#5-113
Memorandum for the President
May 5, 1945 [Washington, D.C.]
SUBJECT: Basis for a Post-War Army.
With reference to our talk on the first of May,1 the outline herewith reflects
the basis of the post-war Army as we now visualize it.
General Assumption:
Universal Military Training
As a corollary, it is accepted that with universal military training our
professional peacetime establishment can be immediately raised in time of
emergency to full strength and reenforced by units drawn from the National
Guard and the Organized Reserve.
General Organization:
The basic pattern of the National Defense Act of 1920 will remain
unchanged; a small professional Army, a National Guard really constituting an
effective first-line reserve and useful to the separate states, and an actually
Organized Reserve which can be made available within a reasonable time. The
plan with respect to universal military training is designed both to fill in the gaps
that existed in the pattern of the National Defense Act and vastly to improve the
quality of the citizen components.
The Regular Army:
The Regular Army will provide qualified personnel for instruction of the
citizen components; supervise universal military training; provide personnel to
formulate tactical and strategical doctrine and concepts; and conduct research
and development of military weapons. In addition, the professional personnel,
assisted in a large measure by reserve personnel on temporary active duty, must
provide those units necessary for our security, but which cannot be maintained
by the citizen forces, such as essential overseas garrisons and our share of the
forces, especially Air units, required to support the proposed world organization.
The National Guard:
The National Guard, as a first-line reserve, will provide units which can
actually be made ready for employment shortly after mobilization so that they can
be deployed with the Regular Army to cover our general mobilization. To
accomplish this, National Guard units should be kept near full strength, be fully
equipped and their ranks composed of highly trained men. A unit should be
complete within a state; it should not be divided between several states as this
divides responsibilities.
State Use of the National Guard:
The need of the states for forces within their borders will mean that
sufficient units of a type useful to a state must be provided.
The National Guard Bureau:
This organization will function substantially as heretofore as the agency of
the War Department in dealing with the States and Territories.
The Organized Reserve:
The Organized Reserve will be capable of furnishing, in time of
emergency, the required number of units effectively organized for rapid
mobilization, expansion, and deployment, and in addition, trained commissioned
and enlisted personnel for necessary replacements and expansion of the Army of
the United States. The Organized Reserve will possess three types of units:
Units Completely Organized:
Such units will be those which it is impracticable to maintain in
the Regular Army or the National Guard, but which are necessary for a
balanced initial force.
Units Partially Organized:
Units partially organized, with their officers and key enlisted
men, which could attain full strength in an emergency by absorbing
graduate trainees from the universal military training program.
Units for which little or no degree of organization is necessary
Officers:
The National Guard and Organized Reserve officers will be obtained from
ROTC or officer candidate schools and from qualified AUS [Army of the United
States] officers of World War II. Officers for the Regular Army will be selected
from those developed in the current war, by the ROTC and officer candidate
system, as well as from the USMA.
ROTC:
This proven system will be the source of the bulk of our new citizen
officers for both the National Guard and the Reserve forces. Material expansion
of the ROTC will be necessary. With universal military training, a two-year
course should suffice, thus opening the way for our larger junior colleges to
maintain units.
Officer Candidate Schools:
A system of officer candidate schools, similar to that tested successfully in
this war, will permit young men unable to take ROTC training an opportunity to
become National Guard and Reserve officers, and eventually for those who
qualify, to become Regular officers.
Enlisted Men:
Enlisted men for the Regular Army and the National Guard will be
obtained in peacetime by voluntary enlistment, but they will have had compulsory
training. Ex-trainees will be assigned to an Organized Reserve unit only if they
volunteer for further training. While a young man might voluntarily elect to
become a member of any of the components, the plan contemplates his
completion of the universal military training program. The completion of universal
military training is the only mandatory requirement and any further training or
enlistment will be on a purely voluntary basis.
Training System:
The war-time organization of the major forces (Air, Ground, and Service
Forces) will remain in the post-war Army. These major forces will be responsible
for the training of units and elements identified as belonging to their respective
forces. In addition, these major forces will supervise training of the National
Guard and Organized Reserve Corps under general supervision of the War
Department. The National Guard will be trained by a system involving periodic
drills and attendance at camps. Wherever practicable, the Organized Reserve
will train by unit. Extensive use of Army schools, with special courses, is
contemplated for National Guard and Organized Reserve personnel with
emphasis on the training of officers, non-commissioned officers, and technicians.
The General Staff Committees:
These Committees as provided in Section 5 of the National Defense Act
which requires that policies and regulations affecting the National Guard will be
prepared by a committee consisting of an equal number of Regular and National
Guard officers, and policies and regulations affecting Organized Reserve
consisting of an equal number of Regular and Reserve officers, will be retained.
The material relating to the National Guard and the Organized Reserve in this
outline was approved for planning on the recommendation of these Committees.
With universal military training, the National Guard and the Organized
Reserve Corps will be able to assume their role on a very much higher plane
than has been possible in the past. The important mission proposed for the
National Guard can be accomplished because its members will be products of a
year of intensive training. This applies with equal force to the Organized
Reserve. Without universal military training, their proposed missions cannot be
accomplished. To gain comparable security, it would be necessary to maintain
permanent forces so large that the cost would be prohibitive. Furthermore, it
would be impossible to maintain such an establishment by voluntary recruiting.
Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, Selected
Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia.
Document Format: Typed memorandum.
1. See Marshall Memorandum for General Tompkins, May 1, 1945, Papers of George Catlett
Marshall, #5-109 [5: 162–63].
Recommended Citation: The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, ed. Larry I. Bland and Sharon
Ritenour Stevens (Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981– ). Electronic
version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 5, “The Finest Soldier,” January 1,
1945–January 7, 1947 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), pp.
165–168.