Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1980

6.

Human Resources Development

As the Chief of Staff concluded in his white paper, manning the total force is the main immediate challenge facing the Army. One of the requirements in answering this challenge is a more effective personnel management strategy that gives full attention to those aspects of personnel management falling in the category of human resources development. As General Meyer further pointed out, concerned leadership and attention to the needs of the individual will be the chief determinants of the Army’s success in recruiting and retaining its soldiers. “Positive leadership, retention of the tie between the soldier and his leadership over time, concern for the individual, and improved quality of life,” he said, “offer the framework within which esprit and cohesion are built.”

The scope of human resources development includes leadership and discipline, accident prevention, job and career satisfaction, human relations, alcohol and drug abuse prevention, counseling, physical and mental well-being, community services, and maintenance of law and order. This chapter summarizes the Army’s activities in these areas during fiscal year 1980.

This year the Army continued to advance the quality of leadership and management practices through its Organizational Effectiveness (OE) program, a military adaptation of behavioral features and management practices taken from the technology of organizational development used in industry. The OE 3-10 year plan developed last year was implemented in November. This plan, which changes the focus of the OE effort from human relations and behavioral issues to a broader total systems and complex organizations approach, provides guidance in seven functional areas: program management, resources and manpower structure, personnel selection and assignment, research, evalution, education and training, and information. Heretofore, an OE Program and Policy Office within the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (ODCSPER) and a consulting office in the Office of the Chief of Staff handled the management of OE matters. In support of the plan, these two agencies combined their resources in July under the Management Di-

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rectorate in the Office of the Chief of Staff to focus the OE process more sharply on the key issues affecting the Total Army.

Leadership quality in the Army advanced in several major areas this year. An Army-wide Leadership Conference was held in February 1980, and a draft Leader Development Plan (LDP) was distributed which has had wide ranging impact on how the Army designs, unifies, and presents its leadership training. “Human Readiness Report 5,” published in August, discussed trends in various dimensions of human resources development and the potential impact of those trends on human readiness to train, deploy, and fight. Concepts and basic principles dealing with sexual harassment were introduced in the Pre-Command Course and other leadership courses, and a message clearly delineating Department of the Army policy in this area was sent to the field.

A number of actions involving the leadership aspects of military personnel management moved forward during this period. Refinement of the Battalion Administration Officer concept was completed and actual field test involving forty battalions were begun in several major commands. The year-long test will be completed in March 1981 with detailed evaluation expected in May or June. A six-week course for Army battalion and brigade adjutants (S-1s) was begun at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. The course focuses on normal administrative duties, and also puts heavy emphasis on the Troop Preparedness Estimate, an instrument designed to make the S-1 a Personnel Management Officer in addition to a personnel administrator. Preparations were well along for the pilot G-1/DPCA (Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1/Directors of Personnel and Communication Activities) Course at Fort Benjamin Harrison, scheduled for presentation at the beginning of fiscal year 1981.

To support the Total Army approach, the Army Staff Council (ASC) met on 2-3 May 1980 to consider the development of a more effective management process for the Army staff (ARSTAF). The ASC recognized that successful performance of ARSTAF missions requires that the staff share common organizational values, support common objectives, and have a means by which progress as a corporate body toward accomplishment of common objectives can be assessed. The meetings resulted in the establishment of the Performance Management on the Army Staff (PMAS) program—a top-down approach based upon a linked set of value-based leadership practices and result-oriented management procedures to provide clear direction and to guide and monitor ARSTAF performance. These results were documented in Chief of Staff Memorandum (CSM) 80-5-28, which was nearing publication as the fiscal year ended.

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In 1979 and 1980 sample surveys of Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA) personnel were conducted to assess attitudes concerning quality of work life. Survey results were presented to the ASC which adopted an action plan to effect management improvements by top Army managers, agency heads, civilian personnel managers, and operating officials. The plan included a standard survey to assess the HQDA organizational climate and provide a basis for developmental efforts in primary staff.

