When the vanguard of the 1st Infantry Division—"Big Red One"—steamed into New York harbor aboard the USNS Upshur on 23 July 1955, it was accorded the most impressive reception given any military organization since World War II. In a traditional New York welcome, whistles of ships in the harbor heralded the Upshur's arrival as fireboats, cascading towering columns of water, accompanied it to its Brooklyn pier. Crowds lined the approach and five former commanders of the division were at dockside.¹ The event was given full radio, television, and newspaper coverage; for it was not only the division's first homecoming since 1942, but the first large movement of personnel from Europe to the United States under Operation GYROSCOPE,² a new and revolutionary system of troop rotation and replacement.

Contrasting with the older system of individual replacement, Operation GYROSCOPE would periodically interchange entire divisions, separate regiments, or separate battalions between overseas locations and their permanent stations in the United States.³ As far as possible the families of married personnel would accompany them concurrently. Moreover, after the completion of basic training an individual soldier normally would remain with one and the same unit for all, or at least a very substantial part, of his Army career.⁴

1. The Stars and Stripes (Eur. ed.), 24 Jul 55.
2. According to the American Traveler, 1st Division newspaper, for 20 May 1955, the sketched drawing of a gyroscope on the cover of an August 1954 briefing chart gave the project its name.
3. The gyroscope rotation of company-size logistical service units began in 1956.
4. AR 220-20, 7 Apr 55, sub: Operation Gyroscope, Unit Rotation.

1. Motivation for the Gyroscope Program

The new system was expected to raise the morale of troops and their families, increase the combat effectiveness of the Army, and lower the cost of maintaining the Military Establishment.⁵

a. Morale Factors. In the opinion of Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, then Army Chief of Staff, the most important consideration favoring the new plan was the likelihood that troop morale would be improved through greater permanency of enlisted men's assignments.⁶

(1) Stability of Family Life. Under the individual replacement system a soldier was never certain of his next assignment, nor did he know when necessity would bring about an emergency reassignment. In time of war, of course, he would have to accept the prospect of long separations from his family, but during peace the married serviceman would be likely to look upon such separations as an unnecessary hardship. Believing an Army career to be incompatible with marriage, many experienced noncommissioned officers and trained technicians were leaving the service, to the Army's loss.

Under the Gyroscope plan, however, a career soldier would know his next assignments for years in advance and could plan accordingly. Since a unit would normally return to the same U.S. station after each tour of overseas duty, military families would be able to buy homes and thereby establish roots in local American communities. Concurrent or simultaneous overseas travel of dependents with their military sponsors would eliminate the long waiting periods during which families were separated that had become characteristic of overseas assignments. In fact, the elimination of long family separations might well become the principal virtue of the unit rotation plan from the standpoint of morale.

(2) Esprit de Corps. As long as the personnel of a unit were in a continual state of flux, as under the individual rotation system, the development of a sense of "belonging," around which to create esprit de corps, was difficult. Deep-seated loyalty to an organization could scarcely result from a succession of transient assignments. The Gyroscope procedure, on the other hand, would provide the permanency of assignment necessary for establishing pride in unit, This would be especially true for career personnel.

(3) Attitude of Separating Draftees. The Army was well aware, moreover, that many draftees returned to civilian life with a strong distaste for military service. Since the Army was so heavily dependent upon popular support, such distaste could become severely detrimental to both the military establishment and the nation. The Gyroscope

5. Cable DA-552139, DA from CINFO to all comds, 29 Sep 54. In USAREUR SGS 322 Army (1954), B/P.
6. The Army Times, 25 Oct 54.

planners believed that any major improvement in the attitude of Regular Army enlisted personnel would be reflected in the morale of selectees, and that contented leaders would make contented followers. Furthermore, the esprit developed during two or more consecutive years of association with the same personnel might carry over into civilian life, enabling the Army to count on "alumni support."⁷

b. Military-Factors. Among the favorable military factors expected to grow out of the unit rotation plan were retention of experienced personnel, better teamwork, improved utilization of manpower, a strengthened ready reserve, and valuable experience in directing mass movements.

