Evening star., 1947-08-09
For Better Officers

Inc armed services prOmOLlOn Dill just
signed by the President represents sound
and promising move to encourage the best
type of leadership in the Army, Navy and
Air Force. Under it, seniority no longer
will be enough to qualify officers for ad-
vancement in rank. Instead, the merit
system will be applied to weed out the
incompetent and to build efficiency by
turning over command positions to men
properly equipped to fill them.
According to estimates, the new law will
cover 175,0 900 officers now in service. Some
OF its features are to go into effect at once,
with others to become operable gradually
until the measure is working in full force
by 1851 1t contains numerous incidental
provisions, including one to cut down the
present number of admirals and generals,
and another to do away with the flve-star
rank during peacetime, except for the
eight men currently in that classification.
The main objective, however, is to put the
merit system to work as never before in
the military services.
This is particularly meaningful as far
as the Army is concerned. Generally speak
ing, the Navy has placed considerable
officers in the past, but the Army has gov
erned advancements largely by the SEN
iority rule, despite notable exceptions. In
more than few cases, this has meant
that men have been moved forward to
command posts primarily because they
have been in service longer than their
fellows and not because of having been
qualified to handle the responsibilities of
higher rank. In other words, the less
competent have been placed ahead of the
more competent, with the result that the
Armys operations in certain spots, haze
lacked the quality they might otherwise
have had. OF course, where inability has
been shown after promotion, corrective
measures have been taken, but this has
involved lost time, lost motion and lost
efficiency. .se.,.s,
Under the new law, mediocrities will
have harder time of it, There will be
fixed standards of merit, and seniority,
will be scrapped as a controlling factor.
Promotions will be determined by special
boards of officers on competitive basis
calculated to reward talent. Moreover-and
this tightens the Navy's system Of ad-
vancement as we'll as the Armys-there
will be periodic tests. and failure to pass
such tests twice In succession will mean
being eliminated from the service. For
the first time in our naval history, for
example, adnirals will be subjected to a
selective system of promotion, and they
will face an examination every four years
to demonstrate that they are qualified for
their rank.
All this seems self evidently sensible.
With the grim art of warfare undergoing
a revolution in the new age, every possible
effort must be made to place men of the
highest qualifications in positions of COM
mand in the Army Navy and Air Force
Mediocre or incompetent officers, besides
imparting inferiority to the operations of
those under them, can serve only to i'm
pair the efficiency of our overall military
establishment. To the extent that it is
designed to prevent this, the new law is a
decidedly good one 1t should be put to
work in the strictest sense. In it's own
way, it can do much to strengthen our
national security.