An important element of motivation and—as the Chief of Staff pointed out in his white paper—a vital ingredient of the Army’s recruiting message is a positive image of service to the nation. To sharpen awareness and develop a fuller understanding of the Army, its people, and its programs among both the American public and the Army membership, the Army in July inititated a Public Affairs program at the HQDA level to tell the Army story through various avenues. One effort was a Senior Communicators Workshop designed to make top leaders better spokesmen for the Army. Another effective feature of the program involved visits to the field by national media representatives to see Army operations firsthand. A similar campaign fostering recognition of the need and value of service to the nation was opened in December. Serving as the center piece of the campaign was a “National Day of Recognition” ceremony conducted on 22 December at halftime during the 45th annual Sun Bowl football game in El Paso, Texas. At that occasion, the armed forces paid joint tribute to General of the Army Omar N. Bradley in recognition of his outstanding service in both military and public life over a period of more than 64 years. National television and all armed forces television stations carried the impressive ceremony.

The Army’s Quality of Life Program consists of efforts to upgrade the living and working conditions of its soldiers and their families and thereby develop a military community environment that fosters the dedication and cohesiveness essential to combat effectiveness. The program is thus based on a reciprocal commitment: the Army to the soldier and the soldier to the Army. Major areas involved in the upgrading efforts include pay, housing, work facilities, community support facilities, health care, and safe and healthful living and work environments. Since fiscal constraints do not permit the achievement of all improvement goals simultaneously, the Army give priority to those efforts of greatest potential benefit to the soldier, and in fiscal year 1980, concentrated on meeting the needs of its deployed forces.

A reorganization during the year transferred the Quality of Life

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Office from ODCSPER to the Office of The Adjutant General. In meeting its responsibilities for monitoring the needs of the soldier and coordinating Army efforts to meet them, the Quality of Life Office used its surveys and assessments to support congressional testimony, to strengthen budget justification, to identify new endeavors that should be made, and to assist in establishing priorities among competing quality of life efforts. The focus of its activities was on improving the life of the soldier and his family, a major factor in improving recruitment, retention, and personal readiness.

Adequate pay is obviously a principal ingredient of a quality of life that is commensurate with the dedicated service demanded of Army members. That military compensation was decidedly inadequate was the finding in a study begun in fiscal year 1979 and completed in October of this year by the Army, the other services, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Since 1972, the study disclosed, the real buying power of military pay had fallen as much as 20 percent below that of comparable civilian wages. Collectively, the yearly housing expenses of military personnel exceeded their allowances for quarters by $600 million, and they absorbed about $1 billion a year in unreimbursed expenses while making permanent reassignment moves for the convenience of the government.

The Congress partially addressed the study’s findings this year following receipt of President Carter’s proposal of a raise in federal civil service general schedule salaries. After considering his pay agent’s recommendation that these salaries be increased by an average of 13.49 percent to regain pay comparability with the private sector, the President proposed an increase of 9.11 percent. Since Congress did not disapprove the proposal, the 9.11 percent raise was set to become effective at the beginning of the first pay period in October 1980.

The law for determining a military pay increase states that it be the same average percentage increase granted for civil service salaries; but this year, Congress suspended the linkage and in the fiscal year 1981 Defense Authorization Bill established an 11.7 percent military pay raise. The bill became law on 8 September, with the pay increase scheduled to go into effect on 1 October 1980. The percentage of increase will be applied to basic pay, basic allowance for quarters, and basic allowance for subsistence with no reallocation among them. Left unchanged was the Executive V level compensation ceiling of $50,112 per year that had been placed on senior military members and civil servants. Consequently, the basic pay of

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major generals with twenty or more years of service and officers in higher grades will remain limited to that amount. Other provisions of the authorization bill increased enlistment and reenlistment bonuses, authorized reenlistment bonuses for service members with ten to fourteen years of service and for members of the Individual Ready Reserve, raised the amount of temporary duty per diem reimbursement, increased the allowance for moving house trailers in connection with permanent changes of station, and established a family separation allowance for service members in grades E-1 to E-4.

