Imperial Valley press., 1944-05-26
HOW l. G.. 'WATCHDOGS
PROWL

HOW 1. G. 'WATCHDOGS'
PROWL
When an Army inspector gen.
eral comes on a military reSerVa-
ton to give an Army organization
its official going over, every man
on the post, civilian or Solcier, Is
notified and if any one OF them
has any complaint to make about
anything, he can tell it to the in
Spector general as though he were
a father confessor, without fear of
later reprimand and with assur-
ance that his complaint will be in
veStigated.
This is one of the proudest trad
itions of OTIG-the Office of the
Inspector Generals Department.
The complaints they hear may
range from the chronic yoWl that
the chow is no good to complaints
that a man has had no pay for six
weeks, that the post exchange ofv
ficer is robbing the till, that ex-
ceSsive discipline has been inflict-
ed for a minor offenSe, or that
some junior officer feels he is be-
ing submerged by the CO.
The inspector general is requir-
ed to investigate every complaint,
and woe betide the senior officer
who reprimands a subordinate for
reporting to the inspector general
In peacetime an organization is
visited by an inspector general once
year for check on training,
equipment, discipline, finances,
everything. In war, inspections are
more frequent. Before units are
sent overseas there will be one or
two special Investigations in the
fielC to report whether the unit
IS ready, not ready, or ready plo-
vided.
There are two inspectors general
a lieutenant-co colonel and a cap
tain-aSsigned to every division for
constant checkups on details which
may be Crc cred at any time by the
commanding general on whose staff
they serve. There are also corps,
field arm, and service command
inspectors assigned to every COM
manding generals staff.
"ACTION LETTERS" FILED
After every inspection, there is
a one-page report sent TO Washing
ton. II will net cover the little
things that can be corrected in the
field, only the major things that
need further attention. At the bot
tom Of each of these one-page re-
ports there will be a notation that
six or eight or any number of
action letters" have been fileC.
Action letters covering one specific
thing that needs fixing are sent
to the officer whose responsibility
it IS 20 fix it.
1t may be a shortage OF men or
a surplus of over-age officers or
lack of equipment or training. AS
each corrective action is taken, the
responsible officer must report on
what he has done. All these report
ing letters then come to the inSpec-
tions division of the Office of the
/ Inspector General in Washington
If corrective action stalls, a report
goes to the War Department so that
higher command can take action
Before the last war, inspectors
general were frequently considered
officers with little black books who
Went around preparing skin lists
Of petty criticisms on which 70
/ skin the hide off some officer. To-
/ day, unter Inspector General Pc
/ terSon's policies, l. G.'s are in
Structed TO look not only for the
/ things that are wrong, but also for
/ the things that are right, on which
/ they can pass out commendation.
THE JOB is BROADENING
EXPANSION of the Army into the
new highly skilled technical sery-
ices has of course meant many new
Jobs for the Office of the Inspector
General. There is a whole new Of
flee of the air inspector general.
headed by Maj.-Gen. Junius w.
Jones and reporting directly TO the
commanding general OF the Army
Air Forces. Gen. Henry H. Arnold.
Six officers, all pilots, head up the
various tactical and technical diyi-
sions of this branch, and the So Of
ficers now assigned to 1t are all
specialists in engineering, flying,
etc.
Gradually the work Of OTIG is
being shifted overseas. Today, Brig.
Gen. Elliott D. Cooke is head of a
small overseas inspections division
in Washington, with one officer in
charge OF administrations ispec-
, tions and one to look after the life