AIR FORCE: THE NEW LOOK

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

This letter is in behalf of the senior Air Force ROTC cadets who are not being commissioned.

We at Cornell have petitioned Senators Ives and Lehman and Secretary of Defense Wilson in protest of being denied commissions. We do not feel that after four years of ROTC we should have to be referred back to Selective Service and have to serve as Privates.

We read recently that students from your school and Tufts had gone to Washington to see what could be done. We don't have any further information on the results of that trip.

Approximately 5,000 of us are in the same predicament. We were accepted into Advanced ROTC, not on the basis that we had to take flight training, but solely on the fact that we would receive Reserve Commissions and could chose the branch of the Air Force we desired.

Time is running out. We have asked the people at home to send telegrams in protest. We are getting a raw deal. All we want is something we worked for and earned. The 5,000 students that are concerned plus their families should certainly be able to demand some change . . . .

We are all willing to serve our country, but why not in the capacity we have contracted and trained for. The Air Force loses almost $10,000--the cost of four years of college--per man when we are not allowed to serve as Second Lieutenants. Don G. Optican, Cornell '54   Ithaca, New York