Page images
PDF
EPUB

Mrs. BROCKMAN. Cameron Run station.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Cameron Run station, on a Saturday morning, looks like Macy's basement when they are giving things away.

And they just can't handle

Mr. MILLER. I am not talking about Washington. I will cite you a case where an application shifted from Navy Supply Department on back to Alameda back to the Navy Supply Depot and everyone passing the buck until I called up the 12th Naval District Headquarters and after about 3 days this woman whose husband was in Japan and who was in the same position that these people find themselves he is a third-class petty officer-was being shifted about because he had to sign an application in Japan and he hadn't signed it properly or it was lost.

She had all of her identification from other things. I called up 12th District Headquarters and we got some action on it.

But it is a sad commentary to me that an enlisted person, and a petty officer in the Navy, has to go to a Member of Congress to get that card, when the Navy cries its eyes out about getting these things in. And I am not going to accept the reasons that you give at all. I say it is an administrative matter and it could be brought out and could be proven.

Mr. BLANDFORD. I think you are absolutely right on the administrative end of it. My only point is that we have gone through a hassle on the number of commissaries in places where there are no commissary privileges, and in some places where there are, they are so literally swamped that there is undoubtedly a waiting list to get people on

Mr. MILLER. No question about it.

Mr. BLANDFORD. The list so that they can get a commissary card. Mr. MILLER. That is right. I realize that. And I am sympathetic to it and I haven't been critical of it, but I do think that this matter of-we go through and we take a lot of superprecautions, and particularly when a man gets out of this country, when he is not there to do the fighting, maybe a girl is stuck out someplace far from home where she has no friends-and one of these wives-and she is just scared to death of rank. It poses a rather serious problem. I say "scared to death of rank," let us be perfectly frank about it: This girl would never have come to me, that I read out, but that the parent-teachers' association president brought her to me, who I happen to know pretty well.

Mr. KILDAY. Anything further?

Mr. Wilson?

Mr. WILSON. She mentioned, Mr. Chairman, that she had not had any medical care prior to arriving here. I just wondered if your first child was born in a military hospital.

Mrs. BROCKMAN. Yes; she was born a year ago last November at Bethesda.

Mr. ARENDS. But you still do not have dental care available?
Mrs. BROCKMAN. No, sir.

Mr. BENNETT. Is the commissary privilege a really worthwhile privilege to you?

Mrs. BROCKMAN. Well, it did cut down our grocery bill almost $30 a month. But it means very careful budgeting. I only go, usually

twice a month, and it is almost an all-day affair when I do go. It means either getting a baby-sitter or dragging her along and parking her in a nursery.

Mr. BENNETT. How do you think the commissary privilege could be improved as a fringe benefit, outside of the question of red tape, to get you on the list quickly?

Mrs. BROCKMAN. I really couldn't say. I haven't thought too much about it. I appreciate going to the commissary; I enjoy going. I usually buy more than what I would buy at the grocery store because of the prices. It is awfully crowded. But that is something you run into most any place.

Mr. BENNETT. It is cheaper, generally?

Mrs. BROCKMAN. It is cheaper generally; yes.

Mr. KILDAY. Anything further?

(No response.)

Mr. KILDAY. Thank you, Mrs. Brockman. Glad to have you here. M. Sgt. Ben M. Bullard.

Have a seat, Sergeant?

Sergeant BULLARD. Thank you, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. Where are you stationed, please?

Sergeant BULLARD. At Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, sir. Mr. KILDAY. For the record your grade, please?

Sergeant BULLARD. Master sergeant.

Mr. KILDAY. What is your specialty?

Sergeant BULLARD. I am a 43171 maintenance technician, sir.
Mr. KILDAY. How long have you been in the service?

Sergeant BULLARD. Twelve years, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. Are you married?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. Do you have any children?

Sergeant BULLARD. No, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. Where do you live?

Sergeant BULLARD. I live at Andrews Field, sir; I have quarters on the base.

