Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1976

V.

Personnel

When Secretary for the Army Martin R. Hoffmann delivered his statement on the status of the Army to Congress in February 1976, he began his comments on personnel with a description of the individual soldier.

Let me introduce a typical soldier. Today’s soldier may be male or female, 23 years of age, and has 3 years of active military service. He is 5’10” tall and weighs 167 pounds while she is. 5’4” tall and weighs 130 pounds. This soldier is among the 80 percent of the total strength of the Army who are high school graduates and there is an even chance that he is married. Most likely, he or she came from a community of approximately 25,000 people, and at the time of entry into service the family’s annual income was around $10,000; probably not over $15,000. There is a one-third chance that a member of his or her family had previously served in the Army. Six times out of ten he will be in a combat unit. Today’s soldier is well motivated and qualified in his military skills, interested in the military profession, and provides a challenge to Army leadership.

At the beginning of fiscal year 1976, there were 783,900 soldiers in the active Army, backed up by 627,000 members of the reserve components, and a work force of 434,700 civilian employees.

Military Strength

The military strength of the Army declined from 783,900 on 30 June 1975 to a low of 767,700 in December 1975 and then rose by the end of June 1976 to 779,000, which was 3,000 below the authorized figure of 782,000. Although Congress had set the end strength for the transition quarter at 790,000, the Army reduced it to 785,000 because this number represented a more logical progression from the actual strength at the close of fiscal year 1976 to the authorized end strength of 790,000 for fiscal year 1977. On 30 September 1976 the Army’s actual strength was 782,200, falling 2,800 short of the adjusted goal and 7,800 below the congressional authorization.

The Army’s failure to reach its authorized end strength was the result of a decrease in the number of volunteers, substantially reduced recruiting resources, and a conscious effort to maintain the highest possible quality of recruits. The Army preferred a relatively minor decline in total strength to a major decrease in the quality of enlistees. Average strength ceilings, imposed in order to remain within appropriated funding levels,

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were responsible for monthly fluctuations and also contributed to the discrepancy between the Army’s authorized and actual end strength. The breakdown of actual military strength at the end of June and September 1976 was as follows:

 

30 June 1976

30 September 1976

Officers

98,211 (436)a

97,876 (435)a

Enlisted personnel

677,722 (3)a

680,074(3)a

U.S. Military Academy Cadets

3,045

4,280

Total

778,978 (439)a

782,230 (438)a

a Numbers in parentheses represent reimbursable active duty personnel, who are paid from Corps of Engineers, Civil Works, Postal, and Reserve Components appropriations but are not included in the total strength figures.

Enlisted Personnel

During fiscal year 1976 the Army recruited 193,000 men and women, achieving 100.2 percent of the recruiting objective for enlisted personnel. While there were quality gains early in the year, results during the second half declined so rapidly that the annual quality achievements were considerably short of the goals. Enlistments in the transition quarter, during normally peak months, fell short of both quantity and quality goals. As shown in the table below, these shortfalls were in the recruiting of males with no former service, the largest and most difficult enlistment category. Female enlistees and those with previous service, on the other hand, met or surpassed the objectives.

RECRUITING STATISTICS

 

Fiscal Year 1976

Transition Quarter

 

Required

Actual

Percent

Required

Actual

Percent

Males with no prior service

164,100

164,300

100.1

51,500

48,900

95.0

(Percent with high school diplomas)

(62.5)

(55.6)

-

(73.0)

(57.0)

-

Females with no prior service

15,900

15,900

99.9

4,300

4,300

101.1

(Percent with high school diplomas)

(90.0)

(89.6)

-

(90.0)

(90.7)

-

Personnel with prior service

12,600

12,800

102.0

3,600

3,800

105.7

(Percent with high school diplomas)

-

(81.7)

-

-

(81.9)

-

Total

192,600

193,000

100.2

59,400

57,000

96.0

These disappointing results were attributed to such factors as limited enlistment options, a somewhat improving economy, and stringently constrained resources, which together created an increasingly unfavorable recruiting environment. Of particular relevance were the elimination of the two-year enlistment option and congressional reductions in advertising funds and the number of recruiters.

Nevertheless, the Army continued its efforts to increase and improve the enlisted force. It denied enlistment to individuals who had not completed the ninth grade, extended the 270-day Delayed Entry Program to 365 days, and appointed to grade E-2 members of that program whose referral of at least two male high school graduates had resulted in enlistments. The Army also increased force stability and

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gained assignment flexibility by achieving a rate of 25 percent for enlistments of four or more years, authorizing the deployment of soldiers with their units during their period of stabilization, and stressing enlistments for guaranteed training only rather than for unit of choice options.

To attract more volunteers, the Army established an airborne enlistment option, permitted enlistment of soldiers whose contracts had been voided because of fraudulent enlistment with the connivance of recruiting officials, and allowed waiver requests from an individual with dependents under eighteen years of age whose spouse was already on active duty with any service. Also, the minimum enlistment age for women was changed to seventeen, as for men. Finally, the Army furnished information on discharged personnel to a centralized Defense file and now shares enlistment eligibility data with all military services.

To manage recruiting more closely, the Army in August 1975 switched from monthly to weekly objectives. Using a computerized display similar to an airline reservation system, which showed the personnel requirements of Army units by numbers and skills, the Recruiting Command planned to recruit each week the number and type of enlistees needed. This new procedure was a big step toward the Army’s goal of putting the right soldier in the right job at the right time.

In April 1976 the Secretary of Defense approved the June 1975 revised edition of the Army’s Enlisted Force Management Plan, which provides long-term numerical objectives. An important feature of the revised plan is the Year Group Management Program. Developed to attain skill and grade balance, the program limits first-term reenlistments through qualitative standards and allows careerists (soldiers serving on their second subsequent terms) to remain in the Army so long as they measure up.

Striving to maintain a balance between quality and quantity in its reenlistment program, the Army quickly realized that the first-term reenlistment objective of 17,300 for fiscal year 1976 was overambitious. It therefore set a more realistic goal of 14,536, making up the difference by increasing recruiting objectives for those with previous service. Even with this reduction, the program achieved only 93.8 percent of the goal. Career reenlistments, on the other hand, fell short by only 3 percent.

