Word: umt
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Currently the Senate Armed Services Committee is considering a UMT bill sponsored by Senator Leverett Saltonstall (Rep.-Mass.) requiring all eligible males 18 years of age to undergo a six months training period, and then serve as reservists for seven and a half years. During the 82nd Congress, a similar bill passed in the Senate, but was defeated in the House. This time, Saltonstall has altered his bill in several minor ways to pacify House members: the term of training has been increased from four to six months, and the UMT trainees will wear different uniforms and insignia to distinguish...
...bill's chances for success depend on two men. One, of course, is President Eisenhower; the other is the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Dewey Short (Rep.-Mo). If Eisenhower endorses UMT as such (which is doubtful), Saltonstall expects little opposition in Congress to the bill. Short has consistently disapproved of many facets of UMT, and as House Armed Services Chairman could easily salt-tail the measure...
...vague sort of way, both Short and Eisenhower agree on one thing: UMT cannot be instituted while the Selective Service program is functioning. Apparently they expect the draft to come to an absolute halt, with UMT beginning on its own at some later date, but neither has outlined any plan for the period between the transition, a period which could present innumerable problems. During the campaign, Eisenhower said he favored establishment of a commission to solve these problems, but since dozens of committees have presented dozens of solutions, it is doubtful whether another would come up with anything...
...UMT bill should pass, it will take at least a year to get started; during the first several years of operation, it will have to continue some student exemptions, otherwise there will just be no students for six months. But after this initial period, the cycle of high school-service-college would theoretically be uninterrupted...
Although Eisenhower will probably grant the Selective Service division permission to squeeze out some of the deferred, particularly fathers, college exemptions will continue--until the distant and presently doubtful day of UMT...