2. The Allotment Branch or Central Clearing Office
of the Committee in Washington received reports on the numbers of skilled tradesmen found in each contingent of the draft, received and consolidated requisitions from the Staff Corps for specialists, and prorated these requisitions among the various camps according to their supply of necessary skilled men. On November 11, requisitions for roughly 600,000 men of designated qualifications had been filled here. Information was available at any moment for the Operations Division of the General Staff concerning the occupational qualifications of all the men in the several depot brigades, Army vocational schools, and similar sources of supply.
3. Trade Specifications and Index of Occupations:
Definitions of the many hundred different trades needed in our military establishment were prepared after exhaustive study, and were brought together in a book, "Army Trade Specifications." This index is an indispensable reference for Staff Corps and camp personnel officers in securing the skilled personnel needed.
4. Tables of Occupational Needs and Personnel Specifications:
Tables were prepared showing in detail the needs for skilled workers in each sort of platoon, company, regiment or other unit. These tables were studied, criticised, and approved by Army units at the front in France, and later formed the basis for organizing quickly the newest divisions. Out of these Occupational Tables have developed the Personnel Specifications which have now been completed for the enlisted personnel of four hundred different kinds of organizations.
5. Trade Tests:
To increase the accuracy of selecting skilled workers among the enlisted men, a system of practical trade tests was devised, standardized and installed in twenty camps. At the time of the armistice about 130,000 men who claimed occupational skill had been trade tested.
6. Personnel Work for Officers:
Qualification Cards for officers, furnishing a record of occupational, educational and military experience and a rating by superior officers, were developed and put into use throughout the Army. These cards are filed in Washington, and duplicates filed in the custody of the Division Commanders for their own use in assigning their officers.
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