The quality of reenlistees improved substantially during the year, with 81 percent of the first termers and 91.6 percent of the careerists having a high school diploma or its equivalent. These figures represented gains of 9.4 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively, over the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, the percentage of reenlistees requiring waivers declined from 7 to 3 percent for first termers and from 6.4 to 5.4 percent for career soldiers.

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In the transition quarter, first-term reenlistments were only 80.6 percent of the assigned goal, but career reenlistments surpassed the objective by 5.5 percent. The following table shows the reenlistment results for the past fifteen months.

REENLISTMENT RESULTS1

 

Fiscal Year 1976

Transition Quarter

 

Objective

Achieved

Achieved Percent

Objective

Achieved

Achieved Percent

First term

17,300

13,637

78.8

6,032

4,860

80.6

(Male)

-

(12,337)

-

-

(4,292)

-

(Female)

-

(1,300)

-

-

(568)

-

Career

38,241

37,101

97.0

9,762

10,301

105.5

(Male)

-

(36,440)

-

-

(10,072)

-

(Female)

-

(661)

-

-

(229)

-

1These figures exclude two-to ninety-day prior service accessions and extensions, which are reported elsewhere.

After reviewing the fiscal year 1976 statistics, the Army made several changes in policies and procedures to retain more first termers. Soldiers with general court-martial convictions or more than fifteen days of absence without leave were allowed to request a waiver of these disqualifications. The practice of categorizing potential reenlistees into two groups according to their qualifications was replaced by management based on primary military occupational specialties. Except in unusual cases, all reenlistment applications were to be forwarded to the Military Personnel Center by telephone. Finally, the Army staff obtained approval for wider use of an automated system for matching the assignment preferences of prospective reenlistees with Army needs.

Development and implementation of the Enlisted Personnel Management System (EPMS) continued during the report period. As of 1 September 1976, about 450,000 soldiers (66 percent of the enlisted force) were under the system, in the following career management fields (CMF) : CMF 11 (Maneuver Combat Arms), CMF 16 (Air Defense), CMF 33 (Electronic Warfare/Intercept Systems Maintenance), CMF 55 (Ammunition), CMF 63 (Mechanical Maintenance), CMF 64 (Transportation), CMF 74 (Automatic Data Processing), CMF 76 (Supply), and CMF 95 (Law Enforcement). Thirteen additional career management fields will be brought under the Enlisted Personnel Management System during fiscal year 1977, with the final phase of the transition to EPMS scheduled to begin on 1 April 1978.

During the past year, several changes were made in the Enlisted Evaluation System to insure its compatibility with and support of the Enlisted Personnel Management System. A major change was the adoption, on 1 October 1975, of separate evaluation reports for grades E-1 through E-5 and grades E-6 through E-9. These new reports take into account the differences in performance traits and leadership requirements be-

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tween junior and senior enlisted personnel and thus provide a more accurate instrument for evaluating duty performance.

Policy changes concerning enlisted promotions also went into effect during fiscal year 1976. On 1 July 1975 the minimum time in service for advancement to grade E-4 increased from twenty-one to twenty-four months, and starting 1 March 1976 most soldiers were no longer permitted to compete for promotion to grades E-5 and E-6 in their secondary military occupational specialties. There were also changes in waiver criteria for E-4 and E-5 promotions. Finally, effective 1 May 1976, the provision authorizing advancement to grade E-2 upon completion of four months of active Federal Service was amended to include time spent by members of the reserve components on initial active duty for training.

Efforts to obtain a stabilized enlisted grade structure continued, with particular emphasis on the top six grades. At the end of the report period, 60-43 percent of the total enlisted force was in these grades. The objective has been set at 63 percent, and the Army expects to attain it by fiscal year 1979. The following table compares the Army’s enlisted strength by grade as of 30 June 1975 and 30 September 1976.

ENLISTED GRADE STRUCTURE

Grade

30 June 1975

30 September 1976

E-9

3,711

3,689

E-8

12,682

12,928

E-7

45,739

45,639

E-6

72,215

71,035

E-5

108,286

108,925

E-4

167,047

168,740

E-3

104,925

101,240

E-2

104,295

98,750

E-1

59,423

69,128

Total

678,323

680,074

In addition to programs to recruit and retain the best qualified men and women, the Army also has procedures for removing substandard personnel from the enlisted ranks. This year new enlistees who could not adapt to the discipline of Army life were separated during their first 180 days of service under the Trainee Discharge Program, and soldiers with six to thirty-six months of service who were not productive were released under the Expeditious Discharge Program.

In recent years, the educational level of the enlisted force has consistently improved. The percentage of soldiers having high school diplomas or the equivalent increased as follows from fiscal year 1973 through fiscal year 1976 (including transition quarter) : 71.3, 73.5, 77.9, and 82.2 respectively. Overall mental aptitude also showed marked improvement, as illustrated by increases in the top three mental categories and a decrease in the lowest acceptable category:

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Fiscal Years

Mental Category

1973

  1974

   1975

  1976a

I

4.4%

4.1%

4.1%

4.5%

II

28.2%

28.6%

29.2%

29.8%

III

48.7%

49.8%

51.8%

53.1%

IV

18.7%

17.5%

14.9%

12.6%

a Includes transition quarter.

These statistics are encouraging. The sustained improvement in quality, as measured by educational level and mental capacity, indicates that on the average the volunteer is a higher caliber soldier than his draftee predecessor.

Officer Personnel

Army officer strength decreased during fiscal year 1976 from 102,565 to 98,211, the lowest level since 1950 and a 43 percent decline from the peak strength during the war in Vietnam. By the end of September 1976, it had dropped to 97,876. The following table shows a breakdown of the officer strength by grade.

