Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1979

6.

Human Resources Development

Human resources development is an important part of personnel management and involves planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling activities. These activities are designed primarily for their effect on individual morale and organizational esprit, development of individual potential, and development of an organizational climate that enhances the attitudes, motivation, commitment, and sense of well-being of soldiers and their families. All the activities involved are related to leadership and discipline, job and career satisfaction, human relations, alcohol and drug abuse prevention, spiritual guidance and counseling, physical and mental well-being, community services, and maintenance of law and order.

Each year the Chief of Staff hosts the Army Commanders Conference in Washington, D.C., to discuss major problems confronting the service. In early October 1978, all of the senior Army leaders, except General Alexander Haig, Commander in Chief, U.S. European Command, met at the Pentagon to review the past year and prepare for the one ahead. The agenda centered on three topics—how to train, how to fight, and how to go to war. From the frank discussions, the Army leaders derived a framework for assessing the current status and what could be done to improve the combat readiness of the Army.

In August 1979, the Chief of Staff hosted the fourth leadership seminar at the Pentagon. Forty-six of the sixty-six retired four star generals attended the two-day meeting. At the sessions, senior active Army commanders and staff officers reviewed Army programs concerning mobilization, rapid reinforcement, and modernization. The retired generals then had an opportunity to ask questions and to give counsel based on their own experience.

To strengthen the image of trust and confidence projected by Army officers, the Chief of Staff initiated a trust review in 1977 to examine Army regulations, eliminating wherever possible those policies that undermine that image. The review sought to reaffirm the special trust that the Army reposed in its officers to act honorably and effectively under all conditions. By emphasizing ethical standards throughout the Army’s educational

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system and giving strong support to a reward system for officers demonstrating adherence to those standards and punishment for violators, the Army strived to bolster its two-century tradition of honorable service. The Chief of Staff, accordingly, approved the trust review report in August 1978. Of the sixty-three policies requiring changes in regulations, forty-seven were within the Chief of Staff’s authority to revise. Thirty-nine have been completed and the remainder are to be executed by the end of 1979. Seven of the sixteen policies requiring approval by higher authority have been approved and are now in effect. Two have been disapproved.

In a related area, the amended Ethics in Government Act of 1978 emphasized the need to rebuild public trust in both the senior civilian and military leadership of the nation. Under the amended law, civilians in grade GS-16 and higher and general officers are required to file annual financial disclosure statements. Ground rules for post-retirement private employment were also clarified. Among the restrictions set forth was a permanent barring of these senior officials from making personal appearances or from soliciting on behalf of private firms in matters that they had been substantially involved in prior to retirement. There is also a two-year bar on those senior officials representing (or assisting in representing) anyone before the government in areas that had formerly been a part of their official responsibility and a one-year bar on attempts to influence the actions of the agency where the senior official had been employed.

The drive to sustain high ethical standards has been matched by continued efforts to improve leadership and management capabilities through organizational effectiveness. Organizational effectiveness is a military adaptation of an organizational development concept used in private industry. After three years of intensive study and several pilot programs, the Army made substantial progress toward the application of selected aspects of behavioral/management science technologies. By the end of the report year, the Army had sent 572 staff officers through the sixteen-week intensive training course at the Organizational Effectiveness Training Center at Ford Ord, California. Instruction in the service schools also expanded the knowledge base that permitted the skills of these officers to be used more effectively. Under the 3-10 year plan developed during the year, there will be a transition from focus on human relations to greater emphasis on broader total systems and complex organizations dur-

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ing the 1980-86 period. In the future, more attention will be devoted to program management, resource/manpower structures, personnel selection/assignment, research, evaluation, education and training, and information.

At the unit level, a Command Climate Study conducted during the year investigated the importance of determining current attitudes and perceptions of officers, noncommissioned officers, and enlisted men concerning significant human issues and the possibility of developing a practical model to set forth the relationships between factors such as unit performance, organizational climate, motivations, satisfaction with the Army, ability, reenlistment, and commitment to deploy and enter combat. Data collections involved sixty combat, combat support, and combat service support battalions. From the preliminary results, the study group found that there was a strong correlation between battalion performance, satisfaction with the Army, intent to reenlist, and unit motivation. It was also found that positive factors foster a good command climate and include satisfaction with the job and with fellow personnel, good unit discipline, efficient administration and work processes, and effective personnel and property security in the unit area. On the negative side, it was found that there was an overcommitment of resources, an inadequate time to carry out tasks, a lack of adequate training facilities, a shortage in the midgrade noncommissioned officer ranks, a significant amount of personnel turbulence and turnover, and an inadequate amount of preparation for technical and leadership skill training.

