Evening star., 1955-01-13
Miitory Poy Message

To the Congress Of the United
States:
We are traditionally peace
loving people with a heritage
founded on the dignity of the
individual. Because our defense
planning Is developed Within
this framework, we seek to man
our armed forces with volunteers
to the greatest extent possible
This Is q basic objective.
To sustain our active forces
at required levels Of strength
and efnciency, it is necessary to
increase the present rate OF
voluntary enlistments. It is also
necessary to induce volunteers.
both officers and enlisted men. to
continue in the service on a
career basis in order to obtain
maximum usefulness from the
skills and leadership which are
achieved after long and costly
training. The increasing mech
anization and complexity OF de-
Sense forces makes technical
skills and a wide background OF
experience vastly more important
than ever before.
The need for forces of the
size now contemplated in our
planning is obvious. The resporl-
sibiiities and obligations imposed
on us by our position Of leader
ship in world affairs require that
we stand prepared to shoulder
the accompanying burdens.
PERSONNEL TURNOVER IN
THE MILITARY SERVICES
But at this time when we must
still maintain large forces under
arms and alerted throughout the
world, it is difficult to attract
and retain volunteers. both en-
listed and commissioned.
For example. only II 8 per cent
of Army personnel re-enlisted in
1854, compared with rate of
41,2 per cent in 1949. The other
services, particularly the Marine
Corps, have also experienced
sharp drops in the rate Of re-
enlistments and today the COM
posite rate for all services is 20
per cent.
Approximately million en-
listed men will become eligible
for release from the military serv-
ices during the coming year.
Under present low re-enlistment
rates, 1t will be necessary to re-
place about 800, 900 of these men.
The investment In this skilled
manpower is enormous. For
example, it costs approximately
$4,000 to put one man through
the normal course Of basic train
ing. It costs an additional So. 900
to $4,000 to train man in the
typical technical skills that are
SO essential In the military sys-
TEN of today. 1t costs $120, 900
to train a jet pilot.
These are just q leW lnulca.
tons OF the expense aSSoclateo
with training alone. Moreover.
the cost of equipment, transpor-
tation ana other Items goes up
as the rate Of personnei tufn-
over increases.
-.
The seriousness oi tne situa-
ton was recognized py the ooo
Congress when " SUBSTANTIALLY
raised re-eniistment bonuses.
REASONS FOR THE HIGH
VI PERSONNEL TURNOVER
FIELD studies made by the
xarvices have attemnted to pia-
rnint reasons for the high per-
sonnel turnover rate A very
large portion of the military per-
sonnel surveyed expressed dis
satisfactinn with traditional
snrvice henef,ts such as PIX IA
cilities denendents, medical
care. family housing, death ben
ef1ts for survivors ana related
items. Wherever administrative
action can improve coilaItio,ls'
acpion Is Deing Saken ny .iie
services however, iegisiation y
necessary Ior changes IN most
nenetits ana IN the ieVei OF COM
pensation.
since 1879, there mas neen one
increase IN pay Wnlcn, along
with increases IN allowances.
amounted TO an aggregate ao-
vance in compensation OF 5.7 per
cent, Military pay, nevertheless,
has fallen behind that OF indus
try. In addition, supplementary
pay practices, health. security
and retirement benefits and bo-
nus systems are now widespread
throughout industry. and this
fact tends to neutralize such adj
vantage as the military services
had in these fields.
rr,urrrryt.c IN, rYr1.r, rrrpN
C,yED paTr nM oprp
TTNNAI ErHTcrTnr|.v
~ :. ~
Wnlie the nlgn turnover ID
military personnel Is costly IN
dollars. even more cosby Is the
loss ol experience ana opera
tional emciency wnich results
2