OFFICER GRADE STRUCTURE 1

30 September 1976

Commissioned Officers

General officers

430

Colonel

4,368

Lieutenant colonel

10,835

Major

16,850

Captain

31,436

First lieutenant

10,320

Second lieutenant

10,951

Total

85.190

Warrant Officers

CW-4

1,282

CW-3

3,093

CW-2

6,055

CW-1

2,256

Total

12,686

1These numbers exclude 435 reimbursable active duty personnel.

In January 1975 the Secretary of the Army directed a reduction of the officer corps to minimum essential strength. Major commands then examined their own organizations and identified officer positions for elimination or downgrading. In addition, four special teams made comprehensive surveys throughout the United States and overseas. By September 1975 the Army-wide review was completed and, as a result, 4,568 officer positions were eliminated, 3,087 downgraded, and 617 converted to enlisted. This major effort, nevertheless, fell about 1,000 short of aligning officer requirements with the authorized strength level of 98,125. Furthermore, new studies indicated a need for more, rather than fewer, officers. The Army staff therefore developed a program to stabilize officer strength at 98,600. After reviewing this program, the Secretary of Defense established the Army’s officer end strength at 98,000 for fiscal years 1978 through 1982. Meanwhile, the Army began to

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analyze policies and procedures that generate officer requirements and to develop better methods of quantifying these requirements and justifying them to the Secretary of Defense and to Congress.

Officer accessions for the fifteen-month report period numbered 13,046, an increase from the fiscal year 1975 total of 9,224, which had been the lowest since World War II. Once again, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) was by far the largest source of new Army officers, as shown in the table below.

OFFICER PROCUREMENT BY SOURCE 1
July 1975-30 September 1976

United States Military Academy

854

Reserve Officers’ Training Corps

5,385

Officer Candidate School

463

Voluntary active duty

168

Direct appointment

 

Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Medical Service Corps, Chaplains

289

Women’s Army Corps

643

Medical Corps, Dental Corps, Veterinary Corps

2,425

Other

83

Nurses and medical specialists

892

Warrant officers

1,724

Miscellaneous1

120

Total

13,046

1Includes administrative gains such as recall from retired list and interservice transfers.

ROTC enrollment increased for the second consecutive year, following seven years of decline from its peak of over 177,000 students in the 1966-67 school year. During the 1975-76 academic year 48,400 students, of which 9,324 were women, were enrolled in ROTC. Improved management of the program, increased recruiting and publicity, and a more challenging curriculum were responsible for the higher total enrollment. During the fiscal year 1976 Defense appropriations hearings, Congress had expressed concern at the many ROTC units with low enrollments and had considered limiting funds for schools that had fewer than fifteen ROTC graduates for two successive years. While Congress did not restrict this year’s funds; it did indicate that such limitations would be considered in the future. As a result, the Army developed an intensive management plan to increase enrollments and the number of graduates at low-producing units. The Army discontinued ROTC units at Alfred University, Alfred, New York, and Lake Superior State College, Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, on 30 June 1976.

The authorized officer end strength for the Army Medical Department for fiscal year 1976 was 15,159, a decrease of 3.6 percent from last year’s authorization level of 15,722. The following table compares the authorized and actual officer strength by corps as of 30 June 1976:

 

Authorized

Actual

Medical Corps

4,473

4,398

Dental Corps

1,768

1,810

Veterinary Corps

430

434

Medical Service Corps

4,558

4,634

Army Nurse Corps

3,510

3,535

Army Medical Specialist Corps

420

425

            Total

15,159

15,236

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Medical Corps strength continued its slow decline, chiefly as a result of dwindling assets from the draft-related Berry Plan and a lag in accessions from volunteer programs. The absence of the physician draft was felt in all specialties but had the greatest impact on the growing shortage of general medical officers. The number of qualified volunteers increased but not enough to meet requirements. Foreign medical graduates represented a significant percentage of volunteer applicants, but all too often their training, abilities, and facility in English did not meet the Army’s standards.

A good source of new medical officers is the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program, which was authorized by Congress in fiscal year 1973. In return for full tuition and a $400 monthly stipend, scholarship recipients agree to serve on active duty in their medical specialties. During the year the Army filled 1,741 of its 1,850 vacancies under the program, while 548 students graduated and either entered active duty or were deferred for additional training. The Army Medical Department (AMEDD) expects that by 1981 approximately 50 percent of Medical Corps accessions will be through the Health Professions Scholarship Program. Annually the Medical Department also receives a number of newly commissioned officers through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corp. This year, in addition to 280 male officers, the department gained thirty-four female ROTC graduates. AMEDD female accessions through ROTC are expected to increase in the future.

For the second consecutive year officer promotions increased. Excluding Medical and Dental Corps officers, 809 were promoted to colonel, 2,125 to lieutenant colonel, 2,838 to major, 5,960 to captain, 335 to chief warrant officer, W-4, and 889 to chief warrant officer, W-3.

This year, for the first time, the Army staff submitted to the Secretary of the Army a single, comprehensive package of recommendations concerning promotions to all temporary field-grade ranks. Past procedures had called for a separate report to the secretary just before each promotion board convened. The new procedure is superior to the old fragmented approach, since it presents a complete promotion picture, including selection rates, zones of consideration, and policy guidance for selection boards for the entire year.

In January 1976 the Secretary of the Army approved recommendations by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records to give additional opportunities for promotion to officers not selected for certain Army of the United States (AUS) grades in 1974 and 1975. The secretary concluded that the Army’s failure to appoint reserve officers to the 1974 and 1975 AUS promotion boards may have resulted in an injustice. New boards, however, recommended promotions for 1,165 reserve officers who had not been selected by the original boards. Of these, 325 were former officers no longer on active duty.

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In July 1976 the Army announced a new Defense promotion policy for Medical and Dental officers. In recent years their promotions have been accelerated in order to encourage them to remain in military service. The objectives of the new policy are to reduce the percentages of Medical and Dental officers in the senior grades and to establish grade and promotion guidelines for physicians and dentists consistent with the principle of equitable personnel procedures for all officers as stated in the proposed Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA).

