THE AFUS: HOW A SINGLE SERVICE WORKS

THE National Security Act of 1947 took away the autonomy of the Army and Navy, created a separate Air Force and put all three under the wing of a newly created Department of Defense. The most workable plan for a single-service Armed Forces of the U.S. would strip away the three service Secretaries, place U.S. military policy completely in the hands of the civilian Secretary of National Defense. He would be aided by an Under Secretary and by Assistant Secretaries for procurement, personnel, research, public affairs, etc., much as is the Secretary of Defense today.

Top military man in the Armed Forces of the U.S., operating directly under the Secretary of National Defense, would be a single Chief of Staff, with his Deputy Chiefs for personnel, intelligence, operations and logistics. Below the AFUS Chief of Staff would be the successor to today's Joint Chiefs of Staff, a board composed of operating commanders of the sea force, ground force and air force--and perhaps a missiles force.

These forces would include all officers and men of the armed forces, all wearing the same uniform. The officers would come from the old Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, would be on a single promotion list, and would at the outset be integrated by rank and seniority on the new AFUS roster. Later, officers would come from a National Defense Academy. There would still be quartermasters, medics, research and development commands, etc., integrated and directed through the appropriate Assistant Secretary of National Defense and staff section.

In general, the single service would provide more efficient administration, and would preserve a healthy spirit of competition between ground, sea and air forces. But the single line of command in the long run would militate strongly against the searing, debilitating interservice conflicts that have marked the post-World War II era.

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