As this is written a board of regular and reserve officers is meeting in Washington to consider ways and means of absorbing officers of the Naval Reserve into the regular Navy in order to meet the needs of the post-war naval establishment.
Without access to the source material which the Navy Department must have placed at the board’s disposal, and without any knowledge of their findings, and at the risk of being at complete odds with the board, there are set forth herewith a few thoughts on this subject.
The presumption is that for some years after hostilities cease the Navy will have to retain on active duty and on a permanent basis, a goodly number of present reserve officers in order to adequately operate and administer the various activities of the fleet, afloat and ashore. It is not proposed to consider here the size of the post-war Navy, nor the total number of officers that will be necessary. The concerns of this paper fall under three simple headings:
(1) What individuals shall be retained
(2) What shall be the manner of selection
(3) What shall be the manner of retention
(1) What individuals shall be retained.— Assuming that the physical standards have been met, the ideal individual to be retained on active duty should be in the lower half of the age group for his rank. He should possess all of the officer-like qualities listed in the often quoted John Paul Jones’ letter to Congress. His choice of the Navy as a career should be his own.
Let us examine the above statement. First, the matter of age. Youth has undeniable advantages. Not only can a younger group serve the country longer, but each individual’s chances of serving his own advancement are increased. Youth, as a desirable qualification of a naval officer, is recognized in the Naval Academy age requirements. It is with Nava' Academy graduates that the new officer will live and compete. His age in rank should be comparable to that of an Academy graduate.
The candidate should possess a full measure of officer-like qualities. With all credit due to the various Officer Procurement Centers, the huge number of war commissions granted has resulted in a percentage of poor officers. The question of a candidate’s officer-like qualities should undergo thorough surveillance.
The candidate should be a volunteer. Here may be one of the stumbling blocks. The possibility exists that there will not be sufficient volunteers. It is not believed that the Navy Department can tell from any poll or sample questionnaire solicited prior to the termination of the war what the choice of the mass of reserve officers after the war will be. Even a large number of volunteers might be an insufficient group from which to make a good selection!
During the first year or two after peace comes and until the Navy and the country return to normalcy, an extended emergency may be considered to exist. Such a policy might justify the retention of large numbers of reserve officers on active duty whether they liked it or not. There might be those who would say “Suppose we do compel several thousand officers to remain on duty during readjustment. What of it? Eventually those who want to get out will be able to. Younger officers advance and new young ones take their places. Time will level the thing out!”
A policy such as the above would lead us to accept the applications of all volunteers who could meet a certain minimum standard and then fill the remainder of the officer requirement (if a remainder was left) by simply not releasing officers in scattered localities who were considered as holding key billets and who also met the minimum requirement standard.
It is submitted that it would be a better plan to select all the officers for the permanent peacetime Navy, setting our standards high at the very start, rather than to accept a large group who meet minimum requirements. This plan may seem idealistic and not practical, particularly if the number of volunteers proves insufficient.
There is one way to prepare for this eventuality and that is education now—propaganda if you will! Let the thousands of reserve officers on duty learn of the advantages of a naval career. Let them hear it now before the war ends and again and again. There are advantages. Let them be ably stated. The larger the volunteer group, the more capably will the post-war Navy be officered. None can deny that our country’s best insurance for peace in the years to come will be the armed forces. There is a patriotic side to a naval career that is not the least attractive side. The time to encourage volunteers is now!
(2) What shall be the manner of selection?— In the field of education the value of the scientifically constructed examination has been proved. Very recently the Navy Department has recognized the scientific formula, in the form of the new fitness report sheet. To quote from the back of the fitness report form,
Keep in mind that the group of officers whose professional abilities arc known to you personally (or any other group of people) will fall into a normal distribution when graded on any trait or factor— that is, there will be a small number at the lower end, a larger group in the middle, and a small group at the top.
The discovery of normal distribution among any group, large or small, was the result of testing via the scientific examination method. Universities throughout the country use the scientific examination in nearly every field. Teacher placement services put particular trust in its accuracy and as a result, poor placement is practically a thing of the past.
The scientific examination should be the heaviest single factor in the selection of permanent officer personnel. Each reserve officer should be subjected to a number of scientific examinations which will determine that officer’s abilities and traits in comparison with all reserve officers of his rank in the Navy. The weight of these examinations should be 50 per cent or more. Officers should be chosen for retention from the top group down until the needs of the Navy are met.
Professional examinations should be given as of old but their weight should be 25 per cent or less.
Personal interview with competent boards should make up the final factor. No one board should be able to put thumbs down on a candidate who was grouped in the upper fifth on the scientific examinations. Such a case should be subject to review by a second board entirely unaware of the first board’s decision. The board should review the candidate’s Fitness Reports and an officer with an exceptional war record should be recommended for special consideration even should he fall below par on the scientific examinations. A second and higher board could then act on such special cases in accordance with their merits.
(3) What shall be the manner of retention.— The cream of the crop as determined by methods outlined in the previous section should be selected for permanent retention in the Navy. These officers should be transferred to the regular Navy and fitted into the precedence list in accordance with their current seniority. There is no premium on intelligence and if an officer was good enough to retain under the stiff system I have outlined he should be good enough to retain his precedence.
It is submitted that it would be a serious mistake to continue naval reserve officers as reserves on a permanent active duty status alongside regular Navy officers. All officers on permanent active duty should be in the same Navy—the regular Navy.
Should the needs of the Navy demand, some volunteer reserve officers who could not make the grade for permanent appointment might be retained on a temporary basis if they chose to remain. The number of these should be held to a minimum.
The reserve officers permanently transferred should become a part of the regular Officers’ Corps in spirit as well as physical presence. It might be well to remove the word “Mustang” from the naval slang vocabulary. Their chances for advancement and detail should be equalized by a fair proportion of their own number on the selection boards and detail desks.
What ranks should be retained?
Any and all ranks, just so the candidate falls within the age in grade requirements, is among those chosen in accordance with the standards of Sec. 2, and officers of that rank are needed to fill the requirements of the Navy. In this connection, the leveling of! from temporary to permanent commissions should come at the same time and on the same basis in both reserve and regular ranks.
No mention has been made in this paper so far as to the place to be filled by specialists or limited service officers; nor to the fact that many general service reserve officers are qualified as “Deck” only or “Engineering” only. This complex problem of reserve classifications and their place in the scheme of things to come must be met realistically. One is never done learning in the Navy. Postgraduate instruction has long been a part of the system. Officers who have been accepted into the regular Navy in accordance with the standards laid down are capable of learning. They should be detailed to postgraduate instruction as the opportunity offers in order to round out their naval education. They have been good enough to serve in time of war without knowing everything. They are good enough to continue to serve in time of peace, and to learn as they serve.