This year the Army again participated in congressional hearings on DOPMA legislation, which relates to the appointment, promotion, separation, and retirement of commissioned officers of the armed forces. Although the House of Representatives voted in favor of the act during the 94th Congress, the Senate deferred action on the proposal. The Department of Defense intends to resubmit the act to the 95th Congress.

The proposed Defense Officer Personnel Management Act is compatible with the Officer Personnel Management System (OPMS), which is the Army’s framework for the professional development of commissioned officers. This system covers all officers except those managed by the Army Medical Department, the Chaplains, and the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. A key element of the Officer Personnel Management System is dual specialization: each officer is expected to develop expertise in a primary and in an alternate specialty during his career. The Officer Personnel Management System is particularly important to individuals whose chosen area of expertise does not coincide with one of the traditional career branches.

In July 1975 the Army established an information specialty under the Officer Personnel Management System. The new specialty, redesignated on 1 July 1976 as public affairs, included twice as many officers as the former Information Officer Program, which had about 350. The influx of large numbers of inexperienced and untrained specialty members complicated the task of implementing the Officer Personnel Management System. Another problem was that public affairs officers made a poor showing on the 1976 Army of the United States promotion list. By the end of September 1976, however, various efforts to improve the specialty were in progress under the direction of the Chief of Public Affairs.

In September 1975 aviation also became an OPMS specialty. Before this time, the Army had treated aviation as a skill that supported development in many other specialties. The change gives aviators a management system and career pattern comparable to those for other commissioned officers, and the new specialty is expected to help improve aviation support to the ground commander.

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Since the Officer Personnel Management System does not include members of the Army Medical Department, the department has prepared its own career management guide, which is similar to Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-3, Officer Professional Development and Utilization. The final draft was completed this year and the published guide will be distributed to the field in May or June 1977. Another medical personnel management project, the AMEDD Command Selection Program, began on 1 July 1976 in the Medical Service Corps and the Dental Corps. The Medical Corps will adopt the program on 1 June 1977.

Pay, Leave, and Travel

Title 10 of the United States Code requires the president to conduct a review of military compensation at least every four years. The current study, which was started in January 1975, is a comprehensive analysis of the principles and concepts of military compensation and should improve standards for setting and adjusting compensation and methods of payment. The report, prepared by the Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation Committee, will be submitted to the President early in 1977.

There were a number of legislative changes affecting military pay, leave, and travel during the report period. Recognizing that the cost of living had risen substantially in recent years, Congress raised the military basic pay ceiling, which had been frozen at $36,000 since 1969, by the same percentage as the average pay raise for federal General Service civilian employees. As a result, on 1 October 1975 maximum basic pay increased to $37,800, and on 1 October 1976 it will increase to $39,600. In July 1976 the military pay raise mechanism was revised to permit the president to reallocate up to 25 percent of basic pay increases to allowances for quarters or subsistence, which are tax exempt. Congress also changed the usual per diem allowance for soldiers on temporary duty from $25 to $35 and the expense allowance for high-cost areas from $40 to $50 a day.

In September 1975 Congress enacted legislation that eliminated military retired pay inversion, a situation in which soldiers remaining on active duty after they were eligible for retirement could face losses in retired pay because automatic cost of living increases for retirees were higher than active duty pay raises. Under the new provisions, a soldier’s monthly retired pay may not be less than it would have been had he retired at an earlier date in his career.

Effective 1 September 1976 the payment of accrued leave to officers and enlisted personnel was put on the same basis. Before this time, officers could be paid a maximum of sixty days accrued leave throughout their career, while enlisted men and women could cash in

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sixty days at the end of each enlistment. Now all soldiers are limited to a maximum accrued leave payment of sixty days during their entire term of service.

The Variable Incentive Pay Act for Physicians, enacted in May 1974, expired on 30 September 1976. Congress had passed the act to attract and retain enough doctors to meet the medical requirements of the military services by paying a bonus of up to $13,000 a year. Recognizing the continued need for the bonus, Congress extended the legislative authority for variable incentive pay until 30 September 1977.

When temporary legislation exempting the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program from federal taxation expired on 31 December 1975, the Internal Revenue Service ruled that students had to pay income tax on the full amount of their scholarships and began withholding tax from scholarship recipients. Congress, however, in a tax reform act of 1976 extended tax relief through 1979 for students who were enrolled in the program in 1976. Because of the frequency of military moves, tax relief was also granted in connection with moving expenses for military personnel and their dependents.

Congress also amended the tax law that kept members of the reserve components from participating in the Individual Retirement Account because their military service made them eligible for future retirement benefits. New legislation removed this restriction and permitted reservists to participate in the Individual Retirement Account unless an individual was on active duty (other than active duty for training) for more than ninety days during a tax year. Another new provision of the tax code eliminated the tax exemption of disability retired pay for persons joining the military services after 1975, unless the disability resulted from armed conflict, extra-hazardous duty, simulation of war conditions, or an instrumentality of war. Veterans Administration benefits, however, remained tax exempt.

Finally, tax reform legislation provided for the automatic withholding of state income taxes from monthly pay to meet the tax obligation of each person’s state of legal residence, as determined under the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act. Procedures for carrying out this new law will be developed by the states, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Defense.

Equal Opportunity

The Department of the Army Standing Committee on Equal Opportunity was established on 4 March 1976 as a result of recommendations made by the Ad Hoc General Officers’ Steering Committee on Equal Opportunity. The new committee will review Army policies to assure their compatibility with the principle of equal opportunity.

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The strength and role of women in the Army continued to expand during the report period. On 30 September 1976, the active Army had over 5,100 women officers and more than 44,400 enlisted women, a substantial increase from the total female strength of 42,297 in June 1975. Women officers were detailed to all branches except Infantry, Armor, Field Artillery, and Air Defense Artillery, and enlisted women were serving in 371 of the Army’s 406 military occupational specialties (MOS’s). A comprehensive study on women in the Army concluded that Army policies reflected current national attitudes and were consistent with combat effectiveness as well as women’s rights. It highlighted, however, a need for more information in several areas, which resulted in the Army’s undertaking projects such as the examination of a common curriculum for enlisted men and women in basic initial entry training, a field test to determine the number of women to be placed in various Army units, and studies to establish MOS physical requirements and to review assignment guidelines. All of these were part of the Army’s effort to assure equal opportunity for women.

