Policies

ADMINISTRATION

POLICIES

This base was directed to send 50 men to the infantry. Those selected had to conform to certain requirements, mostly negative. They must be under 31 years of age, be physically fit, not wear glasses, not be combat personnel, not be Regular Army, not have enlisted in the Army, and have one of several specified "Spec" numbers. Those chosen included four Sergeants, three Corporals, Three privates First Class, and forty Privates. Contrary to the common impression, only 26 of them were Basics. They departed on January 29. Because a considerable part of these men worked in the Mess Halls, it was deemed necessary to start KP rosters for all men under the rank of Sergeant, beginning with the 832nd squadron. Each man subject to KP is to pull it three days at a time.

Because of the shortage of bombardiers at the present time, only four are flying with each squadron on a mission and there is a bomb sight in each plane that has a bombardier. Other crews have a "Togalier," an enlisted man. It is the policy here, however, that the Navigator on such a crew has the responsibility of dropping the bombs. In effect, then, the togalier is actually a chin turret gunner.

It is hoped that a troublesome problem has been solved in the designation of Lieutenant Colonel Cobb as Commanding Officer of Headquarters personnel. There have been numerous occasions where no one seemed to take responsibility for securing compliance with directives or to provide for various needs of the men. The problem is also complicated by the fact that Headquarters personnel share a site (#6) with the Quartermaster Company, the Chemical Company and the RAF. Thus, there is no unified control of the whole site.

Colonel Cobb started a weekly conference hour on Wednesday evening, with enlisted men invited to bring their problems one week and officers the following week. Not a large number have taken advantage of this privilege but Colonel Cobb feels that the knowledge that they have the opportunity is good for morale. The matters discussed have tended toward personal problems rather than "gripes" about official matters, such as promotions.

A meeting of all ground officers was called on January 18. Colonel Cobb spoke, saying that it was necessary for ground officers to get along well together if the Group were to function properly. He said that a large percentage of them were doing work which they did not like or did not consider important and that he thought that it was very important to overcome a tendency to bicker among themselves, and complain. Major Havens, Air Inspector, also spoke and said that some individuals would have to improve or suffer disciplinary action. Colonel Overing then came into the room and commended the ground officers for the job that they had done since coming to the European Theatre of Operations.

The experiment of requiring all flying personnel to take a sulfa tablet each day in order to check upper respiratory ailments was considered so successful that all personnel have now been directed to take one each day. At first, they were handed out at the serving counter at the noon meal, but it was later changed to the evening meal. It is believed that there is no sizeable amount of opposition to this policy.

Two classes have been started under the I an E programs -- or rather, in advance of it. The first was review Arithmetic, with Staff Sergeant Ballou as instructor. It had about 18 students. The second is Economics, with Lieutenant Charles Hartley in charge. There are about 8 students in this class.

The mess halls are being reorganized and redecorated. It is expected that this will take until the end of February.

The Finance Office a the Base led the Division in the amount of money sent back to the United States.