Naval Officers Wanted

While the Army has indicated what kind of a postwar military establishment it would like to have (TIME, Nov. 20), the Navy has kept a cautious silence. Last week a hint of Navy hopes came out. Navy Secretary Forrestal announced that a board of naval officers would try to figure out how a sizable portion of the 226,050 reserve officers now serving can be induced to stay on as professionals after the war.

The Navy expected to have such a whopping outfit that its 55,000 regular officers would not be nearly enough to go around. Part of the job of the 20-man board (13 of whom are reservists) was to convince the best of the reserve officers that the Navy offered them a good future ; that they would not be handicapped be cause they were not Annapolis graduates.

On that score evidence already existed, especially in the air branch, that the Navy meant what it said. The Navy's roster listed many a naval air reservist of captain's rank. Two former aviation reservists who stayed in after the last war were al ready respected flag officers: Rear Admiral George Henderson, Rear Admiral Alfred M. Pride.

So far few young reservists had shown any enthusiasm over staying in uniform after World War II. Navy officials hoped that they might still change their minds, banked on the fact that many a young reservist with no other specialized schooling than what he had had from the Navy would conclude that his best chance for the future lay in a naval career.

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