The number of women in the Army National Guard also continued to increase. At the end of September 1976, there were 11,146 guardswomen, including 489 officers, who were serving in a wide variety of nontraditional jobs. Meanwhile, a study was under way to determine the best female ratio for different types of National Guard units and to validate a tentative goal of approximately 20,000 guardswomen.

The female strength of the Army Reserve rose above 19,000 officers and enlisted personnel by September 1976. The rapid growth in the number of women since 1972 resulted from changes in Army policies, development of new training programs, and extensive advertising and recruiting. Approximately 56 percent of the women without previous service enlisted in the Army Reserve on the basis of a civilian skill that equated with a military occupational specialty. This enlistment option offered the individual advanced rank and accelerated promotion, while the Army benefited by savings in training costs.

Female participation in the Reserve ‘Officers’ Training Corps has grown dramatically since enrollment of women began during the 1972-73 school year as an experimental program involving 212 students at ten institutions. During the 1975-76 academic year, 19 percent of all ROTC cadets were females. They were enrolled in 280 of the 285 schools offering Army ROTC, and in May 1976 women received commissions through the program for the first time. As mentioned above, 34 of the 314 ROTC graduates who entered the Army Medical Department this year were women. Of these, 32 entered the Medical Service Corps, 1 joined the Army Nurse Corps, and 1 went into the Army Medical Specialist Corps.

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On 7 October 1975 the president signed into law the bill directing that women be admitted to the service academies. The United States Military Academy at West Point got 867 applications from women, of whom 631 received nominations, 176 were found qualified, 148 were offered admission, and 119 entered the academy on 7 July 1976 as members of the class of 1980. In preparation for the admission of women, the academy reviewed all areas of cadet life and incorporated practical changes. The training program remained essentially identical for men and women with exceptions limited largely to those required by physiological differences. All members of the Corps of Cadets as well as the staff and faculty attended human relations training and information briefings. Data from surveys concerning cadet, staff, and faculty attitudes were used in leadership training for the cadets and will contribute to Project Athena, a special study of the effects of the admission of women on West Point.

Leadership and Motivation

In February 1976 the Chief of Staff requested the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (DCSPER) to reexamine the role of the noncommissioned officer (NCO) in the Army. The Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel solicited views on the duties and responsibilities of NCO’s from major commands, selected general officers, and—through the Sergeant Major of the Army—from a large number of senior noncommissioned officers. The DCSPER review showed that both officers and enlisted personnel had distorted perceptions about the role, duties, and authority of the noncommissioned officer. The Chief of Staff therefore directed the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) to make a doctrinal study of the role of the noncommissioned officer and to stress this role in all service schools. Results of the TRADOC study, conducted from May to September 1976, indicated a definite need for changes in Army policies, procedures, and regulations. Some of the recommended changes were explicitly recognizing that the NCO chain supplements the higher chain of command, directing commanders to require their noncommissioned officers to perform certain duties, designating the command sergeant major and first sergeant as the senior noncommissioned officer of a given unit, and recognizing the primary role of the noncommissioned officer as a first-line supervisor in executing policies pertaining to the performance, training, appearance, and conduct of enlisted personnel.

The Training and Doctrine Command also undertook a study on institutional ethics in response to questions to the Secretary of the Army at congressional hearings in June 1976. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which the Army’s school system offered training that reinforced the ethical dimension of leadership and if there was a

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uniform honor code for Officer Candidate School, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, and direct commissioning programs. The study showed that service schools up to and including the Command and General Staff College did offer some ethics, moral, and officership training, but that such training was not standardized and varied widely in content. Likewise, there was little uniformity in the honor codes of the various precommissioning educational systems. As a result of this and other studies, the Training and Doctrine Command called upon the Administration Center to develop an ethics instructional package, which would assist major commands and service schools in conducting uniform ethics training throughout the Army.

On 1 July 1975, the U.S. Army Organizational Effectiveness Training Center was established at Fort Ord, California, to train captains and majors as organizational effectiveness staff officers. These officers help commanders examine the distinctly human nature of their organizations and then take action to untangle and streamline specific functions and programs. They try to involve the chain of command in systematic efforts, based on the newest behavioral science and management methods, to assess and improve total unit performance. The goal is to make people at all echelons more involved, motivated, committed, and effective—both individually and collectively—in the accomplishment of the organization’s mission. By September 1976 more than one hundred officers had completed training in organizational effectiveness. Plans call for expanding the program and assigning these trained officers to all Army commands at separate brigade level and higher. Organizational effectiveness training for selected noncommissioned officers, members of the reserve components, and Army civilian personnel will be considered during fiscal year 1977.

The decision of the American Federation of Government Employees to open its membership to military personnel in September 1976 presented a potential problem for the Army as well as for the other services. In response to questions from the press, the Department of Defense issued a statement declaring its opposition to military unionization. The Army position on this controversial issue was essentially the same. Although the Army is not antiunion in principle, as an institution it opposes the application of collective bargaining to the military profession since this could lead to an erosion of command authority. Military service entails a degree of loyalty and discipline unparalleled in the civilian sector because success in combat demands immediate and total responsiveness to lawful orders. Commanders, therefore, were not authorized to bargain with unions representing or seeking to represent servicemen.

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Alcohol and Drug Abuse

The Army continued its efforts to prevent the abuse of alcohol and other drugs by soldiers on active duty, reservists, retirees, their families, and civilian employees. Since total elimination of drug abuse does not appear to be possible, the Army has been committing substantial resources to contain the problem and reduce its impact on personnel readiness and productivity. The goal of the Army’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Program is to identify actual and potential abusers of alcohol and other drugs as early as possible and, through intensive short-term rehabilitation, to return abusers to their jobs as effective and reliable individuals. During the past year, 31,322 soldiers entered rehabilitation (40 percent for problems related to alcohol and 60 percent for abuse of other drugs), and an average of 16,370 soldiers received help every month under this program (44 percent for alcohol and 56 percent for other drugs).

