ORIGIN OF THE RESERVE CONCEPT. The value of a citizenry trained in the use of arms, and effectively organized, was recognized as a need in early Colonial America. The frontier situation in which the settlers lived called for constant vigilance against hostile Indians. Our first citizen soldiers were the settlers themselves, ready at a moment's notice to take up arms and band together against any enemy who threatened their homes or communities. The tradition remained along the eastern seaboard after the frontier had moved to the west and north.

Washington was a foremost advocate of a strong Reserve, as an essential supplement to a Regular Army. In a letter to a Congressional Committee in 1783, he wrote:

"It may be laid down as a primary position and the basis of our system, that every citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government owes not only a proportion of his property but even his personal services to the defense of it, and consequently that the citizens of America (with a few legal and official execptions) from 15 to 60 years of age should be borne on the militia rolls, provided with uniform arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them that the total strength of the country might be called forth at short notice."

Unfortunately the country was slow to understand the real meaning behind Washington's words. The day when a fairly effective "militia" could be created merely by assembling a group of neighbors with their muskets, powder-horns, and elected leader ended with the disappearance of the frontier and its traditions, and with the increasing complexities of military service. The time soon arrived when, to produce an effective Reserve or second line of defense, there was needed a carefully thought-out system of organization, mobilization, equipment, supply and training, comparable to-though less elaborate and expensive than-that needed for the Regular Army. But it took generations to attain this. The Militia Act of 1792 perpetuated in its

weakest form the militia system inherited from Colonial days. For 111 years thereafter (until 1903) we were dependent for reserves upon the largely unorganized and untrained forces brought into nominal being under its provisions. The National Guard, State controlled, but organized and trained under Federal supervision, and subject to the President's call to active service, was established by the Act of 1903; and this, together with the Act of 1905, formed the first step toward correcting the weaknesses of the Militia Act and giving the nation efficient forces to supplement the Regular Army. Yet even some years after that it was possible for an American politician of national prominence, once Secretary of State and thrice a Presidential candidate, to decry elaborate military training on the ground that, if the country were attacked, "a million men would spring to arms." What arms they would spring to, and what they would do with them after springing, Mr. Bryan did not explain.

By the Act of 23 April 1908, which was enacted to put the Medical Corps on a firm footing and to increase its personnel, Congress established a Medical Reserve Corps in which young graduates of medical schools were to be appointed first lieutenants. They were liable to active service at the call of the President.

The Army Reserve-later designated the Regular Army Reserve-was established by the Act of 24 August 1912. It consisted of two classes of reservists: those enlisted men of the Regular Army furloughed to the reserve after four years of active duty (or three years at the discretion of the Secretary of War), and those men honorably discharged who voluntarily enlisted in the reserve.

BACKGROUND TO THE RESERVE OFFICER TRAINING CORPS (ROTC) CONCEPT. The ROTC idea was born

in 1819 when Alden Partridge, a former superintendent of the United States Military Academy, founded the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy (now Norwich University) at Northfield, Vt. This was the first educational institution in the United States, aside from West Point, where military studies were prescribed in the curriculum.

Between 1819 and the Civil War a number of essentially military schools and colleges were founded. Among them were Lafayette College, the Virginia Military Institute, the Citadel, Kemper, Oak Ridge, and Marion Institute (all of which are now represented in the ROTC system). Up to the Civil War, however, military studies were virtually unknown in colleges and schools not of this essentially military type.

In 1862, when the military fortunes of the North were at low ebb, Congress passed the "Morrill" Act, providing grants of land for educational institutions at which "the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." Shortly after the Civil War the several States and Territories began to take advantage of the Morrill Act by establishing State universities and agricultural colleges. At each, military science and tactics was a prescribed part of the curriculum. Although at first the Federal Government provided no particular assistance, several acts were passed in the 1870's and 1880's which authorized the detail of officers and men and the loan of equipment. The final act of 1888 authorized similar assistance to institutions outside the "land-grant family," including public high schools. These ancestors of the ROTC were of value in the Spanish-American War. At the University of Nebraska, for example, where General of the Armies John J. Pershing had been Professor of Military Science and Tactics as a first lieutenant in 1892, the Corps of Cadets was organized into the 1st Nebraska Volunteer Infantry, which served with distinction in the Philippines.

ACT OF 1916. The National Defense

Act of 3 June 1916 provided that the Army of the United States was to consist of the Regular Army, the Officers Reserve Corps (ORC), the Enlisted Reserve Corps (ERC), and the National Guard while in the service of the United States.

