Evening star., 1939-10-15

WdS ACoA AACa oA4
1t. Comdr. Sullivan. reliable author
ity that other increases in personnel
are contemplated in order to dispose
of the great amount of naval busi-
ness which has developed in the
Naval Reserve affairs here.
The medical officer on duty is
Comdr. c. w. Smith, U. S. Navy,
retired, who has been recalled to
active duty. A full-time medical
examining unit has been set up.
The list Of yeoman Reservists also
is being examined for the purpose
of finding some member Of the Re-
serve who Is desirous of being called
to active duty for an indefinite
period to assist In handling the
great amount of paper work, which
now is handled by one civilian clerk.
Some one who is willing to take
the duty, perhaps a citizen sailor
who is out Of work, might be pre-
vailed upon to make application for
the assignment, as the law pro-
hibits the Navy from calling any
Reservist to active duty in time Of
peace without his consent.
Aside from the increased num-
ber of men who are seeking enlist
ment in the Reserve, the local Re-
serve Office is handling number Of
applications for commissions. These
are being acted upon and sent to the
Navy Department for final consid-
Grafton as quickly as the details here
can be completed. But most of the
commissions being sought are said
not to be in that branch of the line
requiring knowledge of combat du-
ties, such as service on ships. The
greater part of the applications are
for the specialist branches, and most
of these are reported to be in the
naval intelligence branch, which in
cludes the information service.
Many of the applicants include
newspapermen and writers whose
services might be used here in time
of national emergency fecessitat-
ing calling the Reserves to the coll
ors. These men. of course, might
be used to relieve officers of the
Regular establishment for duty in
the combatant services in time of
national emergency, it was ex-
planned.
James E. Sullivan, who for sew
eral years commanded the local
battalion and who recently was
transferred from the Organized to
the Volunteer Reserve at his own
request, has been promoted from
lieutenant to lieutenant commando
er in the Naval Aviation Reserve.
He is a civilian employe of the
Bureau of Aeronautics of the Navy
Department and a graduate of the
United States Naval Academy.
Volunteers have been called for
from among the. ranks of enlisted
men for the trip to Norfolk to put
the new training vessel in COM
mission and bring it to Washington,
where it will be Immediately put
into service for week end training
trips on the Potomac River and
Chesapeake Bay.
According to the present plans,
this volunteer crew, together with
the reserve officers assigned to the
duty, will leave here by boat next
Friday night, reporting at the Navy
Yard on Saturday morning. They
will start the return trip to Wash
ington as soon as supplies and fuel
are taken aboard for the trip.
The Deck Board, recently named
by 1t. w. Croft Jennings and which
is headed by 1t. F. S. Kirk to study
the system of training for enlisted
personnel, has already made sew
eral important recommendations to
the battalion commander. What is
regarded by Reserve officers as one
| of the most important recon-
mendations so far made is that the
classes of instruction for enlisted
men be kept small, possibly no class
to be larger than 10 men and each
to be under competent petty off,
Ger. Those in the seamen branch
desiring to seek promotions in the
boatswain's mate group would be
placed under a chief boatswain's S
mate and the mate in charge is to
be held definitely responsible for the
progress of his group. Each division
is to conduct its own training,
rather than have each of the three
divisions send their men to a CEN
trail class. This is distinct from the
quartermasters and signalmen who
have been grouped from the three
divisions for training. But all Of
the classes will follow a single syl-
labus of instruction, it was said.
Those men desiring to be cox
swains will be grouped and instruc-
ton will be concentrated on this
line, rather than have the men get
random instruction with other
members Of the seaman branch.
Under this system, it was said, the
men will get more practical in
struction than under the plans
which have been in use for a long
time.
Another recommendation made by
the board is that each of the three
divisions take their training on q
separate night. Although this prac-
| tice was in vogue more than q wear