On 1 May 1976 the Army published a new Army regulation, 600-85, which for the first time assembled all of the circulars, pamphlets, regulations, and directives associated with the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Program into one comprehensive document. Throughout the report period, there was more emphasis than before on the prevention of alcohol abuse.

Crime, Discipline, and Military Justice

Discipline improved and crime decreased in the Army during fiscal year 1976. Crimes of violence, crimes against property, and drug offenses were all below the previous year’s levels. Absenteeism continued to decline; both the absent without leave (AWOL) and desertion rates were less than half of what they had been two years earlier. The number of persons tried by general, special, and summary courts-martial dropped significantly, and the court-martial rate was the lowest in over a decade. Nonjudicial punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military justice also decreased.

In July, August, and September 1976, the use and possession of marihuana increased, but other drug offenses declined. The level of crimes against property was slightly higher than that for the same period the previous year, and nonjudicial punishment increased somewhat, but crimes of violence, absenteeism, and courts-martial all decreased. The rate of less than honorable separations, which had remained about the same for two years, dropped significantly during the transition quarter.

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The breakdown of court-martial statistics for fiscal year 1976 and the transition quarter (shown in parentheses) was as follows:

 

Convicted

Acquitted

Total

General

1,305

  (271)

171

(37)

1,476

(308)

Special

6,045a

  (1,152)b

884

(203)

6,929a

(1,355)b

Summary

1,797

(364)

202

(71)

1,999

(435)

            Total

9,147

(1,787)

1,257

(311)

10,404

(2,098)

a In 837 of these cases, the approved sentence included a bad conduct discharge.
b In 188 of these cases, the approved sentence included a bad conduct discharge.

Table 1 shows the various statistical indicators of lack of discipline in the Army for January 1971 through September 1976. The overall improvement during this period can be attributed to such factors as the end of the war in Vietnam and the end of the draft, substantial reductions in the total strength of the Army, higher entrance standards for new soldiers, better leadership and personnel management, and more effective programs specifically designed to improve discipline and professionalism throughout the Army.

The continuing decline of AWOL and desertion rates caused a parallel decrease in the number of soldiers returning from absentee status. This decrease resulted in a major work load reduction for the Army’s personnel control facilities, which are responsible for the expeditious disposition—either administrative or judicial—of individuals returned to military control after an unauthorized absence. Because of the downward trend of the returnee population, the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel approved the closing of six personnel control facilities in the United States, thus cutting the number of operating facilities in half.

The Army’s prisoner population also continued to decline in fiscal year 1976. In fact, the average number of prisoners reached the lowest level since before World War II. As a result, the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel began to develop a plan that will adjust the Army confinement system to reduced prisoner populations and make better use of resources and modern facilities.

Several new military police regulations went into effect during the past year. On 15 January 1976, Army Regulation 190-47 consolidated into one document nine former regulations dealing with various aspects of the Army’s correctional system. A change published in March announced new policies and standards concerning the care, custody, and treatment of offenders and provided a confinement system for women closely resembling that for men. Another new Army regulation, 190-34, covered correctional custody, as prescribed by Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Effective 1 January 1976, the regulation was amended to include correctional custody of women, reflecting the new Army policy to give equal correctional treatment to service members of both sexes. As a result of an agreement between the Department of

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TABLE 1—INDISCIPLINE INDEX

(Rate per 1,000)

Calendar Year

Quarter

Absence Without Leave

Desertion

Crimes of Violence

Crimes Against Property

Marihuana Use and Possession

Other drug Offenses

Courts-Martial

Nonjudicial Punishment

Separations Less than Honorable

1971

1

47.0

19.2

1.77

18.80

2:75

2.09

8.73

52.12

4.94

 

2

41.9

16.0

2.04

21.64

2.43

2.79

9.11

52.25

6.35

 

3

42.8

17.2

2.19

24.32

2.03

2.96

9.00

54.45

7.42

 

4

40.9

16.1

2.14

23.46

2.27

2.34

7.63

51.31

9.56

1972

1

37.9

14.1

1.92

21.64

2.79

1.99

8.03

61.67

11.15

 

2

44.8

14.6

1.87

22.07

2.79

1.63

7.20

53.93

12.16

 

3

40.6

12.9

1.84

22.76

3.20

1.77

5.85

57.78

9.90

 

4

34.2

11.2

2.04

30.38

3.78

1.51

6.13

50.40

7.98

1973

1

43.9

13.2

2.02

19.87

5.34

1.83

7.01

57.05

7.76

 

2

40.9

14.8

1.93

20.76

5.55

1.87

7.57

56.33

9.35

 

3

42.9

14.4

1.99

23.27

5.98

2.21

7.42

57.71

8.83

 

4

28.8

9.0

2.01

22.78

6.85

1.94

6.88

51.80

8.69

1974

1

30.1

8.8

2.04

21.70

8.59

2.24

6.85

56.49

7.79

 

2

28.1

8.9

1.90

22.12

7.96

2.06

6.50

54.32

7.21

 

3

28.0

8.3

2.21

22.45

7.79

1.92

6.02

52.78

7.05

 

4

21.8

6.8

2.10

23.50

8.16

2.00

5.25

48.01

6.38

1975

1

22.9

5.7

2.09

21.95

8.49

2.24

5.05

57.48

5.95

 

2

19.6

5.2

1.98

21.96

7.58

2.31

4.25

56.76

6.21

 

3

18.8

5.0

2.14

22.72

6.11

2.06

3.88

52.24

7.47

 

4

12.9

3.7

1.75

22.04

6.45

1.82

3.33

45.72

6.11

1976

1

14.2

3.2

1.65

20.44

8.61

1.61

3.18

51.87

6.05

 

2

15.1

3.5

1.66

22.33

8.04

1.53

2.92

53.05

6.02

 

3

16.0

4.0

1.93

22.79

8.33

1.58

2.63

56.95

5.01

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Justice and the Department of Defense to furnish housing on military installations for key federal witnesses, the Army also published Army Regulation 190-48, dated 3 March 1976, concerning protection of federal witnesses on active Army installations.

