Air Force Officers: Personnel Policy Development, 1944-1974

503 Pages·1996·28.6 MB·English

by  Mitchell, Vance O., 1936-

Air Force Officers
Personnel Policy Development
1944-1974
Vance 0. Mitchell
DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A
Approved for Public Release
Distribution Unlimited
20050429 012
Air Force History and Museums Program
United States Air Force
Washington, D.C. 1996
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mitchell, Vance 0., 1936-
Air force officers: personnel policy development, 1944-1974 / Vance 0.
Mitchell.
512 p. 24cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. United States. Air Force-Officers. 2. United States. Air Force-Personnel
management-History. 3. United States-History, Military-20th century. 1. Title.
UG793.M58 1996
358.4'1 33'0973-dc2O 96-19357
CIP
For sale hy the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents. Mail St(op: SSOP Washington, DC 20402-9325
ISBN 0-16-048862-1
REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved
OMB No. 0704-0188
The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources,
gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection
of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports
(0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be
subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number.
PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS.
1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED (From - To)
1996 na/ _
4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER
Air Force Officers: Personnel Policy Development, 1944-1974 n/a
5b. GRANT NUMBER
n/a
5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER
n/a
6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER
Mitchell, Vance 0. n/a
5e. TASK NUMBER
n/a
5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER
n/a
7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION
Air Force History Support Office REPORT NUMBER
3 Brookley Avenue Box 94 n/a
Bolling AFB DC 20032-5000
9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S)
n/a n/a
11. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORT
NUMBER(S)
n/a
12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
n/a
14. ABSTRACT
A historical study of the personnel policies of the United States Air Force as it attempted to develop and maintain a viable officer
corps during some of the most turbulent times of American military history. This thirty-year period constituted a full military career
for most officers, making this a history of the first generation of officers of the independent Air Force. It is the most important
generation in Air Force history in terms of the ground-breaking decisions made and the lasting imprint these decisions left for future
generations.
510 pp., tables, diagrams, photos, notes, appendices, glossary, bibliography, index
GPO Stock No.008-070-00712-6 ISBN: 0-16-048862-1
15. SUBJECT TERMS
16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF 18. NUMBER 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON
a. REPORT b. ABSTRACT c. THIS PAGE ABSTRACT OF Richard 1. Wolf
PAGES
-U UU19b. TELEPHONE NUMBER [Include area code)
UU.U510 202-404-2186
Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8/98)
Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18
To Barbara
Air Force Officers
Personnel Policy Development
1944-1974
Foreword
The many histories dealing with the United States Air Force have most
often dealt with aerial campaigns, strategy, tactics, and air battles won or lost.
More precisely, the central position has been occupied by the airplane, the
dominant symbol of all air forces and the probably most visually arresting
weapon of war of this century. When it came to people, the other half of the Air
Force equation, famous generals and the exploits of popular heros have been
written about, but examinations of the forces that shaped the rank-and-file have
been largely overlooked. Even military sociology, a relatively new discipline
dedicated to understanding military services worldwide, has dealt overwhel-
mingly with the Army experience.
In this, his first book, Vance 0. Mitchell examines this relatively unknown
part of the Air Force experience by looking, over a period of thirty years, at the
personnel policies that shaped the officer corps in the grades of colonel and
below. In taking 1944 as his departure point, he catches land-based American
air power on the verge of achieving the status of an independent service. It also
turned out to be the beginning of the most protracted period of personnel
turbulence in American military history.
The personnel planners of the late 1940s had to address the implications of
Morris Janowitz's famous dictum that modern officer corps must include
"heroic leaders, military managers, and military technologists." For the Air
Force, that meant the end of an officer corps of virtually all pilots and the
integration of all skills needed to lead and manage a modern, complex air force.
Further, external pressure and internal considerations meant that future officers
would also include women and racial minorities, and not be exclusively the
domain of white males. Other issues included promotion by merit instead of
seniority, centralized personnel management, adjusting the rank structure, and
use of Reserve components.
Whatever might have been the ramifications of these early policy decisions
was mooted in the early 1950s by the intensification of the Cold War and the
rise of the large standing military. The author traces the major personnel
issues-procurement, flight pay, promotions, training, and retirement-as the
Air Force tried to cobble together a personnel system in a new and contradictory
era. Adequately addressing these issues was made even more difficult because
neither previous peacetime policies or traditional wartime expedients offered
vii
Foreword
adequate answers, since, for most of the period, the nation was neither at war
nor truly at peace. As he amply demonstrates, the policies of the period reflect
a mixture of compromise, ingenuity, innovation, and, in the case of temporary
promotions, near desperation. If one had to choose the issue that most severely
