With divisions in the Gyroscope program conducting individual training, the Department of the Army reduced the number of training centers. By 1 July 1955 only seven major training centers remained, of which five were operated by divisions. The continued use of divisional names for the centers, however, was being questioned. Lt. Gen. Walter L. Weibir, the G–1, wanted to change the centers' names to reflect their missions more accurately. For some time the divisional designations had confused the general public, government officials, and the trainees. In the spring of 1956 the Army thus inactivated the 6th and 69th Infantry Divisions and 5th and 6th Armored Divisions and reassigned the 101st Airborne Division as a test unit. Branch replacement centers replaced the training divisions. For example, the organization at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, became the U.S. Army Training Center, Field Artillery.[1]
The savings that resulted from the revised tables of organization, modifications in the replacement system, and a reduction in the training base did not equal the required cuts in Army strength. The Army was therefore unable to maintain twenty Regular Army divisions. Further reductions required the commanders of United States Army, Caribbean, and Sixth Army to inactivate the 23d and 71st Infantry Divisions in 1956. Some of their elements, however, continued to serve in the active force.[2]
Improving the Reserves
The structure of the reserve components came under close scrutiny during the Korean War. By then military leaders had decided the large undermanned force of fifty-two divisions developed after World War II was unrealistic. On 24 October 1950 the chief of staff directed a committee to reevaluate the reserve structure and develop plans to meet both limited and major mobilizations. Six months later, before the decision to mobilize 20 divisions due to the Korean War, the committee reported that the Army needed 18 divisions on active duty—12 Regular Army and 6 National Guard—and 33 reserve divisions to back them up. The latter divisions fell into two categories for mobilization, an early ready force of 9 divisions from the National Guard and a late ready force of 24 divisions with 12 from the Guard and 12 from the Organized Reserve Corps. The units in the National Guard were to be maintained at 100 percent officer and 50 percent enlisted strength, while those in the Organized Reserve Corps were to have 100 percent of their officers but only an enlisted cadre. The committee decided that the remaining thirteen Organized Reserve Corps divisions were unnecessary and recommended their immediate inactivation.[3]
During the summer and fall of 1951 the six army commanders in the United States, staff agencies, and the Section V Committee, created after World War I for the reserve components to have a voice in their affairs, evaluated the plan. The army commanders urged that all divisions in the Organized Reserve Corps be infantry divisions because they believed that the reserves could not adequately
- ↑ Coakley et al., "Demobilization," pp. 72–80; U.S. Congress, Senate, Eleventh Report of the Preparedness Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services of the United States Senate under the Authority of S.Res. 18, 82d Cong., 1st Sess., Apr 1951; SS, G–1 for CofS, sub: Training Center Designations, 15 Dec 55, SS, DCSPER for CofS, same subject, 27 Jan 56, DCSPER S 323, and DOD News Release No. 152–56, sub; Army to Stop Using Division Designations to Identify Training Divisions. 23 Feb 56, all Division General file, DAMH-HSO; also see unit files of the 101st Abn, 6th and 9th Inf, and 5th and 6th Armd Divs, DAMH-HSO.
- ↑ Ltr, TAG to CG, U.S. Army, Caribbean, 1 Mar 56, sub: Change in Status of Certain Units, AGAO-O (M) 322 (10 Feb 56) DCSPER, 23d Inf Div file, and Ltr, TAG to CGs, CONARC and Sixth Army, 6 Sep 56, same subject, AGAO-O 322 (9 Aug 56) DCSPER, 71st Inf Div file, DAMH-HSO.
- ↑ Memo, G–1 for G–3, 24 Oct 50, sub: Development of Army's Position in a Complete Review of Civilian Components Structure, G–1 326 (24 Oct 50), and SS, G–3 for CofS, 5 Apr 51, sub; Development of Army Position in a Complete Review of Civilian Components Structure, G–3 326 (24 Oct 50), both Army Reserve file, DAMH-HSO.
