Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-03-25
Drastic Cut Forecast
In $4,000 Draft Call
On Schedule for May
BY John A. Giles

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May will be cut drastically under
present plans, it was learned yes
terday as the Army announced it,
would bring 1900 combat field
grade officers of the NATIONAL
Guard and Organized Reserve to
active duty by June 30.
The May call will be reduced to-
10000 or 10000 if enlistments
continue at the present high level
and there are no unforeseen de-
mands on Army manpower.
At present the Army has around
IA million men in uniform. It
is building toward a strength of
slightly in excess of is million
by June 80. On Friday the Army
cut in half-to 40,000-the orig
inal draft quota for April. The
May cutback is expected to be
announced within three or four
weeks.
OF the field grade officers to be
ordered to duty, 1,100 will be
majors and 400 lieutenant colo
nels. They will be in the infantry,
armor, artillery, Signal Corps,
Engineer Corps and Chemical
Corps.
The Army said that many of
the officers were expected to enter
duty voluntarily. All will be given
80 days in which to close out their
personal affairs before reporting.
279 From District Area.
The Army said that no member
of the inactive reserve and no in
dividual National Guard officer
would be ordered to active duty
under the program unless he vol
unteers. National Guard officers
cannot be ordered to duty unless
they volunteer. Members of the
Organized Reserve will be manda-
torily ordered up if not enough of
them volunteer to fill the quota.
Of the total quota, 279 will come
from the Second Army area which
includes the District, Virginia and
Maryland. OF these 208 will be in
the rank of major and IA will be
lieutenant colonies.
Qualified volunteers of the Or
ganized Reserve Corps and Ma
tional Guard will be given top
priority in the call, followed by
volunteer reservists. Preference
will be given officers who consent
to be ordered to active duty and
who have served on active duty
for at least six months in the
grade now held in the reserve or
National Guard.
Officers will be ordered to duty
for a period of at least 81 months.
The Army said that an officer with
four or more dependents would not
be ordered to duty if he requested
exemption because of hardship.
Cutbaeks Long Anticipated.
The cutbocks in draft calls had
long been anticipated. Originally,
the Army had counted on only
10000 volunteers in January and
February. Instead. there were
10000 volunteers, largely because
of temporary ceilings placed on
the Navy and Air Force due to
limited training facilities. The pre-
liminary reports show that the
Arny's accelerated recruit intake
has not slackened off in recent
weeks. In addition, the draft call
for 10000 men in March still
stands.
A controlling factor in recruit
ment has always been that the
Army's inflow of new men must
not exceed the number it can
handle effectively But in the
present circumstance the service
is fast approaching the strength
target and officials said it was
better than a fair guess that the
May draft call would have to be-
reduced.
Meanwhile, the United States
Chamber of Commerce reported
that nearly three-fourths of en-
ployers answering a spot survey
reported they hired and promoted
reserVistS and draft eligibles with
no distinction because of prospec-
tive military service. With one
exception, no company indicated
a fixed policy of giving others
preference over reserViSts and
draft eligibles.