ranks (for retainer pay purposes) as a confirmed officer; i. e., the period between the date the board in fact found him qualified for confirmation and the date of the execution, during his enrollment in which found qualified, of his commission of confirmation, notwithstanding said enrollment may have expired before his receipt of the confirmed commission;

Full time for active duty performed as commissioned officers of the Medical Reserve Corps of the Army or of the Navy from date of acceptance of commission until date of revocation thereof or abolition of such respective corps if the commission remained in effect until that event, and one-half time for all other periods during which such officers held commissions in such respective Medical Reserve Corps.

Comptroller General McCarl to the Secretary of the Navy, May 22, 1923:

I have your request of December 7, 1922, for decision of certain questions which arise as to the service which may be counted by commissioned officers of the Naval Reserve Force in computing increase in pay for longevity under section 3 of the act of June 10, 1922, 42 Stat., 627, which provides:

That when officers of the National Guard or of the reserve forces of any of the services mentioned in the title of this act are authorized by law to receive Federal pay, those serving in grades corresponding to those of colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, captain, first lieutenant, and second lieutenant of the Army shall receive the pay of the sixth, fifth, fourth, third, second, and first periods, respectively. In computing the increase of pay for each period of three years' service, such officers shall be credited with full time for all periods during which they have held commissions as officers of any of the services mentioned in the title of this Act, or in the Organized Militia prior to July 1, 1916, or in the National Guard, or in the Naval Militia, or in the National Naval Volunteers, or in the Naval Reserve Force or Marine Corps Reserve Force, when confirmed in grade and qualified for all general service, with full time for all periods during which they have performed active duty under reserve commissions, and with one-half time for all other periods during which they have held reserve commissions.

The increase of pay for each period of three years' service is provided for in section 1 of the act of June 10, 1922, 42 Stat. 626:

Every officer paid under the provisions of this section shall receive an increase of 5 per centum of the base pay of his period for each three years of service up to thirty years: Provided, That the base pay plus pay for length of service of no officer below the grade of * captain of the Navy, or corresponding grade, shall exceed $5,750.

Your questions are answered in the order submitted:

(a) May full time be allowed for all periods of service performed under a reserve commission while on active duty for training, in a provisional status?

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The act authorizes the counting of "full time" for officers of the reserve forces" when "authorized by law to receive Federal pay" for

all periods during which they have held commissions in the Naval Reserve Force or Marine Corps Reserve Force, when confirmed in grade and qualified for all general service, with full time for all periods during which they have performed active duty under reserve commissions, and with one-half time for all other periods during which they have held reserve commissions.

The act of August 29, 1916, 39 Stat., 587, prescribes three kinds of duty which are termed "active duty," viz, (1) in time of war or

during the existence of a national emergency, (2) periods of training for qualification and confirmation, and (3) periods for maintenance of efficiency after confirmation. To this the act of July 1, 1918, 40 Stat., 711, adds periods of duty afloat in time of peace. Of these four kinds the periods of training for qualification and confirmation and for maintenance of efficiency after confirmation are purely training duties and for which the law authorizes active duty Fed

eral pay.

Question (a) is answered that a reserve officer is entitled to count as “full time" all periods during which in an active duty pay status for training while holding a provisional commission.

(b) May full time be allowed for all periods of active duty performed under a reserve commission during the interval between the date of expiration of one enrollment in the Naval Reserve Force and the date of reenrollment in that organization?

An enrolled officer of the Naval Reserve Force, whether provisional or confirmed, has obligated himself to serve in the Navy "in time of war or during the existence of a national emergency, declared by the President," and a confirmed enrolled officer has obligated himself to perform any duty afloat" for any period of time for which his services may be required," if ordered by the Secre tary of the Navy to perform it and he consents so to do. Acts of August 29, 1916, 39 Stat. 587, 588; July 1, 1918, 40 id., 711; and June 4, 1920, 41 id., 834. It has accordingly been held that when these officers are on such active duty at the expiration date of the four-year period of their enrollment and are continued in its performance thereafter for short intervals prior to reenrollment that the service subsequent to the expiration of the four-year enrollment period was service under and as a part of said enrollment notwithstanding its exact date may have theretofore elapsed. 26 Comp. Dec., 900; 2 MS. Comp. Gen., 506, October 12, 1921; 1 id., 716, September 1, 1921; 1 Comp. Gen., 383.

Question (b) is accordingly answered that enrolled officers, whether provisional or confirmed, may count as "full time" active duty they have performed in war or emergency declared by the President either as provisional or confirmed officers for period they have been continued on active duty by proper authority following the expiration date of their four-year enrollment and preceding their discharge or disenrollment therefrom and subsequent to reenrollment, and enrolled confirmed officers may count as "full time" active duty similarly performed in time of peace. See in this connection Bennett v. United States, 19 Ct. Cl. 379, 380.

(c) May full time be allowed for all periods of commissioned service in an inactive duty status in the Naval Reserve Force while confirmed in the grade

and qualified for all general service from the date upon which the board re ported upon the officer's qualification for confirmation under the following circumstances:

When an officer of the Naval Reserve Force, while holding a provisional commission, is found qualified by an examining board for confirmation in rank and pursuant to such finding is, on a later date during his current enrollment, issued a confirmed commission effective from the date on which the examining board reported the officer qualified for a confirmed rank?

The date on which the officer qualified and the date to which he in fact takes retroactive confirmed rank for retainer pay purposes is the date he established his qualification for the confirmation before the last examining board before which he appeared during said enrollment for the purpose, as evidenced by the date that board in fact found him thus qualified-provided he on that date had performed the requisite sea duty, and otherwise at such later date of rendering the required sea service. See in this connection 2 Comp. Gen., 278; 2 id., 428. Also 26 Comp. Dec., 668.