The ORC was to be composed of men from civilian life trained either in the ROTC, in land-grant colleges having suitable military departments, or in camps such as those operated on the so-called "Plattsburg Plan," together with qualified professional men. They were to be commissioned in the various branches in grades up to and including major. The ERC was to be composed of men enlisted for four years in five branches-Engineer, Signal (including Aviation), Quartermaster, Ordnance, and Medical. It was intended to make immediately available in wartime a larger number of specialists than were required in the peacetime Army. The ROTC was designed to provide a steady influx of new officers into the Regular Army and the ORC. In the fall of 1916, ROTC units were organized at 37 colleges (most of them land-grant) and at 9 military and other schools. An initial enrollment of some 40,000 was reported.

WORLD WAR I. The ROTC continued to function through most of the war, and training was carried on at a number of additional institutions. Its activities were suspended in the fall of 1918 in favor of the Students' Army Training Corps, which trained enlisted men for special assignments but not for commissions. Meanwhile, however, thousands of men who had undergone ROTC training, or earlier military training in college, were commissioned through Officer Training Corps, the World War I version of Officers Candidate Schools. On 1 November 1918 there was an enrollment of 170,000 students in the Students' Army Training Corps. Following the armistice it was demobilized.

All members of the Officers Reserve Corps-89,476-were transferred to the active Army during the war. Of the total number of commissioned officers who served, 43% were reservists. Al some 80,000 membe the Enlist Reserve Corps

of the Regular Army, the National Army, and the National Guard, leaving on its rolls only 17,000 medical, dental, and veterinary students, 2,500 engineering students, and 3,500 men with critical industrial skills. These were discharged at the end of the war. No further enlistments in the Enlisted Reserve Corps were accepted after World War I, and it ceased to exist until revived by the National Defense Act of 1920.

INTERWAR PERIOD AND WORLD WAR II. The National Defense Act of 1920 reaffirmed the foregoing components of the Army of the United States, and provided that Reserve officers could be commissioned by the President for a term of 5 years. If, during this period, Congress declared an emergency, they could be called to active duty, to remain until 6 months after the end of the emergency if not sooner relieved. To prevent the accumulation of dead wood in the Officers Reserve Corps, the law provided that Reserve commissions would be for a period of 5 years only. Renewal of commission or advancement in grade was made dependent upon interest and progress shown. The same Act reestablished the ROTC and provided Federal aid in the form of uniforms, equipment, and instructor personnel. The ROTC was reorganized in secondary and collegiate institutions, and a comprehensive program was undertaken for the training of candidates for commissions in the Officers Reserve Corps.

In the years following 1920, various steps were taken to improve the administration of the Act; to establish policies for the systematic assignment, reappointment, and promotion of Reserve officers; to deal with the cases of officers who failed to keep up with War Department requirements but desired to retain their commissions; and to develop Reserve units. The last end, however, was not effectively attained, and in 1940 the Army's Reserve units were mostly paper organizations. However, on 30 June of that year the Reserve contained some 104,000 officers and 8,000 enlisted men. In these same years the ROTC program was carried on with increasing success. By June 1941 about 118,000 graduates had re

ceived Reserve commissions, and about 7,000 others had gone to the Regular Army, National Guard, or Marine Corps.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), established in 1933, although its basic mission was in another field, did much to improve the efficiency of our Reserve officers. Many thousands of them were assigned to CCC camps between 1933 and 1939, and received valuable training in leadership and field service, besides making an essential contribution to the success of the CCC program itself.

The "national emergency" period preceding our entrance into World War II brought great numbers of reservists to the colors. By Pearl Harbor Day (7 December 1941) more than 77,000 reserve officers had been assigned to extended active duty. Many more were assigned as the war progressed. A check of five combat divisions showed that 52 percent of the It. colonels, 83 percent of the majors and 70 percent of the captains were Reserve officers. The ROTC program also continued, although the advanced course was suspended in June 1943. There were some 34,000 graduates in the classes of '42, '43, and '44. During the war about 100,000 graduates held commissions in the Army, in all grades from second lieutenant to brigadier general.

POSTWAR DEVELOPMENTS. The Eightieth Congress provided for pay to the Organized Reserves for their inactive duty training periods. It also provided means whereby individual reservists could qualify for receiving nondisability retirement benefits at the age of 60. For the first time in its history the Organized Reserve Corps was a force in being, rather than a paper organization. There were 18 infantry divisions, 4 airborne divisions, and 3 armored divisions assigned to the six armies of the Army Field Forces. For supervision, each State was organized as a Military District with a headquarters, and unit instructors were assigned to full time duty with ORC units. Officers for the Organized Reserve Corps were to be procured through ROTC; from men who had held Regular or Reserve commissions in World War II; by direct commis