ARMED FORCES: Sacking Sad Sacks

The Army and Air Force each disclosed last week a manpower program that fits neatly into the Administration's drive to squeeze as much military strength as possible out of a tight defense budget.

> The Army ordered the discharge of 20,000 "professional privates" who 1) scored 14 or less (out of a possible 100) on the Armed Forces Qualification Test, 2) served a full three-year enlistment or more without getting to be corporals or better, 3) were never decorated or wounded in combat. Early last month, the Navy issued a ban against re-enlistment of men considered incapable of climbing to petty officer third class.

> The Air Force announced a plan to hire local civilians to replace 35,000 earthbound airmen doing pencil and monkey-wrench work at overseas bases. Operation Native Son, as the Air Force unofficially dubbed it, will free the 35,000 for military tasks, save a lot of money besides. An Air Force enlisted man, costing $14,000 to train and $4,900 a year to keep, makes an expensive grease monkey; a skilled Japanese mechanic is happy to do the work for $900 a year—handsome wages for him.

Another side of the problem is how to keep trained and able officers and NCOs from leaving the service. A committee of five generals and admirals last month submitted to Defense Secretary Wilson a thoughtful report on how to make the services more attractive to the kind of men they want to keep. One of the strongest proposals: maintain the old privileges of officer and NCO ranks. Recently, Secretary Wilson, as if he had never heard of the report, yielded to pressure—from organized liquor retailers—and banned sales of package liquor in service messes and clubs. Since package-liquor sales are a financial prop of officer and NCO clubs in the Navy and Marines, the order was one more chisel blow at badly chipped rank privileges.