Page:Legislative History of the AAF and USAF.djvu/91

 �This Page Declassified lAW EO12958 retirement was given for longevity based on service on extended active duty, plus limited credit for other duty. To qualify for retire. merit benefits a reservist had to attam 60 years of age, complete 20 years service as a member of the Reserve, and satisfy the standards of performance established for his Reserve component. These standards were based on a point system under which a reservist was required to earn 50 points a year in order to qualify or retirement. These points were based on active duty, drill attendance, training duty, etc. After 20 years of service the points earned by the reservist were converted into the number of years of service credited for retirement purposes, and ths number, multiphed by 2% per cent of the pay received by the reservmt when he held his highest rank, determined the amount of retirement pay he would receive staring at the age of 80. e This legislation, of course, offered some eal incentive to induce ehg[ble individuaM to join the Ar Force Reserve, and to en- courage those who were already in the Re- serve to keep on wth their training and maintam their Reserve status. In 1948 there were st]l serious deficien- cies in the Axr Force personnel procurement program, especmlly m the procurement of officers and cadets. Only 64 per cent of the programmed requirement for Regular Air Force officers was attained, and recalls of nonflying Reserve Air Force officers fell far shot oœ the goal. Although, by dnt of intensive recruiting, the year's quota for aviation cadets were filled, there was no backlog of applicants at the year's end: there was a critical need for prompt legis- lative action to msure that the expanding need for Air Force officers and cadets would be met. Among factors adversely affectrag the procurement of Air Force officers and cadets were: 1) the comparatively low mooroe pos- sibffities of a mfitary career; 2) the low pay of aviainn cadets, which at this time was approzamately that received by pri- vates; and 3) a lack of decent living condi- tions caused mainly by a housing short- age3  Congress took action to remedy these conditions, at least in some measure, by the passing of the Career Compensation ACt and the Wherry Act. Recommendations for an increase in the pay and allowances of aviation cadets had been made m 1946, and legislation for this purpose had been drafted by the Procure- merit Branch, 2or Corps, for cormderation by Congress in 19430 In 1947 Maj. Gem Hugh J. Knorr, Secretary General of The Ar Board, submitted to the Chief of Air Staff suggestions to be used as a point of departure in designrag the framework of a more realmtic pay structure for the mili- tary estabhshment. This pay structure was to set up for officers new pay standards which would 1) be in line with the increased mooroes in civihan hfe and the higher costs of living; 2) provide an adequate standard of hwng to guarantee the maintenance of a competent officer corps; $) attract to the service officer of the high moral cahber essenhal to securmg public support of the military etabhshment; and 4) set up a simple pay structure for the service which could be effectively and economically ad- ministered3  Out of these proposals and suggestions grew the idea of an Air Force pay bill to be submitted to Congress. However, Brig. Gen. J. E. Upston, Acting Assistant Chief, Air Staff, recommended that such a b1t should not be proposed. He felt that any royfreon of the existing pay structure, particularly smce the enactment of tle National Se- curity Act of 1947, should be on a joint basis and applicable to all the armed serv- ices. The Secretary of War and the Sec- retary of the Navy had agreed to request the Pesident to appmnt a congressional com- mittee to study the entire question of pay of the armed services. In anticipation of this the joint Amy-Navy Personnel Board had designated a committee to study the questson, also a working committee had been estabhshed in the War Department to asmst the joint committee2  In an R&R to the Air Comptroller, dated 23 July 1947, CoL W. E. Carpenter, Chief of the Legisla- tive Services Division, Directorate of In- formation, AAF, concurred with the views of General Upston3  Late m 1947 the Secretary of Defense THIS PAGE Declassified lAW EO12958