ROTC Units Get Heavy Bids From Class of '54

Some units of the Reserve Officers Training Corps attached to the College have noted increases in applications for enrollment this fall, the chiefs of the three armed service staffs reported last night.

The most marked boost was with the Air Force, to which about 120 freshmen, almost twice last year's total, applied. When he has his units chosen, Major Jarvis R. Kingston, professor of Air Science, expects to have about 212 men in his course.

Kingston remarked that the Class of 1954 was particularly rich in good Air Force material. "I interviewed 120 myself," Kingston said, "and was very pleased with the calibre of the men." He added that the applicants did not seem to be merely seeking draft deferment but were reasonably sincere about Air Force training.

Current Air Force training at the College is for ground administration officers, but Kingston said that Washington is considering adding flight units at some universities.

Captain Douglas V. Gladding, professor of Naval Science and chief of the N.R.O.T.C. at the University, reported that between 90 and 100 men had applied for the Navy program. This figure, he said, "was not very much ever the number that applied last year."

Colonel Charles P. Summerall, Jr., professor of Military Science and head of the Field Artillery unit, declined to estimate how many men would be in the Army unit because he didn't carry the figures in his head. "The number of applicants was not unusual," he said, "under the circumstances."

Current draft policy grants exemption to men engaged in college reserve training programs until men graduate and gain their commissions. It is difficult, but possible, to enter the reserve programs after the freshman year.