Evening star., 1946-05-28
To Improve the Army

Inc report or the war Depart
ment's Board on Officer Enlisted
Man Relationships makes clear. to
begin with, that there was a good
deal of exaggeration and distortion
in the extraordinary clamor raised
recently against the so-called brass
hats"
To bear this point out, the report
recalls that the same sort of criti-
cism-different merely in degree
marked the end of our other wars.
The complaints and grievances in
vestigated by the board, moreover,
were OF significant proportions only
In the rear areas overseas, at isolated
outposts, and to a lesser extent
among troops here at home, but not
among those in combat positions.
AS for the existence of "caste sys-
tem," the evidence simply does not
support it.
Nevertheless, after citing such
points as these to place the problem
in proper perspective, the board
headed by Gen. Doolittle and includ-
ing enlisted men as members-de-
clares that the status of human re-
lations in the Army is unsatisfac-
tory largely because of two main
factors: % "undeniably poor lead
ership on the part of small per-
centage OF those in positions of re-
sponsibility," and (2) "a system that
permits a wide official and social
gap between commissioned and en-
listed personnel"
Accordingly, the board makes
numerous recommendations, some of
them now being applied and others
so obviously constructive that there
should be no delay in adopting them
These include revamping of the
system of selecting, training and
assigning officers; the Inauguration
OF new methods of promoting, de-
noting and dismissing commissioned
men on the basis of merit; a fairer
administration of military justice,
including the principle that the
higher the rank the more severe
should be the punishment; and a
more equitable program covering
such important matters as decora-
tions, retirement, base pay, allow
anceS, food, travel and accumulated
leave.
Other recommendations are aimed
at circumscribing the personal privi-
leges and distinctions enjoyed by
officers. Thus the board urges that
the texture and cut of uniforms be
the same for all ranks; that the
hand salute be abandoned off install
lations and off duty, with certain
exceptions; that discriminatory ref
erences to rank be eliminated, and
that the words enlisted men" and
"off1cers" be replaced by something
like members of noncommissioned
corps" and members of commits
stoned corps" These suggestions
may help somewhat to reduce social
irritants, but in general they seem
too petty to be of value in improving
the caliber or spirit OF the Army
The standardizing of uniforms, for
example, appeals to a kind of in
verted snobbery, and the proposal
on word changes has ring of the
silly in it. Similarly the idea of
abandoning the hand salute appears
as shallow as some of the demo-
cratizing" measures once tried, and
later dropped by the Soviet armies.
Taken as a whole, however, the
Doolittle report is sound and we'll
considered one, and it should prove
highly useful. Not the least of it's
virtues is that it constitutes striking
evidence in itself of the War De-
partment's desire to do whatever
can be done, in progressive spirit,
to promote the efficiency and mo-
rale of the Army.