The increase of women joining the Army has created some problems in the relationships between male and female soldiers of different rank. Fraternization, which encompasses both dating and marriage, produced instances of partiality, preferential treatment, and the improper use of rank or position in male/female relationships. In November 1978, the Secretary of the Army approved a new policy that was incorporated into AR 600-20. It states that such conduct is contrary to good discipline and morale and should be avoided. Commanders and supervisors were directed to counsel persons involved in such situations and take other appropriate action to eliminate the problem.

In recent years, union supporters have expended considerable effort to unionize the military force. Their efforts received a decisive setback when the President signed into law in November 1978 the prohibition of union organizations in the armed forces. All members of the active forces and members of the

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reserve components were included under the legislation, and punishments were established for all persons attempting to enroll military personnel in unions or to use government property for such purposes. Nothing in the law prevented members of the armed forces from presenting grievances and complaints through established procedures, from seeking guidance or counsel from outside sources, or from communicating with Congress.

In January, the Army published the third annual assessment report of its equal opportunity program. The report indicated that the Army had made progress in recruiting and retaining minority and women officers and enlisted personnel, increased the number of the same categories in the Reserve Officers Training Corps, and attained favorable minority and women selection rates for most promotion, command, and professional schooling boards. Among the areas that required further attention were the declining rate of black cadet enrollment at the Military Academy, the identification and correction of the factors that contributed to the high ratio of minority soldiers involved in adverse actions, and the provision of timely information for equal opportunity management initiatives to all soldiers at all levels of command. The report pointed out that the success of the Army’s Affirmative Action Plan depended upon the personal involvement of commanders and functional managers and their understanding of the relationship between the plan and combat readiness.

As the Secretary of the Army noted in May, about 11 percent of new 2d lieutenants and 25 percent of noncommissioned officers in the Army were black. Also, there were twenty-one black general officers. He went on to say, “I can think of no other major American institution where blacks are as well represented at all levels.” The fact that the officers corps only had a ratio of about one black officer to nine white while the enlisted ranks had reached a ratio of about one black to two white soldiers was best explained by the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower) before a Senate committee. The disproportion, he maintained, was a reflection of conditions in American society. The percentage of blacks entering the Army as officers is about the same as the percentage of college graduates who are black—a result of maldistribution of opportunity. The opposite was true of enlisted soldiers since the absence of opportunities for blacks in the labor force led them to join the armed forces, an equal opportunity employer.

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One area in the Army where minorities were not well represented was in the Military Police Corps, where blacks and Hispanic soldiers comprised only about 20 percent of the military police enlisted strength. To bring the ratio into line with those of other branches, the Army Recruiting Command launched an active campaign to attract more minority members into law enforcement specialties. In addition, the Law Enforcement Division developed a plan to supplement the Recruiting Command’s efforts by having senior military police officers discuss the problem with the regional recruiting office in their area and help the recruiters follow leads on potential enlistees. All individual military police, provost marshals, and military police commanders have also been asked to talk to the minority members of their units to obtain referrals of friends or relatives who might be interested in becoming military policemen.

Improvement of Army discipline began with the volunteer era in fiscal year 1974 and continued through fiscal year 1979. Crimes of violence and crimes against property decreased slightly from last year. Though the rates for drug offenses rose slightly, they remained well below the rates for the first three years of the volunteer period. The desertion rate also showed a slight increase, but there was an overall decrease in absenteeism due to a drop in the AWOL rate.

The court-martial statistics for fiscal year 1979 are as follows:

In 745 of the special court-martial cases, the approved sentence included a bad conduct discharge. There were also 146,411 nonjudicial (Article 15) punishments imposed during the year.

The Indiscipline Index, Table 1, provides a comparison of quarterly rates for offenses, punishments, and separations less than honorable since the beginning of calendar year 1974. Also shown are the AWOL and desertion rates for fiscal years 1974-79.

