5 Mar 1927-30 Jun 1930

1 Jul 1930-30 Jun 1935 1 Jul 1935-15 Sep 1938 16 Sep 1938-9 Jun 1940 21 Jun 1940-23 Mar 1941 5 Jun 1941-10 Aug 1942 16 Sep 1942-15 Oct 1945 15 Oct 1945-31 May 1948 1 Jun 1948-15 Nov 1949 16 Nov 1949-1 Jan 1950 1 Jan 1950-31 Jan 1951 20 Aug 1950-25 Feb 1951

25 Feb 1951-17 Nov 1953 18 Nov 1953-31 Jul 1957 1 Aug 1957

• Acting.

Col. David L. Stone Brig. Gen. Charles D. Herron Brig. Gen. Edwin S. Hartshorn .Brig. Gen. Charles F. Thompson ..Brig. Gen. John H. Hester Brig. Gen. Frank E. Lowe .Brig. Gen. Edward W. Smith .Brig. Gen. Edward S. Bres .Brig. Gen. Wendell Westover .Col. George E. Butler a .Maj. Gen. James B. Cress Col. George E. Butler a .Brig. Gen. Hugh M. Milton II .Maj. Gen. Philip F. Lindeman .Maj. Gen. Ralph A. Palladino

The Combat Arms Regimental System, which was approved by the Secretary of the Army on 24 January 1957, is based on recognition of the fact that the efficiency and morale of fighting men are greatly heightened by pride in the unit to which they belong; and that this pride, in large part, springs from the past achievements of that unit, as embodied in its traditions, battle records, and battle honors.

In this sense, the most significant combat unit in the American Army has been the regiment. It is his regiment which the career soldier has always considered as his "home outfit" and the focus of his professional pride and endeavor. But the regiment, though it still carries this precious weight of tradition, has become obsolescent as a tactical entity in modern combat. During World War II the Army, with a few exceptions, abandoned the regimental organization except for the infantry; and under the pentomic concept adopted in 1957 the regiments relinquish their tactical roles to the battle groups and battalions, and find themselves without place in the force structure.

Hence the Combat Arms Regimental System. It maintains the continued

existence of our most famous regiments, by perpetuating them as "parent" organizations. They will bequeath their names, histories, and traditions to the battle groups, battalions, and other basic tactical units of today which in varying numbers will be assigned to them. Thus far the system applies only to infantry, artillery, and armor units, but there is a possibility of later application to other branches of the Army.

Ultimately every battalion or equivalent color-bearing TOE unit of the combat arms, whether divisional or nondivisional, will be part of one of these historic regiments, and will trace its own history back to it. Battle honors which the individual units win will be carried on their respective battle standards, and will also accrue to their "parent" regiment. The regiment, in turn, will be authorized to carry one, and only one, battle streamer on its colors for each engagement in which one or more of its active units participate. Eventually the regimental colors, trophies, and other memorabilia will be displayed at the regimental headquarters. Until these are established and permanently located, the colors, etc., will be with the lowest numbered active battle group or battalion of the regiment. Studies are being made regarding appropriate missions, sizes, and locations of regimental headquarters.

The number of units thus assigned to any particular regiment will vary, and may be increased or decreased as the size of the Army dictates. The plan envisages that there will always be one active unit per regiment when the Army is at its smallest size, and as many as fifteen when the Army fully mobilizes. The list of regiments selected for perpetuation, numbering 157, was based upon the number of active units needed as the size of the Army varies from smallest to largest, and upon the number of historically significant regiments available.

The table below shows the regiments selected, and for each one the year of its origin and the number of battle honors which it has acquired in the

The Army will never be any better than the quality of the young Americans who compose it. It is an established principle of ground warfare that success in battle depends upon the proper combination of firepower, mobility, and able people. The final and decisive element in warfare is not the weapon, not the equipment, but the men who operate and use the weapons and equipment.

While a ship may symbolize the Navy and an airplane the Air Force, the only adequate symbol of the Army is the combat soldier. He is like the cutting tool moved by a great machine behind him. It is the quality of the cutting edge the combat soldier-which determines the performance of the entire machine. He must be a little better than most people, a little tougher-not in an unruly sense, but in the sense of having more character, stamina, fortitude, and discipline-to assure that our Army will be victorious in the future, as it always has been in the past.

Therefore, two most vital questions about the Army are: how its personnel are obtained and how they are trained. The question of training and education is covered in chapter 8. This chapter deals with the procurement, and subsequent promotion, of officers and enlisted men.

Broadly speaking, there are two reasons for a man joining the Armed Forces: because he volunteers or because he is required to by law. In securing officers we have relied on the volunteer system. That system has also been used, throughout our national his

tory, for procuring enlisted personnel; but at various times, and in varying degrees, it has had to be supplemental by legal coercion.

The most comprehensive possible scheme of the latter sort is true universal military training. It is based on the concept that every adult male citizen has a non-transferable obligation to serve his country directly, in peace as well as war. and that (with certain common-sense exceptions) he will be trained to that end. The concept has never been fully accepted and executed in the United States; instead, a number of compromises have been tried. The most recent is the selective service system, which was brought into being during World War I, was used in World War II and the Korean War, and is still in effect. It is based on the principle that all men are liable to be called. A drawing by lot determines which ones actually will be.

The law which governs selective service is Public Law 51, an amendment (adopted in June 1951) to the Selective Service Act; and by this amendment, the act was renamed "The Universal Military Training and Service Act." Thereby our nation gave official approval, for the first time in its history, to the concept of universal military training, even though, in fact, we do not today induct and train all our young men. Thus the ultimate obligation of citizenship-the bearing of arms in defense of the community-is now explicit. It has always been implicit.

Under current legislation and regulations, including the Reserve Forces