War Service Summary, Recommendation Released; V-1 Shows Greatest Changes

The following summary of service conditions as they stand after recent changes was released yesterday by Elliot Perkins, Director of the War Service Information Bureau:

Satisfactory Standing in the Reserves

Both the Navy V-1 and the Enlisted Reserve Corps state that failure to maintain satisfactory standing will result in a man's being taken for immediate active duty. The Navy has stated definitely that being put on probation will not be cause for active duty under the V-1 regulations. Men must have their connection with the college severed before being taken by the Navy under this provision.

The Army has not handed down a definite ruling, but the officers with whom I have talked here and at Corps Area Headquarters think it quite possible that probation will take a man out of college and into active duty. At the same time, they are not sure of this. A man cannot be until a ruling comes from Washington.

Army Enlisted Reserve

Except for Secretary Stimson's recent remarks, the Enlisted Reserve Corps situation has not changed. Just what action will be taken with reservists who become 20 is still not certain, and the Reserve remains, even for those who may be taken at the end of the term in which they become 20, an excellent method of leaving college in an orderly manner, rather than being drafted out just before the end of the term.

Premedical men, physicists, and other specialists will be well advised to join the Enlisted Reserve, unless they wish to enroll in V-1. The quotas for the Enlisted Reserve are filling up, and the Class of '44 has very nearly used up its quota. Immediate action on applications should not necessarily be expected for the rest of this term and the first week or two of the next.

V-1

The V-1 program has been changed in a number of details. In the first place, the V-1 classification has now been divided into V-1 (G) and V-1 (S), V-1 (G) is the deck and engineering officer classification. The requirements for this remain the same as before. V-1 (S) is a Specialists' classification, and for this the physical requirements are substantially reduced.

The most important reduction from the point of view of the college man is the reduction of the eye requirement from 18 20 to 12 20, correctable to 20 20. Those enrolled in V-1 (S) must be concentrating in engineering, mathematics, physics, electronics, chemistry, or meteorology. Men concentrating in Japanese, Russian, Chinese, or "other fields of particular value to the Naval service" may be accepted in a limited number for a special service.

Premedical and predental students may enroll in V-1 (G) or V-1 (S), and are exempt from taking the normally required mathematics and physics of the other V-1 classification. Premedical and predental students need not take the qualifying examination of the Sophomore year, and if they do not, will be retained in class V-1 until accepted or rejected for medical school. On being accepted, most men will be commissioned as Ensigns, H.V. (P.). Those admitted but not commissioned will be discharged from the Navy. Those who fall of admission to medical school or dental school will be ordered to active duty as enlisted men unless they elected to take the V-7 qualifying examination in their Sophomore year. If they did that, and have V-7 physical qualifications, they may become deck and engineering officers.

These are the principal features of interest at the moment. I have not mentioned the Air Force, whether Army or Navy, as their regulations remain unchanged in any important respects. The Coast Guard is to be entered through V-1, as far as Freshmen and Sophomores are concerned. V-7 is divided into V-7(G) and V-7(S), and details concerning it can be secured at University R.

Application for V-1 now demands more paper work than it did. Applicants should come to University R.