Evening star., 1955-06-08
BY JOHN A. GILES

WIldG OLIler courses mas The
youth of II who must someday
answer his country's call to mill
tary service now that Congress
has shelved the administration Z
new reserve program?
Should he make plans for his
service or should he simply wait
a year and then register for the
draft?
Thousands of such youths
face that decision this gradua-
ton month.
Once such youths have reg
istered with Selective Service
every one of them who is ply
sically fit will sooner or later be
subject to a draft call, and un-
less he is in such special cate
gories as ministers or divinity
students. will serve two years
in the active forces. After that
he is obligated to six additional
years reserve duty, but since the
law now carries no penalty, most
veterans ignore this provision.
However, if an emergency oc-
CURED during this Six-year pc
riod they will be the first called
to active service.
Number of Choices
But before his induction no
tice, a youth still has a number
of choices under existing laws.
They are the National Guard,
reserve organization and special
officers training programs.
Here is a listing of those OPP
portunitieS as furnished by the
Pentagon:
/. The Army and Air National
Guard requires a man to sign
up before he is 1872 and serve
until he is 35. If he signs up
before 1872 he is eligible for
deferment from selective service
but he still has to remain until
35. The Guard can enlist young
men at II if they have their
parents consent. Each year he
must attend 48 drills and train
two weeks at camp. He receives
drill pay and regular pay for
the two weeks training according
to his grade.
2. Similarly, the organized re-
serves involve participation in
48 annual drills and two weeks
active training with drill pay
and active duty pay. The obliga-
tion to remain in such reserve
units is eight years. The Army,
Navy and Marine Corps require
at least two of these years on
active duty; the Air Force four.
When called to active duty, the
man serves in the rating he has
earned while participating in the
reserves. The man who waits
for his draft call naturally has
no such rating at the start.
Army ROTC
3. The Army ROTC program
has 10000 students enrolled in
advance units at $50 colleges.
Graduates become second lieu
tenants, must serve two years in
active service and six more in
reserve work. They are paid
over $700 during their last two
years in college and nothing
during their first two years.
4. The Navy has several COL
lege reserve programs.
1t has an ROTC program
which is different from the
Army's in several respects. En-
rollees are paid $50 a month for
all four years of college and
obligated to serve three years
with the active forces after
graduation.
If in college and accepted by
the ROTC unit. a boy also can
sign up as one of the 5000 "con-
tract" students in such units.
They receive only a small sub
sistence allowance in their jun
ior and senior years and are
obligated to serve two years ac-
tive duty.
BY applying to the Chief of
Naval Personnel before Novem-
ber l9 of his senior year, a high
school senior can become a can
didate under the Holloway Plan,
which is designed to train Off
GERS for the Navy and Marines
as a supplement to the Annap-
oils output. OF the $4,000 who
applied last November, only 1900
students and 200 enlisted men
from the fleet were accepted.
They receive $50 a month during
. the school term and midship-
mems pay on summer cruises.
Further Opportunity
For college and university stu
dents II years of age at time of
enrolment and 27l2 years at
time of commissioning who are
already in Naval reserve in en-
listed status, the Navy offers yet
another opportunity. It is called
the Reserve Officers Candidate