Arizona sun., 1947-12-26

EaukndSe
not realize what UNIT is NOT. 1t is
NOT anything like the military serv-
Ice (conscription) which some of us
knew from personal contact in the
past, and others knew from hearsay.
UNIT, as proposed in the national
security training act, is totally diff
ferent in many essential principles
from the draft" under the selective
service system.
First why is il necessary? Let
me quote the reasons given by
the house Of representatives
armed services committee, as
digested i'm the November issue
Of the Army Information Digest
(which article should be read i'm
its entirety for real grasp of
the subject:
The United States has tradition
l.. ally depended heavily upon the
civilian reserve components. In ev-
cry major war, the regular forces
have constituted less than 10 per
cent of the total strength. These
wars have been fought by citizen
soldiers, directed and organized by
q small nucleus of professionals.
= In the past, geographical isola-
e.. ton has provided adequate
time for training and equipping
large numbers of Americans -
fresh from civil life and unskilled in
the art of war - before it was nee
essary to send them into battle. In
any future emergency, however, no
such cushion of time can be expect
ed. There must be sufficient trained
forces in being on any future emer-
gency day.
= The regular forces today consti-
-. tute no more than the tradition
al nucleus Of professional military
skills. Furthermore, they are spread
thinly over large area of the world,
engaged in occupation duties. In
the circumstances, the size and de-
gree of readiness Of the reserve COM
ponents become matters of the most
vital concern. For il these reserve
components are not adequate, the
overall military strength of the
United States is hollow shell.
A The reserve components are far
7. below their authorized strengths
and are without hope of filing their
quotas by voluntary means alone.
These authorized strengths repre-
sent the barest minimum estimate
of manpower requirements.
2 The national guard is at approx
y. imately 16 per cent Of its author
lied strength, the organized units of
the organized reserve corps at IA
per cent. and the unassigned reserve
pool at S5 per cent (summer of
194D. The 100000 members Of the
unassigned reserve pool are merely
names on paper. unframed and un-
organized.
Z UNIT would build up the reserve
~. components to their authorized
strengths, and would achieve a sta
bility and an increased efficiency of
our ready forces that do not now
obtain. The alternative would be
regular army Of about 4,500,000.
= Consideration was given the
:. claim that future warfare would
be of the pushbutton variety requir-
ing "only handful of scientists"
This claim is a dangerous illusion.
If there is another war, it will be
more ''total' than the last, and will
involve a greater number of human
beings without any hope of distin-
gushing the combatant from the
noncombatant. The war in all prob
ability will come into the cities and
the homes of the people of the
United States. In such event, the
survival or recovery of the nation
might well depend on the presence
of weIl-disciplined and able-bodied
men in every community.
The foregoing, then, were
some of the reasons which
guided the armed services COM
mittee Of the house to vote out a
national security training act.
The act would set UP four agen-
Cies:
NATIONAL SECURITY TRAIN
QgG CORPS, consisting Of all