Mr. KILDAY. You have quarters on the base?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. Are you on flying status?

Sergeant BULLARD. Not at the present time; no, sir. I have quit. Mr. KILDAY. I see you are rated too.

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. But you are not on flying status. How long since you were?

Sergeant BULLARD. I quit over a year ago, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. Why?

Sergeant BULLARD. Well, there is just nothing to it any more, I can't fly for $75 a month; it cost me $100 a month to fly.

Mr. WILSON. Why?

Sergeant BULLARD. Well, you just don't get enough money. You get $75. Every time I make a cross country it costs me probably $20, so I just can't make any money.

Mr. ARENDS. How does it?

Sergeant BULLARD. If you go TPA, excuse me, I am getting fouled up here. If I go across country I usually stay at hotels and stuff like that, it costs me money. My per diem just won't make up for it.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Or you may end up on a base where there are say quarters available but no messing facilities or there may be messing facilities and no quarters available?

Sergeant BULLARD. That is right.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Then you have to find a hotel?
Sergeant BULLARD. That is right.

Mr. BLANDFORD. You can't find a hotel at $4 a day or $3.50? Sergeant BULLARD. Especially in Miami or San Francisco or someplace like that.

Mr. BLANFORD. Do you think this per diem increase to $12 may help, plus the increase in flight pay, might change your mind?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir, it will; I will probably go back on flight status then.

Mr. KIIDAY. What is your present duty, sir.

Sergeant BULLARD. I am a training NCO for 230 airmen.

Mr. KILDAY. What are you training them in?

Sergeant BULLARD. Aircraft maintenance.

Mr. KILDAY. How long a course is that?

Sergeant BULLARD. Well, they are never through training, from the time you get in the service until the time you get out you are still training.

Mr. KILDAY. When they come to you at Andrews they have been through a school?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes.

Mr. KILDAY. Where?

Sergeant BULLARD. Most of them to A. & M. Some at Chanute Field.

Mr. KILDAY. You go to technical school first?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. Then it is on-the-job training?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, more or less on-the-job training.
Mr. KILDAY. About how much time do they have in?

Are they in their first enlistment?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir. Usually when I get them they have 22 to 3 years to go. Just about the time I get them trained they are due for discharge.

Mr. KILDAY. What would they be trained as, what are they qualified to do in military or civilian life after they have had this training? Sergeant BULLARD. In any kind of aircraft work, some of them are aircraft mechanics, some are aircraft instrument specialists, electrical specialists, and so forth.

Mr. KILDAY. Engines?

Sergeant BULLARD. Engines. Yes. They don't have any trouble getting a job when they get out.

Mr. KILDAY. Now under this bill, do you know what it will do for you?

Sergeant BULLARD. I feel that this bill might help keep some of these younger airmen in and also some of the older ones that are getting out. I feel that the flying pay increase and the per diem increase and also the increase in pay is going to help a lot. Mr. KILDAY. And the reenlistment bonus?

Sergeant BULLARD. Reenlistment bonus; yes, that did help.

Mr. KILDAY. You think that would serve to hold some of these men? Sergeant BULLARD. It will; yes.

Mr. KILDAY. Out of your 230, are they all in their first enlistment? Sergeant BULLARD. No, sir; I have 21 first master sergeants and 75 technical sergeants, and so forth on down the line.

sir.

Mr. KILDAY. About how many of them are in their first enlistment? Sergeant BULLARD. I would say approximately 80 percent of them,

Mr. KILDAY. And as to these men who don't have much time put in toward retirement toward a career, from your contact with them do you feel that this bill would be an incentive to them to remain on? Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, to most of them it will be.

Mr. KILDAY. What proportion of them have completed their course, or are now rated as air crew?

Sergeant BULLARD. That is an incentive for any airmen coming in the Air Force. I think all of them feel they want to fly, for the glory in it. By the time we get a man trained to be an air crew member, his time for enlistment is up. I believe this increase in flying pay

would hold him.

