For Enlisted Men Only

ARMY & NAVY

On V-E day Pfc. Vincent Rizzitello, a small, wiry, 26-year-old combat infantryman from Newark, N.J., was at Fort Dix, a replacement center near Trenton, N.J. What victory in Europe mostly meant to him was that he would probably be seeing something of the Pacific.

Pfc. Rizzitello had fought in Africa, Sicily, Italy and France. He wore a Purple Heart, a Presidential unit citation (the 3rd Division's), battle stars for six campaigns. On his furlough to the U.S. this spring he had taken a wife; he had made his farewell the day he went to Dix to get on with the war.

On V-E plus four, Pfc. Rizzitello got a series of pleasant surprises. A Fort Dix clerk had figured Rizzitello's discharge credits under the Army's scoring plan announced last week. Infantryman Rizzitello had been in the Army 56 months--that was 56 points; he had been overseas 32 months--that was 32 more; he had 40 points for his battle stars and decorations. He had a total of 128 points and he had won discharge from the service.

Pfc. Rizzitello collected his mustering-out pay, turned in all his gear except one complete uniform. Finally he stood before a colonel who handed him a paper, shook his hand, said: "Good luck, Rizzitello." Mr. Rizzitello blinked, said "Thank you, sir," out of long habit, made a snappy salute and went home to his bride, a suit of civvies, and his plans to "get into the chicken business."

Top Secret. Mr. Rizzitello and some 2,500 other combat veterans who were in the U.S. on furloughs from the Pacific and European theaters were the lucky ones who caught demobilization on the first R-day. They were the easiest cases in the Army's program for releasing 2,000,000 soldiers in the next twelve months of successive R-(for redeployment) days.

Long before D-day in Normandy, the War Department had begun to plan for this job as part of the business of shifting its top weight from Europe to the Pacific. The number of men to be discharged, the yardsticks by which they would be selected, the manner in which others would be reshuffled had been one of the top secrets of tall, schoolmasterish Major General William F. Tompkins and his special planning division of the General Staff in Washington.

The point system had been decided upon (TIME, Sept. 18) as fairest; a poll had shown it favored by enlisted soldiers, and it made no difference what officers thought (the plan does not apply to them and they will have to take their luck as the Army can spare them). But not until V-E minus ten had any theater commander known what the point values would be. Only 24 hours before the official announcement of R-day were the commanders told in coded telegrams what total of points would make a man eligible for release.

The critical score of 85 points was set high, as a temporary par for the demobilization course.*It provides a margin of military safety until, probably within six weeks, the Army can tabulate the Adjusted Service Rating Cards from all the theaters, thus can arrive at a points total which will permit release of 1,300,000 of its able-bodied men.

Some 700,000 more--disabled, overage and others--will also be released in the coming year. (The Navy will comb out about 25,000 physically unfit and overage men in the next six months.) The Army's par for becoming a Mister will probably be lowered. In any case it will not be increased.

P: Of the men discharged, 98% will have had long service overseas.

P:Of Fathers who have been in the Army a long time, but not overseas, will make up the other 2%.

Top Priority. The 216,000 eligibles in the U.S. under rotation will probably be demobilized in double-quick time. It will not be so swift, nor is the problem as simple of solution, for the eligible men overseas (about 650,000 in Europe and about 433,000 in the Pacific). For most of them demobilization will be many weeks away, will depend on much reshuffling. (A soldier does not have to accept discharge, and a few rejected it last week to get a crack at the Japs.)

In Europe, already set up near Reims, was a vast deployment center (about 60 sq. mi.). Into it had begun the march of veterans eligible for discharge. Some eligibles, specialists in their fields, would have to wait for trained replacements. The shifting of men by ones, by tens, by new temporary companies, was on.

Soon four divisions would become three --and then the three would move on toward the Pacific. In those three would be no men who had served in both Africa and Europe. If their points did not total 85, they would be kept with the occupation troops (400,000 men) or they would be sent to duty in the U.S. They had Ike Eisenhower's word: no veteran of both Africa and Europe would have to fight the Japanese.

A steadily increasing flow of men--both in process of discharge and redeployment --will come to the U.S. in the next month and a half. The discharges will be shunted across the nation to 22 separation camps. Within 48 hours of arrival at camps they will be civilians.

By far the larger number--those who are bound for the Orient--will get U.S. furloughs, unless military necessity interferes. Some will go into brief retraining. The Army hopes to move 500,000 men to the U.S. in the peak month (August).

In such a shifting force there will be delays in discharges, many apparent individual injustices. But, in the main, the Army appeared to have moved smartly into redeployment, had put its careful plans into action in good timing to forestall Congressional and other pressures. So far it seemed all right, too, to Soldier Joe.

*For WACs it is 44 points, but a WAC may get a discharge to join a discharged soldier-husband, no matter how low her score. A holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor may get his discharge whenever he asks for it.

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