Evening star., 1938-04-03
REGULARS PRAISE
|. D. c. RESERVE UNIT
Naval Inspection Board
Gives Local Contingent
High Rating.


Members of the 1st Battalion, United
States Reserves, in the District of Co.
lumbia, last week received, at the local
headquarters, the report Of the board
which recently conducted the annual
inspection of the three divisions COM
posing the local contingent. The in
spection was made by board of Reg
ular naval officers headed by Capt. I.
H. Mayf1eld, U. S. N.
1t showed the organizat ton came out
with flying colors. While the report
was praiseworthy, the organization, Of
course, will not know its relative
standing among the other battalions
Of the country until the inspection
board completes its examination Of
other units, which will be about July
l. But the men believe they will be
well toward the top and hope to get
the trophy which is awarded each year
to the battalion having the highest
figure Of merit.
This battalion shows good spirit
and has a healthy competition be-
tween divisions" the repor. said, and
was outspoken in its praise of the
manner in which the units conducted
the drills
Much of the praise for the present
state of efficiency, according to those
who have closely followed the organi-
zation's work, is due the present COM
manding officer. 1t James E. Sullivan.
The progress that has been made Is
said to be due to his firm and excel
lent leadership and his general compe-
| tence. He was selected to command
the organization after q long down.
ward move subsequent to the World
War. When he assumed the Office it
was close to the bottom of the list,
| and just prior to his appointment
| there were reports that the depart
ment was giving consideration to dis
banding the unit because of its ap-
! parent inefficiency.
| But this condition no longer pre-
walls. From the moment 1t. Sulli-
van assumed command the organi-
zation has been on the upgrade, de-
veloping into one of the most eff
| cient and smoothest functioning units
in the country. OF course, some of
| the results are due to the division
commanders and their assistants who
have worked tirelessly with the new
| commander in his efforts to build
the organization up to the Navy De-
partments requirements. These Off
GERS were selected by 1t. Sullivan and
he was fortunate enough to have
available both feet and volunteer
officers of unusually high caliber who
were willing to assist him in attain
ing the marked improvement which
has been shown.
The members Of the organization
are hoping that the fine report will
| indicate to the department that the
organization is deserving Of having
training ship assigned here per-
manently. But even while waiting
for the department to find such a
vessel, there is hope one of the train
ing division deStroyers will be sent
here in a short time to be used for
drill purposes, so that the men can
get some actual shipboard training
prior to the annual cruise.
There is hope also that they
might be given an opportunity to
make spring cruise of short dura-
ton. The annual cruise this year
Will be aboard a battleship some time
IN September. But much valuable
training, according to members Of
the unit, could be obtained by a short
cruise during the spring. This cruise
would be purely voluntary, the mem
bers receiving no compensation for it.
IL was said the morale of the organi-
zatlon is so high that the men are
| so much interested in their work that
they are willing to give their own
time and services if the department
Will supply the opportunity by send
ing destroyer here for this purpose.
| Furthermore, it was pointed out
that this organization will assist in
inaugurating the new system of target
| practice which has been outlined for
the Reserve gunners this year. and a
spring cruise would give them an op-
| portunlty to prepare for this ordeal
| oy using the fire control system on
the destroyer. 1t would give them
much valuable practice which the
omcers say will serve them we'll when
they actually get on the range at
Guantanamo. Cuba, the midcrlIise
liberty port of the coming battleship
cruise
Some indication Of the efficiency
OF the members of the Naval Com
munications Reserve is contained in
the report OF recent receiving COM
petition conducted by the Amateur
Radio Relay League. 1t was reported
oo3 radio amateurs participated, of
which 34l were members of the Naval
! communication Reserve OF the BAL
! Communication Reserve members.
2O2 submitted perfect copies of the
message broadcast. as against u per-
feet copies submitted by the other
312 participants.
! In the naval district competition
| between Naval Communication Re-
serve units, the local communication
| division finished fifth with a percent
age of 1890, according to figures Just
made public. The competition for the
quarter covered by the contest was
won by the lst Naval District, with
an average score of 81 90 The other
units and their scores are as follows:
11th District, 1880; 18th District,
TITO; 4th District, 1925; 18th Dis
trict, 73.4O; 18th District, lilo: Sd
District, 1850; 9th District, 68.05:
14th District, 6795: 9th District,
67,13; 9Th District. $500; 7th District,
60.75, and 5th District, $3.50.
With view to ascertaining the ex-
tent Of material available for issue to
Naval Reserve units for use in the
training work in their armories, the
Navy Department has announced 1t
has assigned an officer to make q tour
of inspection of navy yards and naval