Other legislation responding to recommendations in the military compensation study was the Military Personnel and Compensation Amendment Act of 1980 (Nunn-Warner Amendment), which became law on 8 September. A principal provision of the act authorized a variable housing allowance to help defray high housing costs in CONUS; service members not living in government quarters and stationed in areas where the average cost of housing exceeds the average basic allowance for quarters by fifteen percent or more are eligible for this allowance. Also eligible are service members stationed outside the CONUS whose dependents reside in areas within the United States where average housing costs exceed the average basic allowance for quarters by fifteen percent or more. As the year closed, the Army was establishing rates for variable housing allowances in the various high cost areas of the United States. Payment of the allowances was expected to start with the end of month pay for October 1980. Other compensation improvements provided by the Nunn-Warner Amendment included an increase in mileage reimbursement from 10 cents to 18.5 cents a mile in connection with permanent changes of station and a 25 percent raise in flight duty pay for all aviators and enlisted crewmembers.

In the matter of travel, the Army took steps during the year to eliminate, or at least minimize, a potential hardship facing Army members assigned to the Nome and Bethel areas of Alaska during the months of September through April. During this period, they might wait as long as eight months for delivery of their privately owned vehicles because the Nome and Bethel ports are closed to shipping due to ice conditions, with no alternative for delivery since road and rail networks do not reach those areas, and the airlift of private vehicles is prohibited by law. Among ways explored for handling the problem, the most promising was a Military Personnel Center program by which Army members destined for the Nome and Bethel areas would be assigned only during the summer months. This would allow the concurrent shipment of their vehicles.

Since August 1978, Department of Defense air passengers departing from four air bases in Europe for return to the United States

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have been able to obtain a coordinated U.S. Customs Service-U.S. Department of Agriculture customs inspection. This facilitated their return since they were not routinely reinspected upon arrival. This year the same customs preclearance program was expanded to include air bases in Panama, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines, and is scheduled for further expansion in fiscal year 1981.

In June 1980 the Vice Chief of Staff established the Army Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Review Committee. The committee is chaired by The Adjutant General with membership consisting of the Deputy Chiefs of Staff for Personnel from Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Forces Command, and Materiel Development and Readiness Command; the Chief of Staff of Eighth Army; and the Deputy Adjutant General and the Sergeant Major of the Army. The committee meets semiannually to review nonapproriated fund (NAF) budget and construction requirements submitted by the field and to make recommendations on the allocation of NAF dividends received from the Army and Air Force Exchange Service system and other sources. The committee also assists in developing NAF program budget guidance and participates in resource management reviews dealing with execution of the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation budget for both nonappropriated and appropriated funds. The committee’s first meeting was held in Hawaii, 15-17 September 1980.

As part of its effort to upgrade the quality of life of soldiers and their families, the Army some years ago established the Army Community Service. Its programs add important substance to the Army’s pledge to “take care of its own.” Major community service activities this year included restructuring the Consumer Affairs Program, improving the Army Child Advocacy Program, and further development of Child Support Services.

The Consumer Affairs Program was restructured on 9 July. Through this program, persons affected by DOD-sponsored legislation, regulations, policy decisions, and program actions have an opportunity to voice their views with a guarantee that their views will be considered in the decision-making process. The Child Advocacy Program currently involves the Army in the prevention, identification, reporting, and treatment of child maltreatment on installations. This year the Office of the Secretary of Defense expanded the program into a Family Advocacy Program which the Army will implement. In Child Support Services, the Army currently has 281 child care programs (159 day-care and 122 preschool) in operation. HQDA efforts

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to improve these services this year included the addition of an education program specialist as child support services manager and two manpower spaces to provide an outreach capability.

The Army also contributes to the well-being of soldiers and their families by meeting their leisure-time needs. This it does through sports programs and outdoor recreation; libraries; community and skill development activities, which include arts and crafts, music and theater, dependent youth activities, and recreation centers; a professional entertainment program; and clubs.