The Special Discharge Review Program, initiated in March 1977, provides former service members (with less than honorable discharges received during the U.S. involvement in Vietnam) an opportunity for a reconsideration and possible upgrading of their releases. As the 1 January 1980 deadline for applying for

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TABLE 1 - INDISCIPLINE INDEX, WORLDWIDE
(Rate per 1,000)

AWOL and Desertion Rates, Worldwide
(Rate per 1,000)

discharge reviews draws near, the number of applications have increased, enlarging an already-existing backlog of cases. During the twelve-month period ending 30 November 1978, a total of 79,346 U.S. military and civilian personnel and their dependents faced criminal charges for offenses falling within the exclusive or primary jurisdiction of foreign tribunals. Of the offenses charged against Army service members, 16,568 were violations of both U.S. and foreign law with the primary jurisdiction vested in the foreign courts. Host nations granted waivers in 16,261 of these cases, which amounted to a waiver rate of 98.1 percent. For the fourth consecutive twelve-month period, the number of U.S. personnel confined in foreign penal institutions declined. Of 143 military personnel in foreign confinement, 76

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were Army members, a marked reduction from the 93 confined a year ago.

For the past several years, the Army’s own confinement system has been under study. The study’s objective is to determine the maximum use of resources and facilities in meeting both the needs of the Army and the needs of prisoners. Modifications to the Army Correction System include narrowing installation detention facility operations, reducing the size of correctional staffs, and centralizing correctional treatment of prisoners at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the U.S. Army Retraining Brigade at Fort Riley, Kansas. Further action during fiscal year 1979 included closing the installation detention facility at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, on 1 December 1978. This action afforded the Army an annual savings of $11,500 with no deleterious effect on the correction system. Plans for streamlining the system, further, based largely on recommendations developed at the Worldwide Correction Conference held at Fort Leavenworth in January 1978, were completed in May 1979. As a result of the new provisions, the Army expects to achieve substantial savings in manpower and money.

An additional assessment of the correction system conducted during the last quarter of fiscal year 1979 addressed the production of an even more cost-efficient system that could be expanded to support mobilization contingencies and, at the same time, achieve the overall objective of restoring the highest possible number of prisoners to duty as responsible and motivated soldiers. Specific proposals of the assessment include reopening the Fort Dix, New Jersey, detention facility as a branch disciplinary barracks for the confinement of prisoners held in minimum custody or serving sentences of eighteen months or less. The Fort Dix facility would also house all female prisoners, eliminating that mission for the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks. Male prisoners kept in medium and maximum custody and those serving sentences of more than eighteen months would continue to be confined at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks. A resulting reduction in the prisoner population at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks would leave a part of that facility idle, making it available to support a mobilization contingency. At the end of fiscal year 1979, the assessment was being staffed. Final recommendations are expected early in the next fiscal year.

A review of military police functions at installations within the continental United States by major commands, conducted for the fiscal year 1981-85 Program Objective Memorandum, identified 956 military police spaces that could be converted to

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help fulfill combat unit needs. In identifying the spaces, the primary military police function selected for elimination was the vehicle registration program at U.S. installations. Other functions considered for elimination, for contracting out, or for transfer included animal control, money escort service, static security posts, gate guards, information booths, vehicle impoundment operations, and the monitoring of intrusion detection systems.

While the Army continued its efforts to prevent alcohol and drug abuse by its members, the emphasis, as in the previous fiscal year, was on law enforcement to suppress the flow of drugs to Army personnel. The Army placed particular emphasis on suppressing the trafficking of drugs in Europe, where there was a growing supply of heroin and other drugs coming in from Southwest Asia. The effectiveness of the drug suppression effort was visible in the amount of drugs seized. In calendar year 1978, the street value of drugs taken was $47.5 million, but in just the first nine months of calendar year 1979, the value of drugs seized exceeded $139 million. Aiming to improve the detection and seizure of illegal drugs, the Army obtained forty-six student spaces for military police investigators and supervisors in the National Training Institute Enforcement Training Course given by the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C. The Army also arranged for four student spaces in similar courses given at the regional level by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In another area of law enforcement, current Army policy on the interception of wire and oral communications for law enforcement purposes was promulgated in Army Regulation 190-53. The regulation provides guidance and procedures for law enforcement personnel and legal officers in obtaining approval for and conducting electronic surveillance, pen register operations, and telephone tracing activities. The new regulation became effective on 1 January 1979.

There were also significant changes during the year in the field of military justice. As established on 1 March 1979 in Change 18 to Army Regulation 27-10, some of the important modifications included a provision for a mental status evaluation of accused persons referred to trial by general or bad conduct discharge special court-martial; the designation of The Judge Advocate General as the authority next superior on appeals of punishments under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice when no other intermediate superior authority is reasonably available; the incorporation of a revised Record of Proceedings (DA Form 2627) under Article 15; the addition of

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formulas for determining maximum forfeitures and detentions of pay under Article 15; an update of references dealing with various restrictions that apply to membership of courts-martial and to related military justice duties; and the adjustment of forms for advice as to appellate rights and for the petition for grant of review so that they conform to current rules of the U.S. Court of Military Appeals.

