European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 12, 1969, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 8 the stars and stripes Ira c. Eaker sunday january 12, 1969 military faces big Power the Basic fundamental elem its in National Security Are leadership manpower and weapons. The incredible complexity which Modem technology hos brought to new weapons Servos to emphasize the essentiality of highly competent military Man Power. The prime requirements for military manpower or professional competence and High morale. There has been much Specula Hon of lot about the prospects for the new weapons Long recommended by military leaders and about the comparative . And .s.r. Weapons strength. Manpower requirements and availability have not yet received the attention their importance de serves and demands. There Are Many indications that we face serious and grow. Ing problems in the manpower area. The military career is no longer competitive with civil lift to does not attract enough Amer ican youths of needed qualifications. Applications to the three Mili tary academies Are a the lowest rate Ever. The rate of resignations and retirements of of Tutti officers is higher than at any time. Mot than 6,000 pilots submitted Resig nations last Yean to was hot of avoid Vietnam serve. They had completed their Vietnam Tours or they would been permitted to resign. Most of them joined the civil airlines at salaries much higher than their military pay. The High resignation and Early retirement rate is an evidence of Tow morale. When i asked a promising Young lieutenant colonel the reason he was re signing he sold i want to re gain my Dpi Enship. I was sur prised when the Secretary of de sense required military men. To submit their speeches and writing to the Pentagon for censorship. But what really Shook me was that no one Sieme to care when we were deprived by executive order of the privileges Qew Tufa Teflon of first free speech the officer grave Man in our defense rate of or than at any time since the korean War. Skilled technicians who fail to reenlist am always asked their reasons. There is a remarkable similarity in their responses. The following is typical i can do better in a Lllan life in the military there is no Reward for the additional Hazard and no recompense far the Long family it is encouraging that Resi sent elect Nixon has stated publicly the need for professional military manpower to replace the T l _ Arabi Oetz obvious Jet Lon to ilk Many and 1bm main obd it is that it -i1"" War Morrw p v Iff does not provide the. Need a kills and vex Etfer for mod. Jim Arma prof Ilo Tim Kivow w we inc i should Man the weapons which keep the peace. They provide a More cred of deterrent Force. Our citizens have elected a new commander in chief who hot selected new management for the Pentagon. May they now restore our men in uniform to full citizenship make the Mil. Tary career attractive to the Best of our youth and thus provide jute heeded professional military manpower. C 1��. of tur corp. Racial pied Piper of Wise Guy take a Good look Roy Wilkins misunderstanding and mis information plague the relations Between White and Black americans and it is often difficult to determine which race s Misin formation is the More absurd the More dangerous to racial peace and Progress. White people because they have Access to facts if they choose to search for them and can face the seem to be More at fault than misinformed negroes. Most of the latter never had the Opportunity nor the time being Busy with dodging snares and beating against Walls of secure or to Analyse information about White people. So cliches grew up. It is easier to Brand negroes As Lazy or criminal or ignorant than to re remember that an entire racial group cannot be indicted. It is handier and re quires no thought for Blacks to Brand Whites As devils or to invest them with centuries old cleverness that few of them possess than to Analyse the White world. All persons who express them selves in print receive letters. But a Christmas time letter from an Eastern Seaboard City illustrates perfectly that if the nation is to grapple sympathetically and just by with the racial crisis some Basic knowledge must become More widespread. After referring to the Lack of morale ? among Young peo ple including especially Young negroes the writer observes i wonder if you will admit that you Are one of those responsible Foi this condition i wonder if you know How much you have contributed to this state of affairs. Many like you Are responsible for the retardation of the negro race in this coun try. For their reverting to the Jungle for snatching one out of the Clouds there i nothing like a bit of Clear thinking advanced by thin correspondent. He has wiped from his mind All outbreaks by White youths in White countries around the world. Forgotten is the fact that paving Brick attacks and French student mob scenes came within a hair of toppling the de Gaulle government. For gotten is the behaviour of White students on Many american campuses. Only Black youth has reverted to the Jungle dancing downward to pied Piper Wilkins and As sorted others. White America cannot Hope to do anything innovative and constructive about our dangerous racial tensions if it conjures up negro scapegoats. Youth is not made docile by the glossing Over of evil. The nation has this problem up front and Center today precisely because it has condoned inequality which is worse than mistreatment for generations and because it has used Teaspoons of Salve when it should have used surgery. The Black minority is Correct and human in expressing loudly and persistently its impatience and its demand for a fresh Register and Tribune Syndicate. Inc. My a a a Fer a. Vietnam tipped balance against lbs there is always a sadness about men who leave Power reluctantly but in the Case of Lyn Don Johnson & co. There is a double sadness because so much of what they did was on the credit Side of the balance Sheet of history and the one big debit item of the Vietnam mess tipped the whole balance the wrong Way. Unjust it May Well be. But while the historian owes Justice to his subjects history itself in the sense of the consequences that follow from events in t concerned with jus Max Lerner thing making final reports to Congress and the people. But his favors no longer carry any re wards his frowns no sting his threats no muscle. He is in that curious limbo where he still formally retains a Power he can neither relinquish nor exercise. Alfred Tennyson s remark to Queen Victoria in the years of her widowhood you Are so alone on that terrible height applies to every american presi Dent. There Are some who talk of the Vietnam decisions As having been made by a Warrior caste or a Security Complex but who Ever May have influenced him Lyndon Johnson carries the responsibility for those decisions As he does for the others that come out much better. He had to Moke ail of them alone on that Ter Rible his assistant for Security affairs Walt Rostow takes another tack in defending the Vietnam policy. He argues against the Stream of opinion that military containment was the right policy but came Loo late and that Amer Ica should have used its military strength for a showdown with North Vietnam As Early As 1962, when Hanoi breached the agree ment Over Laos. I am afraid it won t Wash. Restow wring is hands Over _ of of difficulty of conducting for View of the Star and strip it of it Tifin policy in o democracy which x a . A. Come severe and he is right in that judgment of democracy. But he is wrong in arguing that America should have committed itself to a massive vietnamese War much earlier than it did. There Are other ways of keeping the crises from turning into wars impossible to wage and it is to Lyndon Johnson s credit that he has been exploring such ways in every situation since Vietnam. Every president should take to heart Charles e. Merriam s words about Power and violence Power is not strongest when it uses violence but it is strongest he continues when it uses the instruments of allure ment of participation rather than of exclusion of education rather than of annihilation. Rape is not an evidence of irresistible Power in politics or in c 1h9, to Ano time Tice. The moving Finger of history makes its Mark fair or unfair and moves on. Decades later the historian equipped with Hind sight tries to set the judgment straight. He will say in 1900, i suspect that while Lyndon John son was not As Good As his self image he was a far better presi Dent than we now judge him. But for practical purposes it will be too late. A departing president s lost melancholy duties Are House keeping chores tidying up every the opinion xprt4l Iii the columns in cartoon in their or fifth of u author Sitf a in my a to by no
