Evening star., 1955-02-07
Some Who Do and Die Reason Why
To the Editor Of The Stor:

L ever-increaSing losses Of expert
enced personnel. especially in the en-
listed ranks, are taking steps to remedy
the situation. The Pentagon. after
pondering this admittedly serious con-
dition, has decided that the fault lies
in loss of fringe benefits" and in lack
of pay incentive. To Offset these disad-
vantages, the Pentagon has taken the
raise bill to be presented on the Hill
in the near future, emphasizing in
creased compensation to specialists and
generals; (2) ordered all military in
Stallations to conduct Investigations
into recreational and entertainment
facilities for enlisted men, and to report
their findings, as part of an overall
frontal assault on Congress to regain
lost privileges, and perhaps to add more.
The Pentagon has indeed found
flaw in the case OF So-cailed fringe
benefits. During the war, civilians
developed resentment toward military
families because they could purchase.
through PXs and commissaries, items
and services not available to the gen.
eral public. Business, able to sell
everything it could lay hands on, had
no quarrel until after the war. Then.
geared for big money and accustomed
to a sellers market, business began
to resent the loss of dollars to the
military stores, and successfully applied
pressure to force the profits into their
own Golfers.
It Is true that high-ranking officers
and noncommissioned officers suffer
no great hardship under these condi-
tions, but it is pretty rough on the
junior officers, and enlisted men, with
families Nor does the general public
seem to realize that service pride is
involved For number Of generations.
service personnel, generally Stunned by
civilians, have been a separate social
entity, living within their own circles,
and establishing their own marts. The
widely publicized denial of privileges
has pricked their pride, and emphasizes
feeling of being ostracized-a sort of
segregation. Hence young wife's de-
sire to get out of the service. and
back into friendlier world, duly sec
onded by the husband.
Curtailment Of medical care for de-
pendents Is also an important factor
Traditionally. the services have cared
for their own. and to be denied much
of that care is severe blow; and
again. it is the lower ranks and grades
who suffer in point of money.
AS the Pentagon sees it, the second
and most important factor in the loss of
personnel is pay incentive-lack of
sufficient pay, compared with civilian
scales. In this, / wish to differ as
strongly as possible with the powers
that be. The lack-of-pay angle, widely
advertised for a number of years, is
something of myth. True enough,
the hard-cash outlay to the lower ranks
seems small indeed. But additional
benefits, even though curtailed, assure
man OF comfortable living. The
career enlisted men, whom the services
wish to keep. are in the higher grades
and well compensated. AS for the officer
corps, except for the lowly I'd lieuten-
ants, and in spite of deceptive graphs,
its members are better off financially
than their civilian counterparts.
Hazardous-dut pay, which the De-
fenSe Department proposes to increase,
is an added plum of no mean propor-
tionS but is unjustly distributed. The
Air Force demands it for few hours in
the air, and the paratroops for couple
OF jumps month. So, on this basis,
why shouldn't the infantryman receive
hazardous-duty pay because he engages
IN grenade practice. bayonet drill OR
field maneuvers?
Ideally. man sticks to his job be-
cause he likes it. wanting only fair COM
pensation in return. If he likes his Job.
he takes pride in his ability and his ac-
complishments, his rank, responsible
ties and the challenge of advancement
A serviceman is no exception. The war
years offered the challenge which many
veterans accepted, but peacetime has
brought disillusionment, and speak
now of enlisted men. At the end of the
war. with the Army and Air Force the
chief culprits, the services went into a
frenzy of reorganization which multi
piled grades faster than rabbits, thereby
digging the pitfall which now confronts
them. The stripes of corporal and a
"buck" sergeant are only bits of cloth
without authority. Thousands of SER
geants first class, master sergeants and
warrant officers clutter the barracks,
with no place to go. There was a time
when a master sergeant was a rare
sight, the ultimate in military knowl-
edge, held in awe and respect by men
and officers alike. fitting goal for any
ambitious enlisted man. But now a
master sergeant usually is just another
guy with little more rank. and often
no job to go with it. At Andrews Field,
for example, a master sergeant drives
the tractor which pulls the planes
about. On one occasion, at the same
field, master sergeant with time on
his hands was put to work polishing an
aircraft. The lesser grades can only be
worse.
These men have been deprived Of
their pride in rank, their right to re-
sponSibilities, and their self-respect. In
vestigate the designations of master
sergeants and you will find that they
are leaving the service in disgust. not
because of pay. Those men in the mid
die grades can no longer see in the
highest enlisted grade anything which