ARMY POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 104, 4 May 1943, Page 4

ARMY POLICY

PROPOSED CHANGES

NEW MOBILISATION PLAN

Brief reference to the Army's new policy of training non-mobilised men was made at a recent graduation ceremony of officer cadets at a military camp by the Chief of the General Staff. Lieutenant-General E. Puttick. He said these men would undergo a month's recruit training in camp, and would be required to do two days out of camp training each month.

Information from other sources indicates that the new Army training plan, which takes into account industrial man-power requirements, concerns all grade 1 and 2 men between the ages of 21 and 41 who are now exempted from Army service by direction of the Appeal Boards. After .their month's training in camp they will return to their civil occupations. Two training cadres will be established, and will form a pool from which will be drawn as occasion demands reinforcements for overseas, which may include grade 2 men for garrison duty. They will also ensure that the Territorial establishment, which has been reorganised, is % maintained, and that personnel will be available to protect and maintain the huge quantities of military equipment in the Dominion. It is proposed as far as possible,to call up reservists concerned for training with the cadres on the basis of their domestic status. That *s,_ the first to be called will be the single men then the married men without children, the married men with one child, and so on.

According to figures quoted by General Puttick at the graduation ceremony, about 60,000 men will be involved in this new recruit training scheme.

Figures supplied by the National Service Department show that the current total of grade 1 men withheld from the Armed Services, and all men withheld from the Air Force and Navy (grade I and II) as the result of appeals already heard, total 37,400. That figure includes 3600 men below the age of 21 and 33,800 of 21 and over. The great majority are under 41. The number of single men in that over-all total is 9800. In addition to the major total, there are about 6000 appeals relating to grade 1 men under 41 still waiting to be heard. The majority of those are married men with families called in recent ballots. It is estimated, however, that by the time all appeals are disposed of the total number of single men (grade 1 and Air Force .and Navy volunteers) will be nearly 10,000, and the total number of all men under the age of 41 in these categories nearly 40,000. These figures do not take into account police, clergymen, seamen, and miners, who are not medically examined for military service, though they are drawn for military service. It is estimated that they number about 4500 of all ages and all grades.

Summed up, it is probable that the total number of grade 1 men and Air Force and Navy volunteers under 41 is about 43,000, of whom about 11,000 are single men. Of the 43,000, approximately 3600, as stated above, are under the age of 21.