This year Army members competed in thirteen interservice sports events—winning five and finishing second in six, third in one, and fourth in another. Participating with an armed forces team, an all-Army team, and as individuals, Army members also competed in nineteen national events. In Conseil International du Sport Militaire competitions, armed forces teams that included Army members participated in ten events—placing first in two, second in two, and third in another. Of thirty-six Army members competing in final Olympic trials in various sports, thirteen were selected as members of U.S. Olympic teams.

In expanding outdoor recreation opportunities in Europe this year, the Army funded some $300,000 worth of recreational equipment for the Armed Forces Recreation Center in Germany. In the United States, a $600,000 outdoor recreation complex was completed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Included in the complex was the first Nature Center to be constructed on an Army installation. This center was funded under provisions of the Sikes Act, which allocated $2 million a year to DOD for wildlife projects.

In the Federal Library Information Network there were by the end of the year thirty-eight library systems enrolled for shared cataloging and interlibrary loan. In its Book Acquisition Program, the Army purchased 179,585 clothbound books for libraries Armywide, obtained 24,588 paperbound book kits for distribution to military personnel without access to libraries, and placed special orders for 13,339 Spanish language and reference books with funds made available late in the year. It also developed spot announcements for broadcast by the Armed Forces Radio and Television Services and produced quarterly publicity packages for use in marketing Army library services.

Among the Army’s community and skill development activities is a biennial competition for the award of the Irving Berlin Trophy, a perpetual trophy donated to the Secretary of the Army by Mr. Berlin in 1956. It is awarded to the major command in the United States and to the major command overseas scoring the most points over a two-year period for programming to provide outlets for talented Army

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personnel and to encourage entertainment by the soldier for the soldier. This programming involves all the forms of variety entertainment, including production and technical aspects. In the United States, first place this year went to TRADOC. Overseas, the winner was the Eighth United States Army.

The Army also encourages participation in the annual Parade of American Music, a competitive national project sponsored by the National Federation of Music Clubs and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. The judgment of Army entries in the 1980 parade produced a total of 246 awards.

Each year the month of May is designated as American Theater Month as a means of giving theater artists encouragement and recognition and of increasing the skill development opportunities for talented soldiers and their dependents in all aspects of theatrical production. Acknowledged as major command winners this year were three dramatic entries, four musical theater entries, and one showcase entry. Portfolios of these winning productions will be on display next year in New York City at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

The Armed Forces Interservice Chess Championship tournament is held annually at the American Legion’s Hall of Flags in Washington, D.C., to allow service teams to compete for the Thomas Emory Trophy and for individual recognition in a mental skill activity. For the second year in succession, the Army Chess Team won the competition.

The Army Photography Contest is conducted biennially in even numbered years to recognize both amateur and professional military photographers and to afford them an opportunity to have their work judged by a team of prominent photographers. In the contest held this year at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 72 winners were selected from 467 entries. These winners will be entered in the interservice contest to be hosted by the Army at Fort Meade, Maryland, in December 1980.

It is the purpose of the Armed Forces Professional Entertainment Program to provide live professional entertainment for military personnel stationed in remote overseas areas. This year the program was sufficiently funded to provide all of the shows requested by overseas commanders. More than a hundred show units were on tour. A special effort to find celebrity shows to tour over the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year holiday season resulted in highly successful trips to Korea by television star Suzanne Sommers, and by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and a tour of the Mediterranean area by the Miss America Pageant Show.

Army bands engaged in a full schedule of music activities

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throughout the world during fiscal year 1980 in support of troop morale, community relations, and recruiting. They gave symphonic and jazz concerts and performed at parades, social occasions, ceremonies, and funerals. In a significant change to the Army Band program, band officers, who heretofore were excluded from the Officer Personnel Management System (OPMS) and received band assignments only, were brought into the system and began taking on second specialties and receiving assignments outside the band program. This change is expected to create better assignment flexibility and should provide officers involved with well-rounded, career enhancing experiences. Army band members in the field grades could opt for exclusion from the OPMS dual specialization policy and remain in the same specialty for the duration of their career.

