country. Your level is above the average of the country because the low IQ's are not permitted to enlist or not inducted, the people with the lowest IQ's. So having a group of men who are above the whole level of the country, would not it be an impediment to try to restrict them from going ahead with their educational advancement? Would not it be a deteriment to the country to seek a system that would make it impossible or very difficult for them to obtain higher training?. Colonel RUSH. We feel that we provide educational opportunities in the service for them and we would like them to stay with us, those that are qualified and we provide both enlisted men and officers opportunities for advanced education, both on and off duty in the military system. Senator YARBOROUGH. While we are talking about that inservice educational opportunities, what are the opportunities in the service for advanced training for these men who have the capability of going ahead, very highly intelligent young men with the drive to pursue their technological studies, whether it be in electronics, engineering, or those other fields, because the statistics have shown that military service tends to incline a higher percentage of people who have been in military service into engineering or science fields than would be slanted that way had they not had their military training? Now, what are the in-service opportunities comparable, say, with college degrees? Colonel RUSH. They are almost across the board, both on and off duty. They can take courses of study in a variety of subjects, almost the full spectrum. But they are essentially based on our requirements. In other words, we do not let everybody take physics, nor could we. We want well rounded people. We need business administration people. We need accountants. We need engineers, aeronautical and missile engineers. We need language specialists. And the spectrum is quite wide as to his choice and, of course, his interests. Both on and off duty for airmen and officers. If you would care to have one of the services review the type of training that they afford for either group, officers or airmen, we would be glad to let them answer any specific questions that you had, sir. Senator YARBOROUGH. Directing this question to all the three branches of service, how many enlisted men attained engineering degrees during the fiscal year 1958? First, we will direct it to your branch. How many airmen received engineering degrees? Colonel RUSH. I don't believe we are prepared to answer that question with specific statistics right now. But we could secure them for you. However, let me confer with my colleagues and associates here and see if we are ready. Lieutenant Colonel CARTER. Sir, If I may identify myself, Mr. Chairman, I am Lieutenant Colonel Carter, Department of the Air Force. The only figure I have for you at the present here is the total number of airmen who obtained degrees during the fiscal year 1958. The breakout for the particular types of courses which these airmen took are available but are not present with us here and we shall be glad to furnish those for the record. The number of airmen who actually earned college degrees during this past year was 146 for the Air Force. If you are interested in comparing the airmen opportunity and accomplishment with that of the officers, the officers at 40408-59- -13 tained 612 degrees. Now, may I add that these are in the off-duty program and do not include the number of Air Force personnel who are in colleges to meet what we know as Air Force requirements. Air Force requirements are met in an on-duty program such as the program under the cognizance of the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which in turn is divided into two portions. One is the resident course there at the Institute and I am sure you are familiar with the history of the Wright-Patterson Institute, where technical training is given, principally engineering courses. The other phase of the program is the civilian institution program in which the Institute calls upon colleges and universities for participation under contract to provide the courses of training which lead to the meeting of Air Force requirements. The degrees attained under that program are an end which is outside of the specific purpose of the training. The degree is something which comes along by reason of the man going to the school to get the type of training he needs to meet the Air Force requirement. In the cases of the statistics I have given you on the off-duty program these degrees are earned by the ambition and the energy and the the interest of these young men on their own time, as it were, the time beyond their duty requirements. Does that satisfy your question, sir? Senator YARBOROUGH. I wanted the actual figures on that. So the number is what for fiscal year 1958? Colonel RUSH. 146 enlisted men. Senator YARBOROUGH. 