Mr. KILDAY. So he would get the increase in base pay, increase in hazard and incentive pay, and reenlistment bonus?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. And you feel that the young men that you have that are just serving their first enlistment that you can attract them to stay with the service?

Sergeant BULLARD. That is right, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. Would that reduce this constant training that you are doing?

Sergeant BULLARD. Well, the type of training we are doing out here, sir, doesn't cost-there is no cost to it, the type we train. We just see that a man gets to a skilled level out here. Of course, the schools are pretty expensive.

Mr. KILDAY. He has been through the school and you take him on the job and then you grade him into the flight line?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes.

Mr. KILDAY. Mr. Arends?

Mr. ARENDS. Possibly I am a little ignorant about this. But in view of the fact that you quit flying status because it was costing you money, is that true of practically every other individual?

Sergeant BULLARD. Well, most of your techs and masters just won't fly any more, sir, just not enough money in it. Of course, your younger airmen they all want to get on flying status, so we just turn it over to them.

Mr. ARENDS. Does it cost them money, too?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir; it does.

Mr. ARENDS. But they fly nevertheless?

Sergeant BULLARD. They fly nevertheless. A lot of them it costs nearly their whole pay every month, but they are still flying, until they get tired of it, and then they quit.

Mr. KILDAY. Mr. Blandford.

Mr. BLANDFORD. How many schools have you attended in your 12 years in the Air Force?

Sergeant BULLARD. Let me see, I have been through Air Mechanics School, Engine Specialist School, Instrument Specialist School, Hydraulic Special School, Prop Specialist School, Electronic Turbo

Supercharger School, and I don't know just how many different aircraft factory schools I have been to.

Mr. BLANDFORD. You have about reached the point where the Air Force has a rather sizable investment in you right now?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir; they have.

Mr. BLANDFORD. And you feel that is true of most of the men that are serving under you right now?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir.

Mr. BLANDFORD. You are acting more or less as a supervisor of onthe-job training?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir.

Mr. BLANDFORD. But when you say that the school isn't costing, you mean you are getting some production out of these people, they are actually doing the job?

Sergeant BULLARD. They are doing the job; yes.

Mr. BLANDFORD. And they have all completed the theory and now they are getting the practical application, actually on the line? Sergeant BULLARD. That is right, sir.

Mr. BLANDFORD. Now, this bill in your particular case will give you a $28.39 per month increase in basic pay and in addition to that it will give you an increase of $30 a month in flight pay, and in addition to that will increase per diem from $9 to $12, that is a portion of it depending upon what portion you get when you go off on these trips. So that you feel the combination of those factors would tempt you to go back on flying status?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, it would.

Mr. BLANDFORD. And you think it would also tempt other tech sergeants and master sergeants who are not now on flying status? Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, it will.

Mr. KILDAY. How many permanent changes of station have you had in the 12 years, Sergeant?

Sergeant BULLARD. I would say about 12, sir. I am not sure about that.

Mr. KILDAY. Around 12, though.

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir.

Mr. KILDAY. That is not extraordinary, either, is it?

Sergeant BULLARD. Well, no, sir. A lot of them keep moving pretty quick, I mean especially when you are traveling, getting ready to go overseas, you make 2 or 3 moves all at once.

Mr. WILSON. Mr. Chairman?

I have been impressed very much, Sergeant, with all this training, technical training that you have had. Do you have any idea what you might be able to earn on the outside with all that training?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir. I am speculating on a job right now, sir. [Laughter.]

Mr. WILSON. How much?

Sergeant BULLARD. I will make over $400 a month. I am not sure, I haven't got into the details of it just yet, but I have a discharge coming up in October, and it looks pretty good.

Mr. WILSON. You are looking at it?

Sergeant BULLARD. Yes, sir.

55066-55-No. 6- -28

« PreviousContinue »