The Army Club System made considerable progress toward its five goals for operations in 1980—upgrading the appearance and amenities of facilities, improving food programs and services, enhancing management professionalism, increasing member and patron participation and satisfaction, and ensuring financially sound activities.

Membership clubs had fiscal year 1980 sales of $174.6 million, up 8.8 percent from fiscal year 1979. Revenue was $239.6 million in fiscal year 1980, a 9.0 percent increase over the prior year. Net income for the year has enabled clubs to undertake a large scale facility improvement program. Army package beverage stores had total revenue of $169.30 million for the year compared to $158.29 million in 1979. Net income was $37.69 million in 1980, up 15 percent from $32.77 million for the previous year. These figures include $46.72 million total revenue and $19.64 million net income by the USAREUR Class VI Agency and $106.76 million revenue and $16.93 million net income by club system-operated package beverage stores.

No less so in the Army than in the general society, a genuine equality of opportunity based on ability, merit, and fitness is of decided importance to the quality of life. The Army’s fourth annual assessment of its equal opportunity program, completed in May of this year, indicated substantial progress in identifying and eliminating institutional discrimination and the residual effects of past discrimination. Areas showing favorable achievements for women and minorities included recruitment and accessions, selection rates for promotion, command, and career schooling and other career development. Also, complaints of discrimination were low and substantiations few. Emphasized by the latest assessment, and by past

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ones, was the fact that an effective equal opportunity program is a reflection of the personal, direct, and continuous involvement of commanders at all levels, and it was this point that received particular stress this fiscal year as the Army intensified affirmative actions management by requiring more command attention and unit participation.

Of continuing concern to the Army are the areas that still showed imbalances at the end of the year. Imbalances still existed in the area of recruitment and accessions and in the areas of discipline, separations, and utilization of skills as well. The number of black cadets at the United States Military Academy remained below the enrollment goal. Minorities continued to be overrepresented in Army confinement facilities and among individuals separated from service under less than honorable conditions. The representation of women and minorities also remained somewhat imbalanced in various officer and enlisted career fields. However, the Army does not consider this condition to be indicative of discriminatory practices for an individual’s opportunity to serve in any given career field is based upon Army requirements in conjunction with individual qualifications and personal preferences. So, while the Army strives to achieve a proportional representation, the realities of opportunity virtually prevent the proportion from becoming a perfect one.

The Army took several steps during the year to further its Continuing Education System by which it provides both on-duty programs and off-duty educational opportunities for the personal and professional development of soldiers. A basic improvement was the revision of Army Regulation 621-5, which sets forth the policies governing the system. At year’s end, the revised regulation was being reviewed by the Army staff and major commands.

A recent addition to the system, the Basic Skills Education Program, showed clear evidence of success this fiscal year as well as last year. For commanders, this is the primary on-duty program for helping enlisted personnel to achieve military skill qualification, improve duty performance, and continue career growth. The program originally had a three-phase structure, two of which were introduced last fiscal year. The first phase, conducted during initial entry training, provides soldiers with basic instruction in reading and arithmetic or, for persons whose native language is other than English, instruction in English as a second language. The second phase, conducted at permanent duty stations, is geared to raise reading and computational skills to the ninth grade level and to teach other skills, in

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cluding English as a second language, needed by soldiers to perform duties through the rank of sergeant (E-5) at MOS skill level 2.

As a result of recommendations from the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) for improving the basic skills program, TRADOC this year produced a plan for the systematic identification of specific Army requirements in basic skills and the development of new curricula for MOS basic skills, military life coping skills, learning strategies, and English as a second language. TRADOC will develop these curricula, and the Army Research Institute will evaluate them.

What was originally the third phase of the Basic Skills Education Program was initiated this year. Now known as the Advanced Skills Education Program, it is conducted at permanent duty stations to assist noncommissioned officers in meeting their responsibilities as supervisors, managers, and administrators at MOS skill levels 3, 4, and 5. As an integral part of the Army Continuing Education System, the advanced program is tied in with the off-duty Servicemembers Opportunity College Associate Degree program to the extent that college level credit may be awarded for the completion of an advanced skills course.

