Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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The new army Wedn Nov4 At the Sh 75 Hoi Earne (Editor's note: This column was *ritten by Maj. Gen. William S. Coleman, the Fort Jackson commanding general.) The Modern Volunteer Army Program-the "new Army"- is a comprehensive effort directed toward building a better Army while, at the same time, reducing the Army's reliance upon the draft. When President Nixon set the achievement of a volunteer Armed Force as a national objective, and the Secretary of Defense set a target date of July 1, 1973, many plans for improvements and change, already formulated in the Army, received added focus and impetus. OF| South ( By... esday, 10 Ca mpus op urs Must' d to Qual ALSO Rings aval At the heart of the Modern Volunteer Army Program is an effort to strengthen the Army as a institution, to make it better. We can do this by strengthening professionalism in the Army, by providing positive incentives to service and attracting the best of American youth and by improving Army life to reduce the source of dissatisfaction and eliminating, wherever possible, those irritants that have plagued the soldier in the past. The result will be a finer Army, one that has as its underlying principles improved professional competence, willing self-discipline and enhanced dignity for the in FICHi .aro ina John Rob Be lable in stock dividual. Such an Army will be able to meet the country's national security needs and attract motivated, qualified volunteers. Ft. Jackson is participating actively in the Modern Volunteer Army Program as' a . "VOLAR Post." VOLAR (Volunteer Army) is an Army experiment begun at 13 posts in the United States aimed at developing approaches ind procedures which will be con sidered for adoption Army-wide under the Modern Volunteer Army Program. VOLAR is only the experimental portion of the far-reaching Modern Volunteer Army Program, but some of the VOLAR projects that L 9ngs erts Tues No 8-5 0LUDEl OU Slg, have already been implemented at Ft. Jackson include the hiring of civilian KPs for permanent party mess halls; the purchase of fur niture and furnishings for ayrooms and barracks, and the iring of new civilian workers to 'nake Army life more pleasant for the soldier, and to reduce the number of non-essential, non military duties the soldier must perform. Essentially, what the Modern Volunteer Army Program--the "new Army"-is all about is im provement. The Modern Volunteer Army will be better for our country and better for the soldiers who serve our country. day, v. 9 p.m.