Evening star., 1945-10-13
Discusses Navy Promotions

Discusses Navy Promotions
To the Editor Of The Star:
Announcement of the Nayys inten-
ton to promote $4,000 of1icers. mostly
reserves, apparently is designed to pre-.
vent many from returning to an mac
tive status with bad taste In their
mouths"
1t is feared that II this is the Nays
purpose, 1t will fall somewhat short of
achievement. at least as far as senior
heutenants are concerned. Many neu-
tenants who now become eligible for
mass promotion to lieutenant COM
mander already have been passed over"
once by selection boards whose orders
from higher up appear to have been to
cut down promotions at all costs, re-
gardless of considerations of morale and
the fact that contemporaries in the
Army outranked them by one, two and
sometimes three grades.
The last selection board to consider
heutenants for promotion to lieutenant
commander announced its findings Au-
gust l, l945. 1t considered only lieu
tenants who had held that rank on con-
tinuous active service since December
l, 1912. 1t is not known what percentage
OF these were promoted since only the
names of those selected were announced.
BY August, 1945 these officers were
urtth Il
tenants.
In 1s43 and early 1914 lieutenants
were being promoted to the rank of
lieutenant commander at the end OF
about IS months and those passed
over" represented very small propor-
tion Of those considered.
1t is common knowledge in the Navy
that large proportion of those turned
down August l would have made the
grade in earlier selections if they had
been eligible.
1t is this knowledge-that their rejec-
ton came not on the ground of prof.
cheney or lack of proficiency as officers
but simply as the result of having be-
come eligible later in the war than
their brethren-which is in large part
responsible for the bad TASTE" As a
group they were certainly no worse than
their predecessors-probably better If
anything, for they had more experience
when they became eligible than those
officers VINO were made lieutenant COM
manders in the early and middle stages
of the war.
Still another factor existed, however,
which resulted in bitterness. Rank was
not made uniform within the Naval Re-
serve itself.
To give an example, friend of mine,
who applied for commission in 1910,
at about the same time I did, was
turned down, whereas I was accepted
as an ensign. A year later he was COM
missioned as lieutenant, Junior grade,
in another classification while I con-
tinued as an ensign until eligible for
promotion in 1912. As consequence,
he became eligible for promotion to lieu
tenant commander some Is months be-
fore did and was promoted to that
rank at time whena the going. with all
due respect for his talents as an officer,
was not so tough.
To add insult to injury the mass pro-
motion comes at time when many
heutenants are or soon will become
eligible for mastering out pay, which
amounts in most cases to $780, II they
now are promoted, it will be at the
sacrifice of this additional money since
they Will not remain on active duty as
lieutenant commanders long enough to
compensate them for the loss Of mus
tering out pay.
If the Navy really wants to get rid of
the bitterness its reserve. senior lieuten-
ants cannot help but harbor, 1t would
give those passed over" who now be-
come eligible the same date of rank they
would have had If they had been pre-
viously selected and would see to it that
none of those who now become eligible
is forced to choose between q strip OF
quarter-inch braid they can't wear any
how and $500 that lot of them need
for personal reconversion.
A NAVAL RESERVE LIEUTENANT.