AIR FORCE TRAINEES

Evening Star, Issue 23908, 11 June 1941, Page 6

AIR FORCE TRAINEES

- -fr PRE-GAMP INSTRUCTION ANOMALIES Anomalies in the pre-camp training of Air Force recruits that, could only bo attributed to bungling, incompetence, or insufficiency of staff were alleged yesterday to a ‘ Star ’ reporter by a number of young men who are at present undergoing preliminary instruction in Dunedin schools. These men are keen, but their endeavours to fit themselves as members of an effective fighting force arc claimed to bo largely nullified by what appears to bo bungling on tbo part of the authorities. Notwithstanding that their time to absorb instruction is limited, the Government department in charge has not co-op-erated oven to the extent of supplying tlio necessary books, although these are not obtainable elsewhere. About four weeks ago these men were passed by the , Air Board—the ones mostly affected being drafted into the “short course.’’ The time in which they had to pass their examinations was I-t weeks, the course being divided into 21 weekly assignments. This time was reduced to 12 weeks on their first appearance at tlio school, although no books whatever had come to hand. A fortnight later, two more weeks were docked off the time, although the recruits were still without any means of learning their work. They were limited to the hour a week of instruction that was given at the school. In the signalling course, well over a hundred men turned up the first week to learn Morse. Only half a' dozen “buzzers” wore at their disposal, although these consist of little more than a telegraph key and a couple of batteries, and could be turned out in quantity by tbe Government workshops. By this week, classes have thinned out considerably; but much of the time given by the trainees for the first two or three weeks would, they claimed, have to be written off as wasted. The trainees were enthusiastic about the work done by the instructors in all branches in trying to make up the deficiencies, but pointed out that this should have not been necessary. Somewhere in Wellington, they said, the war effort, in this most important branch, was being spragged in an inexcusable manner. Furthermore, they questioned whether the system could not be improved. None of the men interviewed by the 1 Star ’ had passed In’s medical tost, and some had not yet received advice as to the date on which they would bo examined, it is only natural to suppose that a proportion would not pass. Could not this examination be given to the men before they underwent training? Those who will fail it are not only wasting their own time in the classes/but also, while there is inadequate material supplied to the schools, they are impeding the chances of the rest. Having passed the medical examination, and the Air Board, it seems evident that the preliminary work would be more easily assimilated in camp. Most of the men arc doing their study in odd moments snatched from a busy day, or at tho end of a tiring one. All those who arc physically fit will be able to fill a niche somewhere in the service, and all arc keen to do so. The preliminary course would only absorb a week or two, instead of 10. 12, 14, or 21; so that even the financial aspect, if that were important, could hardly enter into it. For that matter, a big percentage of the trainees would do their first week without pay, if it eliminated the necessity for a long preliminary course. When trainees were advised that the course would bo shortened, intimation was given that tho examination would probably bo proportionately easier, so that it'seems that the exact degree of erudition necessary is at best a variable quantity. As- outlined to tbe ‘ Star,’ tho position would seem to show that some investigation is desirable.