Interim Change 102 to Army Regulation 17-10, which became effective on 1 September 1979, revised the filing procedures for records of nonjudicial punishment. Before this change became effective, the records of all punishments under Article 15 were placed in the performance section of the individual’s official military personnel file, which is the primary source of performance data used for evaluation and selection of Department of the Army boards and career managers. Under Change 102, in the case of a change from enlisted to officer or warrant officer status, the record of punishment under Article 15 while in an enlisted status will be filed in the restricted section of the personnel file. The record of proceedings under Article 15 in which the matter was wholly set aside will also be placed in the restricted section of the official military personnel file, which is a protected record containing documents that must be retained permanently, but which will not be released to selection boards or career managers without special authorization.

Another feature of Change 102 affected the filing records of minor punishment. Minor punishment is defined as restriction or extra duty for fourteen days or less, detention or forfeiture of pay for no more than one month, correctional custody for seven days or less, admonition or reprimand, or any combination of these. Under Change 102, commanders received authority to file such records in unit records only or in the official military personnel file. Commanders exercising special court-martial convening authority will determine the filing in those cases involving enlisted personnel in grades E-1 through E-5. In the cases involving enlisted personnel in grades E-6 through E-9, warrant officers and officers, the determination will be made by commanders exercising general court-martial convening authority.

During fiscal year 1978, the Army began a one-year test within the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) of a new, independent organization for military defense counsel, the U.S. Army Trial Defense Service (USATDS). Prompting the experiment was a common perception among soldiers of a conflict of interest on the part of military defense counsel under the existing system. By the end of the test in mid-May 1979, USATDS

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counsel had participated in 246 general courts and 1,324 special courts and had counseled 15,620 service members on nonjudicial punishment matters. The TRADOC evaluation was based on the judgments of fifteen installation commanders and fifty-seven special court-martial convening authorities and the views of staff judge advocates, military judges, prosecutors, and the defense counsel. The evaluation stated that USATDS had proven to be operationally sound and had met all mission requirements. Specifically, USATDS had improved the supervision of the defense counsel and had raised the quality of defense services.

In June 1979, the Army Chief of Staff approved the expansion of the USATDS test to all commands in the United States, including Hawaii, Alaska, and the Panama Canal Zone. The Commander in Chief, U.S. Army, Europe, and the Commander, U.S. Eighth Army in Korea, were given the option of including their commands in the test. Under the expanded program, the Army will be able to test USATDS in larger and more diverse organizations, including combat and combat support units; will be able to try out cross support arrangements among TRADOC, FORSCOM, and other major command installations; and will be able to apply new policies and employ new procedures in areas where questions were raised during the initial test. Evaluations of the new program, which is scheduled to run from 1 September 1979 through 28 February 1980, will be prepared by 1 April 1980.

In a contingency planning matter, both the Commander, U.S. Eighth Army in Korea, and the Commander, U.S. Army, Europe, requested guidance with respect to negotiations for host nation support in any transfer of enemy prisoners of war within their respective command areas. The Department of the Army, which is the Department of Defense Executive Agent for the formulation of enemy prisoner of war planning, developed a position on the matter in coordination with the Department of State. As developed, the U.S. policy is to retain enemy prisoners of war, and not to transfer them under host nation support.

During fiscal year 1979, the Army continued its efforts to prevent or control the abuse of alcohol and other drugs by soldiers, retired military personnel, civilian employees, and their dependents. The concept of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Program (ADAPCP) is to conserve manpower through prevention, identification, rehabilitation, program

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evaluation, and research. The ADAPCP directly supports and is an integral part of the Quality of Life program. The ADAPCP assists in reducing personnel turbulence primarily through the rehabilitation of personnel in the military environment where the abuse developed.

This year, of the 24,226 clients enrolled in the rehabilitation phase of the ADAPCP, 66 percent involved alcohol and 34 percent other drugs. Of the clients enrolled, 21,123 were active duty military personnel. Technical assistance was provided to commanders and installation programs through the Drug/Alcohol Technical Activity (DATA), which was created in July 1978 and includes a staff of twenty members.

The Drug and Alcohol Review Board was created in January 1979. The Director of Human Resources is chairman with other representatives from the offices of The Surgeon General, The Inspector General, other appropriate Army staff agencies, major commands, and agencies outside the Army.

The original objective of the Quality of Life Program, established in early 1978, was to improve services and activities for enlisted personnel in their daily life. During the year, emphasis included not only health care, housing, education, and recreation, among other things, but also improved working conditions and more job satisfaction.