There were a number of important studies in the general area of military law and justice. On 28 February 1976 the Chief of Staff directed the Army staff to evaluate the use, acquisition, retention, and disposition of criminal records. After a thorough survey, a study group concluded that the Army’s law enforcement system was maintaining and using criminal records in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts. Next, in order to clarify Army policy, the group undertook the revision of several Army regulations. When these revisions are completed, the study will be forwarded to the Chief of Staff for approval. Meanwhile, another group analyzed ways to achieve better compliance with the obligations of the Geneva Conventions. It examined the experiences of enemy prisoners of war in Vietnam as well as current U.S. policies regarding the treatment and accountability of enemy prisoners and civilian internees.

The Army also studied the realignment of investigative responsibilities between the military police and the Criminal Investigation Command. The decision was that the responsibilities of the military police should be extended to include investigations of criminal offenses punishable by one year of confinement or less and investigations of crimes against property valued under $250, with certain exceptions in cases of adultery, maltreatment, and negligent homicide. These changes will become effective in February 1977.

In November 1975 the Army adopted more strict selection criteria for military police investigators and a new screening procedure to expedite the processing of candidates. Procedures for handling evidence and for the use of criminal investigation funds have also been revised in order to reduce the time spent by military police investigators and criminal investigation agents on purely administrative tasks.

Expansion of the Military Police Management Information System (MPMIS) continued during the report period. Designed to automate and standardize certain military police reporting functions, the system consists of several subsystems, or modules, which are in various stages of development. Between July and September 1976 Army vehicle registration procedures were placed under the Military Police Management Information System at twenty-four installations, and completion of the Vehicle Registration System is scheduled for the end of February 1977. Programing and testing of the Correctional Reporting System, which provides data on the prisoner population at military confinement and correctional facilities, was completed during fiscal year 1976. Modifica-

[52]


tion of the Prisoner of War Information System has also been completed. This system fulfills reporting requirements of the Geneva Conventions and furnishes information on prisoners of war and other persons captured or detained by the United States during hostilities. Since prototype evaluation of another module, the Offense Reporting System, proved unsuccessful, it had to be redesigned. In its new configuration, the system automates crime reporting by installations to higher headquarters and provides selective enforcement data for crime prevention at the local level. Other projected MPMIS subsystems will cover traffic violations, traffic accidents, and desertion.

In March 1976 the Army also began plans to automate the collection and compilation of information on military justice. The plans call for using computers to sort the data quickly into a variety of formats to show important trends in military justice and to furnish information for comparison with civilian law enforcement.

The military magistrate program, implemented throughout the Army in October 1974, was expanded on 1 January 1976 to include review of pretrial confinement of all Army personnel in military confinement facilities by judge advocate magistrates. These magistrates had the authority to order release from pretrial confinement or permit continued confinement, with no provision for appeal. In addition to magistrates assigned to the U.S. Army Legal Services Agency, who were responsible for reviewing all pretrial confinement in the United States, Europe, and Korea, the Army made limited use of part-time, locally assigned magistrates in geographically remote areas with low average pretrial confinement populations. Military magistrates were placed under the supervisory control of full-time military judges, with the Chief Trial Judge, U.S. Army Judiciary, having responsibility for general administration of the program. A major change occurred in August 1976, when military judges were empowered to perform magisterial duties if so authorized by the Chief of the Army Judiciary or his designee. In accordance with this new provision, military judges will assume magisterial duties at most installations during fiscal year 1977, and the number of full-time military magistrates will consequently decrease.

Critics of the civilian and military judicial systems have often called for more continuing legal education for attorneys. In response, The Judge Advocate General directed the establishment of the Field Defense Services Branch, which was to become operational on 1 October 1976. The new branch will be a part of the Defense Appellate Division of the Legal Services Agency. Its primary mission will be to improve the quality and effectiveness of the Army’s trial defense counsel by giving professional ethics guidance, trial tactics advice, and research assistance to defense counsel in the field. In coordination with The Judge Advocate

[53]


General’s School in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Field Defense Services Branch will present instruction on defense counsel matters at The Judge Advocate General’s Corps Basic Officer’s Course and at a new semiannual, four-day, continuing legal education course for trial defense counsel. It will also coordinate periodic regional defense counsel seminars. By using actual experiences of trial defense counsel, the new branch will be able to improve the defense services for each soldier accused of an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Civilian Personnel

Civilian employees make up over one-third of the total manpower available to the Army. They perform over 90 percent of the Army’s research and development and logistic functions, most of its base maintenance operations, and about half of its medical support. Furthermore, the civilian work force accomplishes this wide variety of essential support tasks more economically than such duties could be performed by soldiers. As of 30 September 1976, the Army’s appropriated fund civilian employees numbered 417,684, of whom 342,499 were U.S. citizens and 75,185 were nationals of foreign countries, primarily Germany, Japan, and Korea. A 3.9 percent decrease in civilian strength occurred during the fifteen-month report period, a continuation of the reduction in civilian manpower that has been going on since 1969.

Productivity and cost reduction were once again key objectives. At the end of September 1976, the average grade of the Army’s General Schedule (GS) employees was 7.57, an increase from last year’s average of 7.39, due primarily to hiring freezes and losses of summer employees in lower grades. Nevertheless, the average grade remained below the ceiling set by the Department of Defense and below the average grade at the time the reduction program began in 1971. The Army also participated in a Defense-wide effort to reduce by 4 percent the number of employees in grades GS-13 and above during the next two years.

The Presidential Cost Reduction Campaign, conducted from May 1975 through May 1976, gave special recognition to federal employees whose contributions resulted in first-year savings of $5,000 or more. In addition to monetary or honorary awards, these individuals received letters signed by the president expressing his personal congratulations. By the end of the campaign, 837 Army employees had earned the presidential letter for having saved $67 million. This achievement, the highest in the Department of Defense and the second highest in the federal government, constituted 23 percent of the total cost savings under the president’s program.

