Evening star., 1948-06-29
D. {. Prepared
ToSpeed Draft,
Guard Training
District Units Expect
One of Busiest Years
In Reserve Program
By Robert K. Walsh

The District is in good shape
to conduct the draft here with
out loss Of time or effort and can
intensity immediate summer
training of its National Guard
at full manpower strength, off,
cials said today.
Unlike installations such as Fort
Meade in Maryland, and Fort Bel
voir and Camp Pickett in Virginia,
the Military District of Washington
expects no increases In manpower,
facilities or equipment as result
of expansion of the Army and or
ganized Reserve units during the
coming fiscal year.
But the District National Guard,
announcing its summer schedule of
training, anticipates one of It's
busiest peace time years. Col.
Payton D. Nevitt, Adjutant General.
said the 800 men who signed up
within the last 10 days will be
placed in units that have adequate
officer strength and better than av-
erage training facilities. Moreover,
the District Guard will not have to
devote any of its energies to recruit
ing work, he added.
Draft System to Be Ready.
The District Selective Service
System will be ready to function
long before the registration pro-
cedure starts sometime in August.
and long before the first men are
inducted soon after September 20.
Detailed information about the
number of draft boards and en-
ployes in the District is not yet
available at District headquarters.
Final determination. it was ex-
planned, must be made in many
instances by national headquarters
and on the basis Of manpower quotas
and other plans not yet completely
worked out by the armed forces.
Secretary Of the Army Royal an
nounced yesterday that drafting OF
men will begin soon after Septem-
'ber % at a rate of about 10000 q
month until July 1, 1949.
Practically all of the approx
mately 225,000 prospective draftees
will serve in the Army for Il
months and some may be sent
overseas after their eight weeks OF
basic instruction at one of eight
training centers. Another 16l 900
youths of Is will be permitted to
volunteer for i year OF training.
but cannot be sent out Of the cotir-
try. About 10000 Of these will
train in the Army.
100000 Volunteers Expected.
The Army expects to get 500, 900
volunteers, in addition to the Ia
year-olds, and the voluntary enlist
ment rate will determine the mum.
Der Of men to be drafted, Secretary
Royal explained.
Six Army posts are to be re-
activated and 10 others will increase
in size as the Army expands from
$4,000 to 100000 men during the
fiscal year beginning Thursday.
Secretary Royal said plans call for
building up u Army divisions to
full combat strength, along with six
National Guard divisions and sup
porting elements also at full
strength and readiness.
The new draftees and recruits will
get their basic training at eight
main centers, four of which are
already in operation. Camps Pick
EFT. Va: Breckenridge. Ky; Chat
fee, Ark, and Fort Riley, Kans.,
are the new centers.
The others are Forts Ord, Calf;
Jackson, S. c.; Dix. N. j., and Knox,
KY. Fort Meade, Nd. Is among
several installations to be expanded
for training of smaller units and
for other purposes.
Virginia Camps to Expand.
! Camp Pickett and four other Vir-
ginia military centers will be used
this fall under broadened Army and
Marine Corps training programs.
About 10000 men OF the new 17th
Airborne Division will train at
Camp Pickett, Blackstone, Va An
other 5000 men will be added to
the approximately 5000 now at Fort
Belvoir in Fairfax County.
Thanks to an informal standby"
organization established In May.
1947 at the suggestion OF wartime
District Selective Service Director
William E. Leahy, the District has
no difficulty finding suficient ex-
perienced personnel A considerably
smaller number of boards will be
required here for the new draft.
During the last war, more than
1000 members and employees OF
District draft boards registered about
203, 700 men, of whom about $4,000
were inducted.
Number Not Yet Estimated.
Estimates on the number of men
18 through Is who will register in
Washington, and those 10 through
Is who might be drafted. are
not yet available. But the totals
will be far short of the wartime
figures because the 1910 Selectivs
Service Act required registration
Of men Is through As and at one
time drafted men up to As.
The standby" association Of sew
eral hundred wartime district draft
system workers includes not only
volunteer workers and chief clerks
1See DRAFT, Page A-6J