The need to bolster community life support activities has been generated by the volunteer Army concept and the mounting numbers of young married enlisted men in the service. In 1970, before the all-volunteer Army came into being, less than half of the soldiers were married. By the end of 1977, over 60 percent fell into that category, many more were sole parents, and a considerable number were married to other soldiers. The changing composition of the Army has necessitated increased attention to community services to sustain morale and retain highly qualified personnel.

Despite annual pay increases, inflationary pressures have made it difficult for many junior enlisted men and their families to maintain a decent standard of living. In the United States, for example, roughly one-third of the married soldiers in grade E-4 and below were eligible for food stamps. Overseas, however, where the program did not apply, the Army had to assist with cost of living increases and housing allowances to compensate for the gap between pay and inflation. In addition, the Army has

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been able to establish and staff day care centers for the children in some areas, so that the wife of a soldier could work and supplement the family income.

In April, the Army initiated a nine-month test program in Europe allowing dependents to use military dining facilities. The experiment was so successful that the Army plans to open all dining halls to dependents and soldier’s guests, worldwide. By providing wholesome and relatively inexpensive meals to junior members of the Army family, the impact of inflation upon the enlisted person’s budget will be cushioned.

Recreation facilities such as clubs, swimming pools, bowling alleys, and gymnasiums were built, when funds were available, to permit soldiers to have access to facilities that afforded opportunities for entertainment and exercise. Most were either free or charged modest fees that enabled them to be self-sustaining. Although the enlisted men of the all-volunteer Army have higher educational levels (over 80 percent have a high school diploma or its equivalent as compared to about 71 percent during the last year of the draft) many soldiers still have reading problems. The Army, therefore, has provided education programs to raise reading skills to help soldiers do their job.

The main thrust of the Quality of Life Program was set forth in March by the Army’s chief personnel officer:

Our commitment to the Army family has been made at the highest level. We know that the Quality of Life impacts on readiness and on attracting and retaining the quality soldiers the Army needs. We’ve got to continue to get better in this vital area, and through our efforts, provide meaning to the slogan: “The Army Takes Care of Its Own.”

After considering his pay agent’s recommendation that federal military and civilian salaries should be raised an average of 10.41 percent to maintain pay comparability with the private sector, President Carter proposed an increase of 7.02 percent to Congress. Since the Congress did not disapprove the proposal, the 7.02 percent increase became effective on 1 October 1979.

On 19 July 1979 the Secretary of Defense directed the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy to form a working group with participation by the military services to study the adequacy of military pay. Phase I of the study, scheduled for completion in early fiscal year 1980, focuses on general compensation, variable housing allowances, and the reimbursement rate for permanent change of station travel expenses. Phase

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II of the study will comprise a six- to nine-month review of special and incentive pay.

Also on 19 July 1979, the Secretary sent to Congress a legislative proposal on uniformed services retirement benefits. The proposal was based on recommendations made by the President’s Commission on Military Compensation in April 1978. It would create a two-tiered annuity plan with immediate but reduced benefits for twenty or more years of service and larger benefits at age sixty. Those who serve ten to twenty years would be eligible to receive an annuity upon reaching the age of sixty. The plan would allow early cash withdrawal under certain circumstances, severance pay for service members involuntarily separated, and would contain a social security offset provision. Upon enactment of the proposal, service members on active duty and future members who had a written commitment to serve would have the choice of being under the old or new system.

Prior to approval of the retirement plan by the Secretary of Defense and the President, the Army maintained that the addition of enlisted severance pay to the current system would better serve the continued success of the all-volunteer force. During congressional hearings on the proposal held in April 1979, Army spokesmen expressed concern that long-term financial savings that would result through reduced benefits would not compensate sufficiently for near-term cost and adverse effects on recruitment and retention. By the close of the fiscal year, the appropriate committees had not acted upon the Department of Defense proposal.

A number of proposals in the area of pay and allowances still awaited congressional action as the fiscal year ended. These included legislative proposals that would provide a cost of living allowance for soldiers living in barracks, advance payment of overseas housing allowances, and an increase in the permanent change of station mileage allowance. Also, six bills had been introduced that would promote special pay for Army health professionals. Existing incentive pay programs for health professionals would continue through 30 September 1980 under authority of Public Law 95-114.