(l) Retention of Experienced Personnel. Under the old system all units could expect a complete turnover in personnel within the course of three years. Moreover, with every reenlistment a soldier would have to adjust to a new job, no matter how many years he had been in the service. Under the Gyroscope system, in which the variable factor would be locale rather than personnel, both the loss of experienced manpower and the necessity of training newcomers would be reduced to a minimum.⁸

(2) Better Teamwork. Teamwork in combat is essential. However, the mutual respect and trust that are necessary to effective teamwork can come only with lengthy association. Many top-ranking officers believed that the old system of replacement was directly responsible for the poor combat records of some soldiers. Maj. Gen. Norman B. Cota, commander of the 28th Infantry Division during World War II, is quoted as having made the following statement on this subject:

The Gyroscope plan, which aimed at providing this security and trust by allowing men to spend their entire Army careers with the same friends

7. The Baltimore Sun, 22 Jun 55.
8. DA Study on Unit Rotation, 17 Jun 54. In USAREUR G3 files.
9. William Bradford Huie, The Execution of Private Slovak, (New York, 1954), p. 245.

and leaders, was seen as a great improvement over the old replacement system. Since Gyroscope procedures could be easily readjusted to wartime conditions, teamwork in combat would improve.

(3) Improved Utilization of Manpower. Under the old system much time and the services of many people were needed to ship a single USAREUR replacement from his basic training unit to his overseas organization. He would first be processed through a replacement center in the United States, be placed in a group headed overseas, and then be shipped to a replacement center at Zweibruecken, Germany. From there he would be sent, frequently over much of the same route by which he had come, to a divisional replacement unit for final assignment to a company, battery, or detachment. The foregoing procedure might take as long as a month. Under Gyroscope procedures, however most of the processing, including assignment to a unit, would be done during an individual's basic training, After the first six months of service he would be sent directly to a port of embarkation with his training unit, and immediately upon arrival overseas he would be transported directly to his new station. Personnel formerly manning intermediate processing stations could be relieved for other duties, and time spent in the unproductive pipeline would be reduced to a minimum.¹⁰

(4) Strengthened General Reserve. In 1954 the Army had 11 combat divisions overseas and 8 at home as a general reserve. Since the Gyroscope program called for the periodic interchange of overseas and stateside divisions, a balanced pairing of such divisions seemed indicated. To achieve this balance, with 12 divisions at home and 12 overseas, 5 training divisions in the United States would be converted into TOE units; issued equipment, and assigned experienced cadres to train the filler personnel.¹¹

(5) Experience in Directing Mass Movements. While the Gyroscope procedures would have to be modified in an emergency, their peacetime implementation required essentially the same types of planning and coordination as would wartime operations. Thus, personnel engaged in rail and sea transportation movements, as well as the staffs of posts camps, and stations, would gain valuable experience in processing and moving large units.

c. Monetary Factors. It was also believed that the application of Gyroscope methods would result in financial savings amounting to millions of dollars annually, largely through an increased reenlistment rate, mass movement and processing, and improved maintenance of equipment.

10. DA Study on Unit Rotation, 17 Jun 54. In USAREUR G3 files.
11. The Army Times, 12 Oct 54.

(1) Increased Reenlistment Rate. By making a military career more attractive and eliminating some of its unpleasant features, the Gyroscope program would increase the reenlistment rate. Personnel turnover would be reduced correspondingly, and savings in paper work, processing, clothing, and training would be realized.

(2) Mass Movement. Savings through mass processing and mass movement would also be considerable. It was estimated, for example, that the cost of moving a division from the geographic center of the United States to a port of embarkation would be lowered by more than $100,000.¹² Rolling stock and vessels carrying one unit to its overseas station would be employed to take another unit home, assuring full use of transportation facilities in both directions. Mass packing would lower shipping costs. The Medical Corps could organize special teams for the mass inoculation of Gyroscope units, and many other services could be furnished more expeditiously and economically.