The associate degree program comprises technical curricula designed to support specific MOSs and warrant officer career management fields, and accredited civilian schools offer the courses at Army installations. The schools award credit for competencies achieved by students during the course of their military service, and they allow students to continue their degree programs regardless of military transfers. As of the end of this year, the Army had accepted fifty-seven schools to offer degree programs at sixty-nine installations in the United States. These numbers will increase and the program will be extended to Europe and the Pacific and Far East during the next fiscal year.

To obtain information for curriculum development and alternative methods of instruction for soldiers needing instruction in English as a second language, the Army in August of this year opened a Pilot Resident English as a Second Language Program at the Defense Language Institute’s English Language Branch, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. The program will provide twenty-six weeks of language instruction and some familiarization training in military subjects to 200 soldiers who have not yet entered basic training. The soldiers in the program were selected from volunteers who scored below 70 on the English comprehension level test. The program will be evaluated by tracking the participants through their first enlistments and comparing their success rates with those of a control group of soldiers eligible but not selected to participate in the pro-

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gram. The Army expects that this pilot effort will provide basic information needed for developing a preenlistment English language training course.

Twenty-nine states now permit military personnel and their dependents to attend state colleges and universities as residents for tuition purposes. This eliminates the higher tuition fees they otherwise would be charged as nonresidents. In July of this year, the Chief of Staff asked the governors of the other twenty-one states for support in establishing the same policy within their jurisdictions. Most of the governors had responded by the end of the year, although none of their states had yet formally granted the resident status requested at that time.

The Veterans Educational Assistance Program (VEAP), established by Public Law 94-502 in 1977 to replace the G.I. Bill, is a contributory program that enables all soldiers to build funds for their future education. Soldiers monthly contributions to their funds are matched $2 for $1 by the Veterans Administration.

Public Law 94-502 also authorized the Secretary of Defense to contribute money to a soldier’s fund as an enlistment incentive. Under that authority, the Army opened a recruiting experiment early in fiscal year 1979 in which it offered incentives, or “kickers,” in amounts of $2,000, $3,000, and $4,000 for two-, three-, and four-year enlistments, respectively, in selected skills. To qualify for one of these fund increases, an individual had to be a high school graduate, score at least 50 on the Armed Forces Qualification Test, and enlist in one of the specialties included in the experiment. During the recruiting test last year, the Army raised the kickers to $4,000, $5,000, and $6,000, and then in December of this fiscal year, reset them at $2,000, $4,000, and $6,000. Toward the end of this year, test results indicated that kickers in the $2,000 to $6,000 range had no more than modest drawing power. The Army consequently sought and obtained approval to test the use of significantly higher kickers. In the new test, scheduled to begin on 1 October 1980 and run for one year, the Army will offer $8,000 for a two-year enlistment and $12,000 for an enlistment of three or more years.

While continuing with VEAP testing, the Army also drafted a legislative proposal for noncontributory education benefits administered and funded by the Veterans Administration that would replace the current program. As proposed, the bill would make education benefits available to all military personnel as a reward for honorable service and, in that sense, amounts to a readjustment measure. But its provisions also include other recruiting and retention incentives. Military personnel could take advantage of the benefits after one year of service and, after longer service, could

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transfer unused benefits to dependents. Service members also would have the option of establishing contributory funds for the education of dependents. For active duty personnel, the benefits would consist of monthly stipends of $400, and would be earned at the rate of 1 1/2 months of benefits for each month of service up to a maximum of 36 months (four school years). Reserve and National Guard members would earn benefits at half the active duty rate and would not be offered the dependent education options. As of the end of this fiscal year, the Army’s proposal was under review by the other services.

The Army’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Program conserves manpower through prevention, identification, education, rehabilitation, and treatment. It thus has a direct bearing on morale, safety, and combat readiness.

