and when found
they will be transferred to the re-
spective departments. Otherwise, ef-
forts will be made to get the spe-
cialists by enlistment of new men
who can perform the duties incident
to carrying out the work of the va
rious departments e11iciently.
The estimates Of the Guard TO,
carrying out its work during the fscaI
year 1888 were under the scrutiny Of
the Budget Bureau last week. Col
Charles A. Dravo, U. s. A., adjutant
general. and 1t. Col. Peyton G. Nevitt
assistant adjutant general. appeared
at the bureau to justify the estimates
which were put in and those which
passed through the District of Co.
lumbia Commissioners.
While they declined to discuss the
details Of their audience with the
Budget Bureau, 1t Is probable that
they stressed the great need Of an
armory here for the Guard.
Guard ofncials in sending their esti-
mates to the Commissioners asked
for $2,500,000 for armories for the
city, and also for $200. .0o0 to pur-
chase site tor the main building
which 1t Is proposed to construct.
It is understood the Commissioners
passed along the request to the Budget
Bureau which In the past has knocked
out the armories' request as being
not in conformity with the Presi-
dents financial program. However
whether this prohibition will knock
it out Of the regular estimates this
year, is a decision which is awaited
with some concern. especially in view
Of the fact that the President took
cogniZance Of the seriousness of the
Guard armory situation just before
adjournment of the last Congress BY
requesting an emergency appropria.
ton for the purchase of site. How.
ever, Congress failed to grant tn.