After a long struggle, Congress at last approved junior enlisted travel (JET) entitlements for soldiers assigned overseas and the program began on 17 October 1978. The new entitlements provided dependent travel, shipment of privately owned vehicles, storage of household goods, shipment of up to 1,500 pounds of household goods, and movement of a house trailer for service members in the grades of E-4 (less than two years service), E-3,

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E-2, and E-1. Renewed concern over the safety of dependents overseas should war come rekindled discussion of the program in the Congress. Until the future of the program is assured, JET entitlement for soldiers reassigned within the continental United States will not be pursued.

Two proposals to improve military leave policies had been fully coordinated within the military departments, but had not yet been cleared by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. These involved funded emergency leave and environmental and morale leave.

The U.S. Army Finance and Accounting Center completed the changeover to centralized issuance of W-2 forms with the distribution of calendar year 1978 forms in December. During the third quarter of fiscal year 1979 the Finance and Accounting Center completed a major overhaul of individual retirement record procedures that eliminated the need to manually feed retirement information into the Standard Army Civilian Pay System. At the close of the quarter, the center put into operation the Treasury Direct/Electronic Fund Transfer System for military retired payments.

This past year the primary contractor for the Joint Uniformed Military Pay System—Army Automated Coding System (JACS) developed and installed a software package at Fort Jackson and Fort Hood under the minicomputer concept of computer support and at Fort Campbell (101st Airborne Division) under the commercial service center concept. The latter concept was deleted from further consideration after two months of testing due to less than satisfactory performance and high cost.

Documentation for JACS during this period included a revised general/detail functional systems requirement project master plan, a data collection plan, an acceptance test plan, a test site monitor procedures handbook, a systems extension plan, and twelve model standard operating procedures for military pay operations under JACS. In addition, a checklist for quality assurance reviews has been developed. A revised economic analysis has been initiated as the final document needed to obtain system approval from the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Logistics, and Financial Management.)

To benefit both the Army and the nation, the Army has devoted much effort to its Continuing Education System. The programs within the system are designed to improve the professionalism and skill proficiency of service members; to at-

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tract and retain highly qualified and well-motivated soldiers; and to help individuals fulfill their aspirations to continue their education while on active duty. During fiscal year 1979, policies governing the system were set forth in Army Regulation 621-5. At the direction of the Secretary of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel formed a study group that was to develop a plan by 30 October 1979 for improving the policies and operational procedures of the system as a means of ensuring that soldiers are fully productive in the increasingly complex Army of the future.

For a commander, the Basic Skills Education Program is the primary on-duty program to assist soldiers in achieving military skill qualification, improving duty performance, and advancing career growth. A relatively recent program, two of its three phases continued under test during fiscal year 1979. The first phase is designed to provide functionally illiterate soldiers with instruction in reading and arithmetic up to the fifth grade level and to give soldiers whose native language is other than English instruction in English as a second language. The purpose of the second phase is to raise language and computational skills to the ninth grade level. The third phase, due to begin in fiscal year 198, will provide functional instruction at still higher levels. Though still in its testing period, it has become clearly evident that the program is a successful one.

Incorporated in the Continuing Education System in fiscal year 1978 was the management of nonresident language training within the Army which includes all language instruction given outside the Foreign Language Center and English Language Center of the Defense Language Institute. During fiscal year 1979, the Army appointed coordinators to manage language training at major commands and installations, to ensure that nonresident programs follow established policies, and to serve as links between Army elements and the two centers of the Defense Language Institute. In the area of nonresident training in foreign languages, the Army field tested headstart courses in Japanese and Korean, which were scheduled for Army-wide use in fiscal year 1980. Similar courses in several European languages are already begin given to Army personnel taking assignments in host nation countries.

The Servicemen’s Opportunity Colleges Associate Degree program provides an excellent opportunity for soldiers to earn an associate degree based on their military training and experience. Since its inception in 1977, the program has been progressively enlarged. During fiscal year 1979, twenty-one new

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curriculums were developed for the program and are scheduled to be offered in calendar year 1980.

An outgrowth of the Army’s vocational and technical programs, skill development programs offer opportunities for soldiers to participate, in technically-oriented courses in support of an enlisted MOS. These programs also enable soldiers to qualify for certification in a trade or vocation, to develop a skill with benefits for service and post-service employment, and to build academic credits toward an associate degree in a vocational or technical field. DA Pamphlet 621-10, Army Skill Development Programs, published in August 1979, provides guidance and information on program development, equipment accountability, and course standardization evaluation criteria in several technical areas.