In the education phase of the program, military personnel, civilian employees, and their dependents receive instruction in scheduled classes, information briefings, periodic orientations, and community involvement activities. Receiving instruction this year were 542,535 military personnel, 180,225 civilian employees, 1,572 military retirees and 38,104 dependents.

During the year, 24,008 active duty military personnel entered treatment programs for alcohol abuse. These programs involved 55 medical facilities, 2 residential facilities, and 180 nonresidential facilities, and occupied a full-time staff of more than 1,600 military and civilian members. Of all individuals completing their treatment during the year, 18,217, or 75.9 percent, returned to effective duty.

For a second fiscal year in succession, the number of accidents, fatalities, and disabling injuries decreased among both military and civilian personnel. The total number of accidents was the lowest since 1976, and the total number of fatalities was the lowest ever recorded. The number of privately-owned vehicle accidents and the number of fatalities among military personnel also stood at record lows. At a rate of 2.41 mishaps per 100,000 flying hours, Army aviation accidents also fell to a new low.

These sharp declines were direct results of the additional support given to the Army Safety Program beginning in fiscal year 1979. To further increase the effectiveness of the program, an Army-wide Safety Directors’ Conference, hosted by the Army National Guard Safety Office, convened in May at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. The

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theme of this action planning conference was “Safety Supports Force Readiness during the 1980’s,” and its goal was to develop an integrated Army Safety Program 5-10 Year Plan. Several features of the plan were scheduled for implementation in fiscal year 1981.

The general improvement in Army discipline since the beginning of the volunteer era six years ago waned somewhat during fiscal year 1980. Worldwide, crimes of violence had decreased 19 percent since the end of fiscal year 1974, but had increased by 9 percent in the past year. Crimes against property had decreased by 9 percent since fiscal year 1974, but had increased by 4 percent since fiscal year 1979. Marihuana use and possession had decreased by 13 percent since fiscal year 1974 and had decreased by 9 percent since fiscal year 1979. Other drug offenses had decreased by 33 percent since fiscal year 1974, and had decreased by 12 percent since fiscal year 1979. AWOL rates had dropped 53 percent since fiscal year 1974, but had risen 9 percent during the past year. Desertions had also dropped 52 percent since fiscal year 1974 but registered an 8 percent increase this year over 1979 levels. The average prisoner population had risen 47 percent since the end of fiscal year 1978 and had increased by 31 percent in the past year.

This year’s court-martial statistics were as follows:

*In 901 of the special court-martial cases, the approved sentence included a bad conduct discharge. Also imposed during the year were 151,371 nonjudicial Article 15, UCMJ punishments.

The indiscipline index at Table 1 below provides a comparison of quarterly rates for offenses, punishments, and separations less than honorable since the beginning of fiscal year 1976.

Over the twelve-month period ending 30 November 1979, 83,196 U.S. military and civilian personnel and their dependents were charged with offenses resting within the exclusive or primary jurisdiction of foreign tribunals. Of the offenses charged against Army members, 16,874 were subject to the primary jurisdiction of foreign courts. The Army obtained waivers of jurisdiction in 16,477 of these cases, which amounted to a waiver rate of 97.6 percent. Of U.S. personnel confined in foreign penal institutions during the twelve-month period, 78 were Army personnel, civilians, and dependents.

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This year the Army completed a worldwide test of the U.S. Army Trial Defense Service (TDS), a new, independent organization for military defense counsel prompted by a common perception among soldiers of a conflict of interest on the part of counsel under the existing system. The evaluation of the TDS after limited testing last year at sixteen TRADOC installations was that it had proven to be operationally sound and had met all mission requirements. The primary purpose of the expanded test this year was to measure the ability of the TDS to handle larger mission requirements in more diverse organizations, particularly in combat and combat support units. Evaluations of the expanded program by commanders, staff judge advocates, military judges, and defense counsel lay before the Chief of Staff for final decision as the year ended.