146 airmen who earned degrees, all types? Was that in their off-duty time? None of that was on the Air Force training program? Colonel RUSH. That is right, sir. Lieutenant Colonel CARTER. Now, under the required programs, the Air Force has at this time no training requirements for a degree program for Air Force airmen under the Air Force Institute of Technology. But I would like to call your attention, sir, to a new program which the Air Force is embarking on during the fiscal year 1960. It is officially known as our airman education and commissioning program and you will sometimes hear it referred to as the officer candidate education program, which will take 200 active duty enlisted men each year who have two or fewer years of college work remaining toward the completion of their degree and put them in a college to complete that degree, after which then they will get basic officer training and become commissioned officers in the Air Force. This is a new program which will just begin in fiscal year 1960. Senator YARBOROUGH. Colonel, do you have a breakdown of that 146 degrees as to how many were engineering degrees, that is, do those degrees deal with the technical skills that you say the Air Force most needs and where you are losing men? Lieutenant Colonel CARTER. These are the data which are not with me, sir, which we will furnish for the record. The specific degrees earned by these men. I can make this comment. That we will find few of these degrees in the area of engineering and technical skills. This is a reflection, you see, of the personal interest of these men and these degrees will run the gamut of offerings of colleges and universities in the United States. Senator YARBOROUGH. Is not the type of people that are working toward those degrees, have that ambition and that drive, the type of men you really want to keep? Lieutenant Colonel CARTER. These men who are embarked in our off-duty program are generally the high-caliber men in whom we are interested. Senator YARBOROUGH. You would not want to keep them by denying them the opportunity to get the educational training that would enable them to render the greatest service to the Nation? Lieutenant Colonel CARTER. That is correct, sir. And this is the basic fundamental purpose of our off-duty educational program. It is our desire that our people have an opportunity for continuing their academic educations at whatever level while they are in the service and while they remain with us. Senator YARBOROUGH. Do you have the percentage comparison between the total number of enlisted airmen in fiscal 1958 to the 146 that attained degrees? Could you give us the percentage that this bears to the total number of airmen ? Lieutenant Colonel CARTER. No, sir. I couldn't compute that in my head here. We can again furnish that for the record. Senator YARBOROUGH. And would you then furnish, too, the figures on comparison of number of degrees obtained by the population bracket of comparable age who were not in military service-men only, males only? Lieutenant Colonel CARTER. I am not sure that that type of statistics is available. We will have to approach such agencies as the National Education Association or United States Office of Education to see if we can obtain that and we will do so. Senator YARBOROUGH. Yes. We should get that. We would like to have it for comparative purposes. Lieutenant Colonel CARTER. Yes, sir. May I make one remark? Senator YARBOROUGH. We would like to have it, Colonel Rush, for each of the three services. Colonel RUSH. Yes, sir. Lieutenant Colonel CARTER. If I may add one remark? The number of degrees attained is not, you see, a reflection of the activity, the overall activity in this off-duty education program because the number of individuals in any particular year who would complete a degree would represent a small portion of all of those who are doing college level work. Colonel RUSH. Sir? Senator YARBOROUGH. Yes. Colonel RUSH. Major Lynch of the Department of the Army would like to make a comment, if he may, sir. Senator YARBOROUGH. Yes. Major LYNCH. Not to be outdone by the Air Force, Mr. Chairman, our program, of course, is very similar to the program Colonel Carter described. I do think that one point might be clarified and that is that there is a distinct difference between what the services train against requirements, that is officers or enlisted men earning graduate or baccalaureate degrees to meet some specific requirement in electronics, physics, or something like this as it may exist within the Military Establishment, and what the individual soldier or airman does volun tarily off duty, taking a course proffered by the University of Maryland in Europe or in the Far East or offered by the Florida State University in the Caribbean or the University of Alaska in Alaska. He does this after duty hours, and he can take it in any subject he so desires, of course, dependent upon the availability of professors as offered by that university. On this, of course, the military services, as enabled by the Congress, provide tuition assistance. There are two additional points I would like to make. It would certainly permit the individual soldier or airman to follow a course of study desirable to him and conceivably in line with some civilian professional objective that he might have. And secondly, also, it makes it difficult for the military services to provide statistics as to how many degrees were granted because our students, of course, will take courses at various foreign universities insofar as they can, and Sophia in Tokyo would be a good example where a lot of the military personnel attend that university and received degrees from Sophia. The Army as an individual service has no particular record of those degrees other than as they might appear on the individual's qualification record at a later date. Senator YARBOROUGH. Did you have a statement that you wish to make? Colonel RUSH. The Department of the Navy would like to say a word on this subject, if they may. Lieutenant Commander RICKEY. Mr. Chairman, we have one other program in addition to that which has been outlined by the Army and the Air Force called the Enlisted Advanced School Program, for which the Navy pays. It leads toward an electrical engineering degree and since its start in 1956, we have had 340 enrolled. It is a continuing program, an expanding program. The Navy pays all expenses. (Data subsequently submitted by the Department of Defense follows:) SUPPLEMENTAL DATA CONCERNING ARMY ENLISTED MEN'S EDUCATIONAL Average Active Army strength, fiscal year 1958: 829,729. |