(3) Better Maintenance of Equipment. Personnel of rotating Gyroscope elements would carry their individual equipment with them, but the organizational and special equipment would be left behind for the incoming units. Since this procedure would require the periodic turnover of an organization's entire equipment, the heightened sense of responsibility would lead commanders to require more careful maintenance with resultant financial savings.¹³

2. Basic Principles of Gyroscope

AR 220-20, published on 20 October 1954 and revised six months later, governed the initial movements under the program and set forth its operating principles.¹⁴

a. Assumptions. The regulation was based on the assumptions that the size of the Army would remain constant, that 50 percent of its strength would be Regular Army personnel, and that the other 50 percent would consist of Selective Service draftees inducted for two years. It was also assumed that the law requiring enlisted personnel without previous military service to receive four months of basic training in the United States before being sent overseas would remain in force.

b. Movement by Regimental Combat Teams. If the United States' NATO and other Western Hemisphere obligations were to be fulfilled, neither

12. Cable DA-552139, DA from CINF0 to all comds, 29 Sep 54. In USAREUR SGS 322 Army (1954), B/P.
13. DA Study of Unit Rotation, 17 Jun 54. In USAREUR G3 files.
14. AR 220-20, 7 Apr 55, sub: Operation Gyroscote, Unit Rotation.

any weakening of the defenses at home nor a diminution of the combat readiness of the units abroad could be permitted during Gyroscope interchanges. For this reason divisions would not be rotated en masse. Instead, each of the three regimental combat teams (RCT)¹⁵ off a division would move separately at 2-month intervals, and the entire movement would take six months. To make sure that no combat team would be separated from its parent unit for more than two months, the division headquarters would move with the second increment.

Each team would assume its mission immediately upon arrival in Europe and would have to be trained to the point of operational effectiveness prior to moving overseas. Therefore, during the last six months in the United States each rotating increment would be at full strength, plus overstrength to allow for attrition, and would be engaged in training the personnel it was to take overseas.

c. Length of Tours. Overseas tours of 33 months and U.S. tours of 31, plus 2 months of travel time, were estimated to be most expedient. A draftee would thus be able to complete 6 months of basic and advanced training and half of an overseas or U.S. tour within his 2-year period of service. On the other hand, a Regular Army soldier who wished to be assigned to a Gyroscope unit after completing basic training could include a full oversees or U.S. tour within his 3-year enlistment.

A division's overseas assignments would normally be alternated among the European and Pacific commands and Alaska, thereby offering expanded opportunities for world travel as an inducement for continued service. Chart 1 shows how paired divisions would rotate during the course of nine years, or three consecutive 3-year enlistments.

In general, any enlisted individual might be assigned to, transfer to, or remain with a Gyroscope unit by enlisting, reenlisting, or extending active duty for a minimum of three years, or by filing a certificate of intention to reenlist. Final approval of such an initial request for transfer to a non-Gyroscope unit, or of any subsequent request, would be in the hands of the appropriate army commander in the United States or overseas.

Officers initially required would be phased into Gyroscope units without regard to the normal requisitioning cycle and would be assigned generally as follows: Company grade officers, for from 2 to 6 years; majors, from approximately 14 months to 4 years; lieutenant colonels and colonels, for from 14 to 18 months, and preferably 16 months.

d. The General Reserve. Each Gyroscope unit, while assigned to a tour in the United States, would have one, or at most two, of the following missions:

15. A regimental combat team consisted normally of a regiment of infantry, a battalion of artillery, a company of engineers, and a battery of antiaircraft artillery, but its composition was flexible.

(1) Maintaining combat readiness as a high priority force.

(2) Maintaining combat readiness for a mission with the Western Hemisphere reserve.

(3) Performing special missions, such as testing equipment or organizational structure.

(4) Conducting training of selectees. (Selectees to accompany a unit overseas would join that unit six months before its embarkation and would be trained by it. Selectees to be assigned to a unit already overseas would be trained by its paired unit in the United States).

(5) Conducting basic combat training and/or advanced individual replacement training of non-Gyroscope and specialist personnel according to procedures outlined for replacement training centers.¹⁶

16. AR 220-20, 7 Apr 55, sub: Operation Gyroscope, Unit Rotation.