Word: problems
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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Reagan will continue to do some pre-convention campaigning, partly to prevent the Democrats from getting all the publicity, partly to cement party unity; he is addressing a series of dinners aimed at raising money to pay off the campaign debts of his beaten rivals. But his main problem is choosing a vice-presidential running mate. The two obvious candidates, Bush and Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker, both have drawbacks: Bush is considered a weak campaigner by some Reaganites, and Baker is vigorously opposed by fervent conservatives displeased by his votes to provide federal financing for poor women...
...Pentagon is handicapped by shortages of sufficiently skilled and disciplined personnel in all ranks. A House Armed Services Committee report this spring charged that the U.S. now fields "a force with deficient military credibility." And Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman David C. Jones admits that "our No. 1 readiness problem is people, the availability of trained people." These views were echoed strongly at a TIME seminar on the alarming status of American military manpower (see following story...
...problem is not raw numbers. At the end of March, the midpoint in fiscal 1980, the four services had 2,032,000 men and women volunteers in uniform, 96% of the Pentagon's objective. Even more encouraging have been the recruiting results for the first half of the fiscal year; the Pentagon achieved 99% of its goals, compared with 91% last year...
...Navy's problem may be the most severe of all: it is short 21,000 experienced petty officers. In particular, the Navy needs good men for key supervisory jobs, such as boiler technician, machinist's mate and aviation bosun's mate. Notes a senior Navy official: "We're hurting for the kind of people we need most: aviators and nuclear-trained officers. They're bright and have had rigorous training. The civilian nuclear industry just gobbles them up, along with other engineering types, as fast as we can manufacture them." Example: last year the Navy had 138 nuclear-qualified petty...
...proposed solution to the manpower problem is to attempt to attract bright, college-bound enlistees by restoring some of the generous educational benefits of the old G.I. Bill. Several versions of such a measure are now before Congress. Army Chief of Staff Edward C. Meyer argues that such benefits should be transferable to the children of those now serving in the AVF. General Meyer believes this would induce many experienced NCOS and officers who were family men to stay in uniform...