Patterned after apprenticeship programs in civilian industry, the Army Apprenticeship Program offers an opportunity for active duty soldiers with apprentice type MOS’s to document their progress in perfecting a skill. Each soldier is awarded a journeyman’s Certificate upon completing the program designed for his or her MOS. As of the end of fiscal year 1979, there were 15,000 soldiers enrolled in the 74 programs open to service members in 133 MOS’s. Twenty certificates were awarded during the year.

In the Veterans Educational Assistance Program, which was opened on 1 January 1977 as a replacement for the educational benefits offered under the G.I. Bill, 49,466 soldiers enrolled during fiscal year 1979. These represented about 32 percent of all new soldiers entering the Army during the year. A new money incentive feature to encourage enlistments in certain skills was added to the program for testing on 1 January 1979. To be eligible for the incentive, an applicant must be a high school graduate, must score 50 or higher on the Armed Forces Qualification Test, and must enlist in one of the specialties covered by the incentive feature. Incentives ranging from $2,000 to $6,000 are offered. Test results during the year were encouraging, and the Army plans to expand the use of this recruiting incentive in fiscal year 1980.

The current fiscal year DOD Appropriations Act restricted the assignment or use of more than 9,901 full-time and 2,603 part-time military personnel in morale, recreation, and welfare activities. As a consequence, the Army lost 45 full-time and 640

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part-time military personnel because of the ceilings of 3,648 full-time and 1,100 part-time spaces.

Retirement services and activities increased this year in order to provide a more effective channel of communication between the active Army and its alumni. The number of Army personnel on the retired rolls and benefiting survivors increased by 22,500 to 492,500. The Retired Activities Division also revitalized the retirement program overseas, particularly in Europe and Japan. The new installation retiree councils and the Chief of Staff Retiree Council are other means of improving Army-retiree relations. The Retired Army Bulletin has also been restyled into an informal newsletter called Army Echoes.

Since its establishment in 1851, the U.S. Army Soldiers and Airmen’s Home has never had an enlisted person as one of its officers. The home’s Board of Commissioners changed their policy last year, and now for the first time a noncommissioned officer, the Sergeant Major of the Army, William G. Bainbridge, has been selected as a nonstatutory officer.

Since becoming an official part of the Army Community Service Program in October 1978, the Army Child Advocacy Program (ACAP) has received increased interest by the Army. The program is actively involved in efforts to increase the identification and reporting of child maltreatment on Army installations. It requires installation commanders to appoint an ACAP officer to provide staff supervision in the program and provides for the formation of a Child Protection Case Management Team on each installation to assist in the diagnosis, treatment, and disposition of child maltreatment cases. It establishes procedures for early identification of child maltreatment along with detailed reporting requirements. Among other improvements underway are a series of regional conferences, workshops, and briefings for installation commanders about the entire Army Community Service Program with special emphasis on the Army Child Advocacy Program and their responsibilities for the program.

Congress provided funds and spaces for 124 Child Support Service Coordinators, and an additional 100 spaces were requested in the 1980 budget to provide one child care professional in each of the Army’s 224 Child Support Service programs.

The 1979 Parade of American Music was sponsored by the National Federation of Music Clubs and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. As a cosponsor of the project, the Army encourages participation in the activities of the Parade of American Music at military installations and in

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military communities throughout the world. Army participating groups received 315 awards including 28 five-star Awards and 14 Proclamations issued by Army commanders.

The Army Chess Team took first place in the Interservice Chess Championship conducted in September 1979 at the American Legion Hall of Flags, Washington, D.C. Each team member (three teams of six members each) played each opposing team member during twelve rounds of play.

The famed director, Joshua Logan, served as judge in the Army’s first American Theatre Month, selecting the winners in various categories, which included production, direction, publicity, costumes, and set design. Mr. Logan created and staged a production of “Cherry,” a musical version of “Bus Stop,” at Fort Bragg, using talented local performers, both military and civilian. Logan’s efforts won the acclaim of New York critics, directors and producers, and special recognition for the single most significant contribution to the American Theatre during American Theatre Month.

The Library Activities Division this year purchased about 30,000 paperback book kits for distribution to personnel without access to a library and nearly 200,000 volumes were bought for issue to libraries throughout the Army. In a recently begun six-month test of a computerized acquisition system, twenty-five installation libraries will forward requests to the Library Activities Division for consolidation and processing. The purpose of this test is to determine the most cost effective method of procuring books within a reasonable length of time.

A Federal Library Information Network test project, begun in 1977, includes shared cataloging and interlibrary loans through cathode-ray terminals. Initially, three library systems participated in the test. This year, the total expanded to thirty-five systems. Approval was also obtained for establishing an Army Library Management office of four people that is expected to be operational in early 1980.