On 30 June 1976 the Vice Chief of Staff approved the establishment of the Commander’s Award. The new award, which is equivalent to

[54]


the Army Commendation Medal for soldiers, will give commanders a form of honorary recognition for civilians that is more important than the Certificate of Achievement, but does not need approval by the Department of the Army.

Executive pay compression and retired pay inversion, mentioned earlier in connection with military personnel, also caused major problems for the civilian work force. Although legislation enacted in August 1975 will keep pay compression from worsening, it did not correct the inequities brought about by the freeze on executive salaries between 1969 and 1975, when lower grade salaries increased by nearly 34 percent. Pay compression, coupled with automatic cost of living increases of 50 percent in retired pay, created a pay inversion, which led to a large number of early retirements, especially among key executives, and caused problems in recruitment of suitable replacements.

Standardization of civilian pay systems within the Army progressed to the point that forty-eight installations were operating under the Standard Army Civilian Payroll System by 30 September 1976, and the total number of civilian payroll systems in use had been reduced from fifty-four to thirty-three. Extension of the standard system to remaining Army installations will be completed by December 1978. Meanwhile, a joint working group chaired by the Army will develop specifications for a single Department of Defense Standard Civilian Payroll System.

Relations with labor unions continued to go well, and union membership among Army employees continued to grow. By the end of September 1976, there were 722 exclusive bargaining units covering approximately 231,000 civilian employees, an increase of about 10,000 employees and thirteen units since 30 June 1975.

Efforts to improve the civilian career management system continued, and the Army made substantial progress in complying with the president’s directive to strengthen internal programs of executive selection and training. During the report period, the number of managers trained under the Executive Development Program more than doubled, increasing from 1,722 to 3,646. As of 30 September 1976, the Army had identified 1,579 employees with high potential for becoming managers, and 981 of these had received formal training in management subjects. In addition, 384 current and potential managers participated in special assignments to develop management skills. During the past year, the Army exceeded its objective of maintaining a minimum strength of 3,500 career interns at the GS-5 and GS-7 levels, and total intern strength on 30 June 1976 was 3,522. Of the 1,656 interns selected during the year, 388, or 24.4 percent, were recruited from within the current work force.

[55]


The Army continued to stress various special employment programs, particularly those for Vietnam-era veterans. The 13,981 veterans appointed during the report period represented 18 percent of newly hired employees. A total of 4,128 Vietnam-era veterans were employed under the Veteran’s Readjustment Authority; 2,668 of these were converted to career or career-conditional status after completing their training. The Army also hired 15,299 summer employees, including 10,500 disadvantaged youths.

Equality of opportunity for all civilian employees remained high among the Army’s priorities. A new career program for equal employment opportunity personnel was established and the U.S. Civil Service Commission approved for the first time a four-year Equal Employment Opportunity Action Plan in place of annual plans. There was a slight decline in total numbers of minorities and women in the civilian work force; however the percentage of minorities increased from 17.2 to 17.5 percent and the percentage of women from 33.1 to 33.9 percent. Likewise, minority representation in grades GS-12 and above was up 7.7 percent from last year’s level, and representation of women was up 13.9 percent.

In accordance with recommendations made by the Secretary of the Army’s Task Force on Employment of Women, steps were taken to improve the position of women in the Army’s civilian work force. Guidelines for the distribution of females in various career programs were developed, and numerical goals for women at all career grade levels were substantially increased. More women participated on career boards and in the career screening process. By the end of June 1976, women held 32.9 percent of all career intern positions outside the engineer and scientist fields, and a goal of 35 percent had been set for 31 December 1976. Plans also had been made for an extended search for minority and female candidates for consideration in filing executive positions at grades GS-15 and above.

In November 1975 the Army began an apprentice program in trades needed for base support at installations throughout the Army. The objective of the new Facilities Engineering Apprenticeship Program are to improve the skills of the blue-collar work force, train skilled replacements for retiring workers, and give civilian employees at lower levels more opportunities for advancement. Plans call for 1,000 apprentices in fifteen to twenty blue-collar trades. During the past year, 300 apprentices were employed in nine trades at fifty-nine Army installations in the United States. They have been registered with the Department of Labor and are required to complete an apprenticeship of three to four years before they can be certified as trained journeymen. Upon completion of training, apprentices will be assimilated into

[56]


their installation’s facilities engineer work force. Another 700 apprentices will enter the program during the next two years, 300 in fiscal year 1977 and 400 in 1978.

Over the past few years, the Army has sought to follow congressional guidance on using the most economical manpower available. The civilian substitution program begun in July 1973 will have converted approximately 14,000 positions from military to civilian status by the time it is completed in December 1976, with net savings to the Army of about $21 million. As this program progressed, more soldiers became available for reassignment to military units. As a result of civilian budget restrictions and strength ceilings imposed by Congress, however, the allocation of civilian positions to field commands was reduced without a restoration of the military spaces already withdrawn in the substitution program. At the same time, total military strength also continued to decline.

Faced with annual reductions in both military and civilian personnel and a stable or growing work load, commanders have had to divert soldiers from their assigned duties to perform essential support tasks. During the report period, this so-called borrowed military manpower added up to approximately 22,500 man-months each month, a number equivalent to the manpower of four and a half combat brigades. About 70 percent of the diversion may be acceptable because it either permits components of a unit to perform as organizational entities in functions associated with the unit’s primary mission or allows soldiers to perform in areas associated with their specialties. The other 30 percent of borrowed military manpower, however, does not directly relate to unit missions or individual specialties. These diverted soldiers are used mostly in installation support activities, such as medical services, administration, supply, and general housekeeping, but they also work in military units to perform necessary peacetime tasks for which the units are not staffed.

The diversion of soldiers from their assigned duties decreases job satisfaction and reduces unit readiness, as Army leaders have consistently pointed out. It also clearly shows the interrelationship between the Army’s civilian and military manpower. Neither can operate alone, each must be balanced with the other, and both are essential to the readiness of the Army.

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