Evening star., 1954-01-17
Air Force Aims
Al is Wings,
Less Personnel
Non Essential Jobs
Being Cut Sharply
Under New Policy
By John A. Giles

The, Air Force, by drastically
cutting personnel in support and
non-essential activities. will man
lis wings by July / with 10000
fewer officers and enlisted per-
sonnel than under the Truman
administration plan.
A top official said yesterday a
strength of less than 955. 900
would be needed for that many
wings. plus at least three mis-
celaneous squadrons. The old
program called for 977,O0O for
110 wings and 1881 900 for lis.
A wing contains from 80 to rs
planes. depending on type.
He also disclosed:
!. A new r. o It c. program
under which the air arm will cut
the number of students over the
next three years by almost half.
A far larger number of the grad
yates. however. will be given an
opportunity to become pilots.
2. A new plan for reservists by
which they will be attached to
regular Air Force wings. The
first three reserve units will be
attached to regular wings this
year as an experiment. The plan
will allow then to fly jet air.
craft and, 1t is believed improve
their morale.
3. A vast saving in funds
through hiring of foreigners for
service jobs and thus freeing
uniformed personnel for combat
units.
NJ Personnel Policies Hit.
Congress members and Eisen-
hover administration officials
were highly critical last year of
Air Force personnel policies.
They were especially critical
Of the more than 10000 air po-
licemen and the number of per-
sonnel used in preparing and
serving food, in the various
headquarters. motor pools and
in bands. All these activities
have been trimmed. The number
Of bands. for instance. mas been
cut from ITO to 81.
At the same time, a drive has
been instituted to enlist men
with skills to replace those who
have shown no special aptitudes.
A survey early last year showed
q surplus Of 10000 personnel in
the lower mental categories and
q shortage Of almost the same
number with technical skills. So
far. there has been q turnover
Of about $1,000.
The original program called
for training $1,000 students.
19,700 of whom would receive
commissions in the 1886 scho-
lastic years. A total Of $4,000 will
be trained under the new pro-
gram and at least $4,000 of them
will be given opportunities to
become pilots. navigators. OBJ
servers and bombardiers. Those
who are not given commissions
will be allowed to enlist for two
years and then receive reserve
commissions.
This year $4,000 Air r. o. T. C..
seniors will graduate and more
than 5000 will be commissioned.
The new program, 1t Is estimated
win save more than 81 million
this year and $40 million an
nually by fiscal year 1856.
Savings on Labor.
The move to supplant overseas
servicemen with foreign labor is
called Operation Native Son."
In addition to dollar savings
it costs an average of $1,000 for
an airman annually compared
with 5000 a year for Japanese
laborer-the department feels
there are several other advan-
tages. It reduces the number of
uniformed personnel at the
bases-always an irritation to
foreigners-and gives the latter
a stake IN the operations.
So far 10000 civilian foreigners
have been hired and 10000 mill
tary personnel have been freed
for other duties. It Is planned to
replace $4,000 military with
81 900 civilians before completion
Of the program.