Evening star., 1947-10-05
Rv Iohn A Giles

The Army Medical department
faces a serious morale problem as a
result of an act of Congress which
allows an additional 500 month
to be paid all Regular Army medical
and dental corps officers, it was
learned yesterday.
Only II per cent of the Army's
$3.50 doctors and dentists are in the
Regular Army and eligible for the
bonus. The other SO per cent were
brought into service under the Army
specialized training program, where
they were draft-deferred and re-
ceived pay and free education frcm
the Government They must COM
plete two-year obligatory OF COM
pensatory tours of duty before they
can be placed on inactive duty or
sign over for an additional period at
the 500 bonus pay.
After one year of the obligatory
service an AS.T.P. officer is eligible
to apply for transfer to the Regular
Army and, if accepted, may receive
the 500. The Army Department is
investigating the feasibility of re-
ducing this period of service to six
months as one method of helping
solve the morale problem.
Situation Causes Concern.
A spokesman admitted that the
problem had caused the department
a great deal of concern. Is.
At Walter Reed, one of the Army's
largest. general hospitals, and at
other Institutions, some patients
have reported somewhat lackidaiscal
but not rude attitude on the part of
some doctors not in the regular
army.
One of these doctors said yes
terdav that with the high cost of
living he was having difficulty
making ends meet.
Perhaps We don't have much
enthusiasm for our work." he said.
That extra 500 would go long
way toward seeing me through.
We feel that we are being dis
criminated against when the fellow
right next to us doing the same
work and holding the same rank
gets 500 month more"
OF the 1873. doctors and dentists
at the hospital, 90 are officers ed
ucated under the A. S. T. P.
Navy Has Similar Problem.
There are 1,450 regular Army
doctors and dentists on duty who
receive the 500 a month extra pay.
In addition there are $500 A. S.
T. p educated officers on duty at
Army hospitals and posts and an
additional 1000 on duty with the
Veterans Administration.
The Navy has a similar although
somewhat smaller problem with its
Viz educated doctors and dentists
There are 1905 regular Navy doctors
and 2,546 reserves educated under
the Viz program. Nome of the
Viz doctors will BECOME eligible
for inactive duty before next spring
OF the LOTT Navy dentists, 568
are VIZ reserves and la of them
are on loan to the Army.
A spokesman said that the den-
fists educated under the Viz pro-
gram were leaving the service as
fast as they became eligible, but
that an insufficient number of re-
serve doctors had become eligible
for separation to indicate trend.
Army Will Need Requirements.
Under the Army medical system
there are five categories of officers.
No. category, which includes most
of the $500 total, embraces those
who want to get out of service and
INTO private practice as soon as
possible.
The Army Medical Department
expects to have lost approximately
400 A. S. T. P. officers by next June,
thus creating an urgent need for
replacements.
Another category includes those
who have applied to remain in the
Army. The Medical Department
estimates that there are about 500
such applications being processed
of which some ia have been acted
upon. Other categories are those
who wish to sign up for IL, 18 and
"a month periods.
"Unquestionably lot of the A. S.
T. P. doctors and dentists want to
get out as soon as possible but they