while students, their discharges 

 would occur in accordance with the 

 already established rating scale. It 

 would not do to propose that such 

 a plan should be done on a volunteer 

 basis — that is, that personnel ol" the 

 Army and Navy should request 

 orders to duty as students. It would 

 not do because many of the best of 

 them probably would elect to remain 

 in the armed services, inspired by 

 feelings that they would not wish to 

 be put in the position of seeming to 

 shirk their full patriotic duty. 



Our recommendation is empha- 

 sized in the cases of men whose scien- 

 tific training was well started before 

 their induction, the more so the 

 further that training had advanced. 

 It is important to remember that the 

 induction of many students in the 

 critical science and technological 

 fields was delayed and that under 

 actual demobilizing plans they will 

 consequently be among the last to 

 return to civil life. A way must be 

 found to insure the quick resumption 

 of their training, composing, as they 

 do, the recognized "premium crop" 

 of science and technology. 



The future of our country in peace 

 and war depends on that premium 

 crop. 



3. The Importance of Quality of 

 Instruction in ''''Army Universi- 

 ties^- Abroad 



The Army has made plans for set- 

 ting up in foreign countries, when 

 and where the military situation per- 

 mits, courses of study for soldiers, 

 including courses in science and tech- 

 nology. These plans are all to the 

 good. The further important thing 

 to ensure is that the courses shall be 

 the best and most up-to-date that can 

 be given, and shall include adequate 

 laboratory work. You stated the issue 



in your letter of November 19, 1944, 



to General Frederick H. Osborn: 



There have been in this country, by 

 reason of war research, advances which 

 will gradually permeate our entire indus- 

 trial, scientific, and technical structure. 

 Are the metallurgists now in the Army to 

 return and find that they have studied 

 alloys that are out-of-date? Are mechani- 

 cal engineers to find that advanced think- 

 ing on gas turbines has outpaced those 

 who have been at the front, and the new 

 knowledge has not been extended to 

 them? Are the large number of medical 

 men in the field to have no direct contact 

 until they return with those who have 

 made more advance in medical research in 

 the last few years than usually occurs in 

 a decade? 



It must be ensured that these ques- 

 tions can be answered in the nega- 

 tive. The Armed Forces Institute 

 must be prepared with instruction 

 that is wholly up-to-date in its higher 

 levels; but the fact of the matter re- 

 mains that since the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology, the Cali- 

 fornia Institute of Technology, the 

 Ryerson Laboratory of the University 

 of Chicago, and others, cannot be 

 moved abroad, the plan for Army 

 universities must be supplemented by 

 what we have suggested in our first 

 proposal above. 



The Committee emphasizes that 

 for men of scientific promise and 

 abihty there is special need that the 

 Armed Forces Institute have its in- 

 struction modern, up-to-date, and of 

 the best effectiveness. It is clear that 

 there is a vast opportunity in this 

 program for strengthening the tech- 

 nical work of the country by inte- 

 grating the training given to soldiers 

 possessing technical proficiencies with 

 problems of modern industry and 

 technology, especially for men who 

 do not plan to go on to advanced 

 scientific training. So far as possible, 

 the universities and technical schools 

 of the country doubtless would stand 



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