Notwithstanding, however, he, when confirmed thus retroactively, ranks as confirmed, the service in fact rendered by him in the interim between the dates of his establishment of such qualification and actual confirmation by commission is rendered as a provisional officer.

Question (c) is answered that for any part of the period antedating the consummation of the confirmation for which an officer confirmed in grade and qualified for all general service retroactively ranks as a confirmed officer and during which he in fact has served as a provisional officer "full time" for active duty will be allowed and "one-half" for inactive duty. 14 Comp. Dec., 380.

(d) Under the circumstances outlined in (c) above, in cases where an officer's provisional enrollment has expired prior to receipt by him of the confirmed commission, may full time be counted from the date of such qualification to the date of expiration of his enrollment?

The statutes do not define of what the confirmation of a provisional officer in his grade shall consist, thus leaving to the administrative authorities the establishment of the procedure for the purpose. The statutes do, however, require that members of the Naval Reserve Force "appointed to commissioned grades shall be commissioned by the President alone." Act of August 29, 1916, 39 Stat., 587.

The practice as to these appointments to commissioned grades in the Naval Reserve Force appears to have been for an appointment to a provisional grade to issue in the form of a short commission, signed by the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation or on his behalf, for an oath to be administered, and later, following the qualification of the officer for confirmation in his provisional grade and for the

purpose of the accomplishment or consummation of the confirmation itself, for a second appointment in the form of a larger and more elaborate commission to the grade to issue, signed "By the President," per the Secretary of the Navy, for this later commission to be forwarded to the officer, and for the officer upon its receipt to execute an oath of office and a formal acceptance and to forward the same to the department.

The answer to question (d) involves, therefore, the determination of whether the confirmation is accomplished and complete upon the date of the execution of this second commission, the acceptance by the officer of the confirmed grade being presumed and implied from said date, or from the later date of the execution of the oath and formal acceptance by the officer following his receipt of the commission of confirmation.

After careful consideration of the matter it is concluded that the acceptance of the formal commission of confirmation may be presumed and implied as of and from the actual date of its execution, as has occurred in the cases of promoted regular officers, at least, in the absence of evidence counteracting such implied acceptance. See 15 Comp. Dec. 64; 22 id., 518.

Question (d) is accordingly answered that under the circumstances outlined in (c) the date from which the officer may retroactively rank as confirmed for retainer pay purposes is the date of the actual execution of his confirmed appointment in the form of the commission issued for the purpose, as distinguished from the date of the officer's receipt of said commission, provided said commission be in fact executed prior to the separation of the officer from the enrollment in which serving when he qualifies for said confirmation, and that for the retroactive period of confirmed rank for retainer pay purposes intervening between date of his establishment of his qualification for the confirmation and the consummation of the confirmation by the execution of his commission of confirmation during which the officer has in fact served as a provisional officer, "full time" for active duty will be counted and "one-half" for inactive duty, and for time served in said enrollment on and after the date of the execution of the commission of confirmation (as distinguished from date of retroactive rank appearing in it) "full time" may be counted for either active or inactive duty.

(e) May full time be allowed for all periods of active duty while holding commission in the Medical Reserve Corps of the Army and in the Medical Reserve Corps of the Navy, with one-half time for all other periods during which a commission was held in either of these organizations?

The provision of section 3, "with full time for all periods during which they have performed active duty under reserve commissions,

and with one-half time for all other periods during which they have held reserve commissions" has equal application to officers of "the reserve forces of any of the services mentioned in the title of this act." The services mentioned in the title of the act of June 10, 1922, are the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Public Health Service.

The Medical Reserve Corps of the Army established by the act of April 23, 1908, 35 Stat., 66, and the Medical Reserve Corps of the Navy, established by the act of August 22, 1912, 37 Stat. 344, each constituted a part of the Medical Department of the respective services, the officers holding office under commission.

Question (e) is answered that from date of acceptance of commission to date of revocation thereof or until abolition of the respective Medical Reserve Corps in the event the commission remained in effect until that event "full time" may be counted by officers of the Naval Reserve Force for all periods of active duty performed as commissioned officers of the respective Medical Reserve Corps and "one-half time" for all other periods during which such officers held commissioned grades in said Medical Reserve Corps.

NATIONAL GUARD DRILL PAY.

Drills of a portion of a National Guard Company independently of the or ganization as a whole are not drills for which the enlisted men so drilling are entitled to drill pay, nor can the enlisted men so drilling be counted as present at the drills of their organization held at the same time but at a different place when computing the proportion of the enlisted strength present at prescribed drills to determine the right of the officers to pay. Comptroller General McCarl to Lieut. Col. Samuel B. McIntyre, United States Army, May 23, 1923:

There has been received by your sixth indorsement of April 3, 1923, with request for decision, pay roll for armory drill for Company A, One hundred and thirty-second Engineers, Pennsylvania National Guard, for the quarter ended December 31, 1922.

The company was organized at, and its company rendezvous or home station is Altoona, but it appears that the quarter involved some of the enlisted men of the company who reside at Williamsburg attended only one drill of the company at Altoona, meeting together and drilling at Williamsburg on the other dates for the ordered and prescribed drills of the company. Two questions are presented: (1) Whether the officers of the company who attended drills only at Altoona are entitled to pay; that is, whether the Williamsburg contingent shall be included in, or excluded from, the enlisted strength of the company in determining whether 60