Stars and Bars

Although a two-way commitment is a feature of most contracts, ROTC agreements are unique. While binding on the person who signs them, they provide slipknnots which allow the military services to wriggle out of inconvenient obligations. Four years ago the Air Force made verbal contracts with freshmen entering the AFROTC, promising them second lieutenant's commissions upon graduation. But the shortage of candidates for flying school and an oversupply of non-flying officers have compelled the Air Force to prepare its ROTC men for pilot training. Prodded by budget cuts, the Air Force has decided that the three thousand seniors in the program not physically qualified to fly must serve two years as enlisted men before commissioning.

While these students never received written guarantees of a commission upon completion of the AFROTC, few would have sacrificed a large part of their time unless they believed that the Air Force would honor verbal promises. Even John Hanna, Assistant Secretary of Defense, has agreed that the Air Force is morally bound to commission the three thousand seniors.

By failing to meet its obligations the Air Force would weaken the attraction of the AFROTC program, and probably lose much of the return from the expensive instruction given the three thousand. The Air Force could utilize the men profitably by sending them to specialty schools that would make them valuable as Reserve officers. With a year of combat instruction, for example, these men could become officers capable of training traditionally helpless Air Force ground crews in the art of defensive warfare.

Now that the Air Force has realized its budget will not justify overproduction of non-flying officers, it has cut AFROTC enrollment. This year's bumper crop of college seniors is the last, and the commissioning problem will not occur again. With little extra expense and a temporary Defense Department exception on the service's officer quota, the Air Force could honor its commitment. The AFROTC's over-recruitment four years ago should not hold back the commissions which these three thousand officer-candidates desire and deserve.