During the current year, the Army competed in sixteen Interservice Championships; winning seven, placing second in six, third once, and fourth twice. Army members on armed forces teams or as individuals took part in twenty National Champion sports events, and also participated in ten events sponsored by the Conseil International du Sport Militaire, placing first in basketball, boxing, shooting, and parachuting.

The biggest problem faced this year by the Army Bands Office was a manpower adjustment to stay within a 2,596 manpower space allocation for band members. Another manpower squeeze

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was averted when the Army Bands Office was directed to study the possibility of eliminating the U.S. Army Field Band. The study group, which included representatives from a number of commands and agencies having a responsibility for Army bands, recommended maintaining the “status quo” of these activities. This recommendation was supported by the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff.

This year, the Armed Forces Professional Entertainment Office, in conjunction with the USO, provided 105 touring groups which visited U.S. military installations in Alaska, Greenland, the Caribbean, Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific. This was the first year that 100 percent of the overseas commanders requests were met.

A leading management consulting firm under contract to the Army conducted a comprehensive financial and management review this year of the operations of the Hale Koa Hotel Armed Forces Recreation Center at Fort DeRussy, Hawaii. In its report, 104 recommendations for improvement were made which were adopted by the Army. One such recommendation transferred responsibility for operating the hotel to The Adjutant General.

Total revenue for Army clubs during fiscal year 1979 was $305.1 million with total sales of $258.3 million. Net income totaled $15.0 million or 4.9 percent of the total revenue. There were 324 club branches in operation at the close of fiscal year 1979, of which 89.3 percent were profitable.

This year, 151 graduated from the club management course at the Institute of Administration at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and 60 club managers graduated from the executive management course at Florida International University’s School of Hospitality Management. Forty-three Army club food personnel were trained at the armed forces culinary course at the Navy Special Service Administrative  

Increased club net income permitted the Army to improve club facilities. Projects costing $25,000 or more included the improvement or construction of fifteen club facilities at a cost of $9 million. The Army Club Loan program, which provides interest-free money from the Army Club Fund for construction and renovation of club facilities, had twenty-two loans outstanding at the end of 1979 with a face value of $19,560,000. Additional loans totaling $3,750,000 had been approved for use pending completion of construction.

This year, the Club and Community Activities Management Directorate was established to provide a single focal point for all

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nonappropriated fund matters in support of Army morale, recreation, and welfare programs and activities. The new office provides policy direction, control, and financial and executive management for all nonappropriated funds activities operated as part of the Army morale, recreation, and welfare program. The Directorate provides technical supervision and technical management assistance for Army clubs and package stores, Armed Forces Recreation Centers, and other hospitality related activities with full-line food and beverage or other resale operations.

The centralization of policy and program management responsibilities for various categories of nonappropriated funds into a single directorate allows the Army to improve synchronizing the programming and use of funds appropriated by the Congress and also nonappropriated funds (income generated by the activities and dividends from the exchange service).

During fiscal year 1979, the Club and Community Activities Management Directorate made 180 technical management assistance visits to Army installations. These teams provided full-scale management analyses of club operations; developed programs, operating procedures and internal controls; and trained employees in administering the new programs and procedures.

In fiscal year 1979, the Army experienced 746 fewer accidents, 350 fewer disabling injuries, and a reduction of 100 fatalities from fiscal year 1978. This included military personnel injuries, civilian personnel injuries, Army motor vehicle accidents, privately-owned vehicle accidents, and other accident costs. The number of aviation accidents, aviation fatalities, aviation accident rates, and military personnel fatalities were the lowest yet recorded.

Organizational changes accomplished during the year placed the Army’s accident program at the highest organizational level, increased visibility and support for the program at all levels, and reoriented accident prevention efforts to include all safety disciplines. Plans for improving accident prevention included increased support of the program at all organizational levels, increased safety in contingency plans and training activities, abatement of serious hazards in working areas, reduction of accident losses in both Army and privately owned vehicles, lowering civilian personnel injuries, and reducing aviation-related accident losses. Also, progress was made in revising systems safety management procedures to “design out” hazards during the ac-

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quisition stage and thus avoid costly correction of deficiencies after equipment is installed.

Army commanders have identified a requirement for $360 million to correct safety and health hazards in Army workplaces and to meet the standards set forth in the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). For this purpose, $21.3 million in operation and maintenance and $3 million in military construction have been included in the fiscal year 1980 budget. Though far short of Army needs, this represents a considerable improvement over funding levels committed to OSHA projects in previous years.

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