Several times this year, as during the last, the Army was sued because of its elimination policy for homosexuality. The Army considers its position that military service and homosexuality are incompatible to have a substantial rationale. It regards homosexuality in Army units as likely to be prejudicial to discipline, morale, mutual reliability, and good order. Further, since the living and working conditions of Army units are based on unit requirements rather than personal choice, there would be a forced integration of homosexuals and heterosexuals that could be deleterious to organizational climate and unit performance. Nor would homosexuals in leadership positions be likely to command the respect and obedience required of soldiers for effective unit performance. In the Army’s judgment, there would also be a significant erosion of public confidence in and respect for the Army if homosexuals were allowed to serve. In sum, because of its mission requirements and the unique environment of the battlefield, the Army considers it not only proper and correct but also essential that it be able to impose restrictions on whom it selects for service. In any case, because of its vital mission, the Army does not consider its units to be the place to test the social values and effects of homosexuality. The Army is confident that its policy in regard to homosexuals will withstand judicial challenge.

Significant changes in Army Regulation 27-10, Military justice, became effective in August 1980. These changes gave The Judge Advocate General authority to grant limited exceptions to the regulation when military exigencies required them; made clear that special courts-martial empowered to adjudge bad conduct discharges could be convened only by an officer exercising general court-martial convening authority; eliminated the review of denials of applications for the deferment of sentences to confinement; removed the requirement that service members referred to trial by general or bad conduct special courts-martial undergo mental evaluations; authorized com-

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TABLE 1-INDISCIPLINE INDICATORS, WORLDWIDE
(rate per 1000)

*Dropped from rolls. An administrative action whereby an absentee is dropped as a deserter from the strength of an organization.

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manders to administer oaths for military justice purposes, including search and seizure and apprehension; set forth the authority of a military judge to issue orders for the interception of oral and wire communications; and revised procedures for notifying an accused of the appellate decision on his case by the Court of Military Review.

One other important change made in the regulation refined a revision made last year that authorized commanders to file records of minor punishment in unit records only or in official military personnel files, which gave them control over whether these records would be available to promotion and school selection boards. As established last year, commanders exercising special court-martial convening authority were to determine the filing in those cases involving enlisted personnel in grades E-1 through E-5, and commanders exercising general court-martial convening authority were to make the determinations in the cases involving enlisted personnel in grades E-6 through E-9, warrant officers, and officers. Under the latest change, if the punishment is minor (as defined by the regulation), the filing determinations will be made by the commander imposing the punishment and his decision will be final. As a result, commanders now have greater flexibility in imposing minor punishment without imposing long-term effects on a soldier’s career.

Revisions of the Manual for Courts-Martial made this year brought the military law on evidence into conformance with that of the federal courts. As of 1 September 1980, courts-martial were to be tried under newly-written military rules of evidence that essentially mirror the federal rules. Unlike the latter, however, the military rules provide specific rules of privilege and codify in part the law of self-incrimination, confessions and admissions, search and seizure, and eyewitness identification. Of particular significance, the revised manual includes guidelines for military inspections, which bear on the privacy rights of service members. Also newly set forth is a procedure for determining the mental responsibility of an accused.

In November 1979, President Carter signed Public Law 96-107 amending Articles 2 and 36 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The amendment to Article 2 ensured that the military services have courts-martial jurisdiction to try all offenders who have voluntarily submitted to military authority, have performed military duty, and have received military benefits. It also eliminated a court-imposed denial of court-martial jurisdiction in cases of recruiter misconduct that resulted in the fraudulent enlistment of an accused service member. The Article 36 amendment simply clarified the fact that the President’s rule-making authority in court-martial procedures extended to pre-trial and post-trial proceedings.

In January 1980, a Department of Defense legislative proposal

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(H.R. 6298) was introduced in the House of Representatives to reform the Court of Military Appeals and establish it as a court under Article I of the Constitution and independent of the Defense Department. As it is now constituted, the Court of Military Appeals consists of three civilian judges appointed by the President, and is the highest appellate court in the military justice system. Key provisions of the legislative proposal increase the size of the court to five members, ensure the judges fifteen-year terms, and allow discretionary review of the court’s decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court. Passage of the bill by the House was expected within a short time as this fiscal year closed.

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