taxed the personnel system, it would be the presence of large numbers of
Reserve officers on active duty during peacetime, a condition not adequately
provided for in either public law or internal Air Force policies.
In the last section of the book, Mitchell examines important issues that,
while always present, were either not the results of straightforward policy
decisions or were largely ignored for most of the period. These issues were
career patterns and what he calls three types of integration: race, gender, and
skills. In analyzing the types of integration, he illustrates the limitations
inherent when revolutionary change takes place within a conservative organ-
ization.
This book has value to a diverse audience. Personnel planners from any of
the American military services can gain insights into the problems of fashioning
large numbers of individuals into a cohesive and responsive body, and military
sociologists will find the work useful in expanding their frame of reference
beyond the Army experience. Finally, Dr. Mitchell has returned to the Air Force
an important portion of its heritage, the history of its first generation of officers.
RICHARD P. HALLION
Air Force Historian
Viii
Acknowledgments
Although this book is something of a labor of love, since it traces the poli-
cies that shaped a corps of individuals within which I served for almost thirty
years, I could not have completed it without the guidance and counsel of a large
number of individuals. In listing those who extended a helping hand, it is my
desire that they share only in the positive things that might accrue from this
manuscript; any shortcomings are my responsibility entirely.
To begin with, Professors Van Perkins, Sarah Stage, and Irwin Wall of the
University of California, Riverside, read and commented on those portions of
the manuscript that served as my dissertation. Although not military historians,
these scholars offered criticisms that significantly improved the book that fin-
ally emerged.
Within the office of Air Force History, where this book was written, the
support and encouragement never faltered. To list the instances where indi-
viduals offered help when I needed it would produce a volume just in itself. On
the management side, Col. John F. Shiner, Col. David Tretler, William Heim-
dahl, and Sheldon Goldberg handled the paperwork that made the archival
materials available and kept me on active duty until my work was complete.
Colleagues who read and commented on draft chapters include Colonel Shiner,
Dr. Daniel Mortensen, Dr. B. F. Cooling, Jacob Neufeld, Dr. Rebecca Cameron,
Maj. John Kreis, Maj. William Borgias, Capt. Kenneth Schaffel, Bernard Nalty,
Dr. George Watson, and Dr. Eduard Mark.
I am especially indebted to Dr. Richard H. Kohn, former Chief of the Office
of Air Force History, for reasons too numerous to list, but most of all because
he gave me a great gift, the opportunity to work with, for, and among scholarly,
intelligent people. The illustration on the cover and dustjacket is an original
painting by Nilo Santiago, a visual information specialist in the Media Services
Flight, 11t h Communication Squadron. And I must not forget those whose con-
tributions were in a more personal context: Catherine and Robert, who perhaps
know too little about their father's professional life, and the one to whom this
book is dedicated.
ix
The Author
Vance 0. Mitchell is a retired Air Force officer whose varied experience
includes airborne reconnaissance, strategic airlift, special operations, and seven
years as an Air Force historian. He also served as an executive officer, resource
manager, and major air command operations staff officer. He holds a doctoral
degree in American History from the University of California, Riverside. Dr.
Mitchell resides in Fairfax, Virginia, with his wife Barbara. This is his first
book.
x
Contents
Forew ord .................................................. vii
Acknow ledgm ents ............................................ ix
Introduction ................................................. 1
Part One: Planning in the Traditional Way, 1944-1953
1. The Initial Planning for a Postwar Officer Corps, 1944-1945 ....... 7
General Arnold Confronts the Problem ....................... 9
Planning Fails to Keep Pace ............................... 13
2. Laying the Foundations for an Officer Corps, 1946-1947 ......... 17
The New Officer Personnel System ......................... 20
Defining the Rated Force ................................. 25
Augmenting the Regular Force ............................ 28
Problems W ith the 70:30 Ratio ............................ 33
3. Erecting and Manning the Structure, 1947-1950 ................ 39
The Officer Personnel Act of 1947 .......................... 40
Realigning the Permanent Rank Structure .................... 43
Problems with Academic Education .......................... 48
Officer Procurement ..................................... 53
4. Resistance and Turbulence, 1948-1950 ....................... 63
Officer Career Management: Resistance and Progress .......... 63
The Experiment in SAC .................................. 67
R & D and Control ...................................... 71
Officer Procurement and the Reserve Forces .................. 74
The Austere Budget of Fiscal Year 1950 ..................... 76
5. Personnel Policies During the Korean War, 1950-1953 .......... 81
Squeezing the Officer Corps for Manpower ................... 83
Partial M obilization ..................................... 85
Problems of Reservists at W ar ............................. 88
The Changed Status of Reserve Officers ..................... 99
The Buildup of the Officer Procurement Programs ............ 102
Part Two: The Era of the Large Peacetime Military, 1954-1973
6. Policy Development in a New Era, 1954-1960 ................ 113
The New Look, Another RIF, and the AFROTC Conversion .... 114
The Decentralized Beginning of Career Management .......... 122
The Buildup of the Regular Officer Force ................... 124
The Founding of the Air Force Academy .................... 130
The Emphasis on Quality ................................ 135
Promotions: the Protracted Crisis Begins .................... 138
xi