Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1975

IX.

Support Services   

The Army Medical Department's fiscal year 1975 end strength authorization was 15,722 officers and 36,426 enlisted persons. Actual strength at the end of the fiscal year was 15,909 officers and 35,894 enlisted persons. Authorized and actual officer strength by corps was as follows:

The Army spent $1,144.6 million for medical services fiscal year 1975 under the following appropriations:

Expenditures under the operations and maintenance account were much less than the $607.7 million spent during fiscal year 1974, which included $137.7 million for the Army's portion of the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS). Since 1 July 1974 funding for CHAMPUS has been borne by different Department of Defense appropriations. Other operations and maintenance medical costs have risen, due primarily to increases in civilian salaries, conversion of enlisted personnel spaces to civilian positions, and higher medical supply prices.

The most important medical work load trend in Army hospitals in fiscal year 1975 was a nine percent decrease in bed occupancy, although active Army strength decreased by only one percent. The primary reason for the decline was a shorter average patient stay, which for all patients decreased from 8.36 days in fiscal year 1974 to 7.76 days in fiscal year 1975 and

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from 11.24 days to 9.9 days for active Army personnel. A two percent increase in the number of visits to clinics during the year reflected the continued emphasis on outpatient care.

The Army added a new dimension to its oral health program during the past year by prescribing annual dental examinations for all active duty personnel. The three major objectives of yearly examinations are: reduction of loss of duty time by periodic correction of dental problems before they develop into major ones, improvement of the oral health of active duty personnel, and more effective use of the Army's dental health resources.

The Army submitted eleven medical construction projects to Congress for consideration during fiscal year 1975. These included additions to Army Hospitals at Fort McClellan, Alabama, and Fort Knox, Kentucky; a new health clinic at Bamberg, Germany; and eight dental clinics in the continental United States. At the close of the fiscal year, health facility projects costing $260.8 million were under construction, including four new hospitals, six hospital alterations or additions, twelve health and dental clinics, and two hospital electrical and mechanical improvement projects. The 1,280-bed Walter Reed Army Medical Center was fifty percent complete and the 760-bed Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Georgia, was ninety-nine percent complete by year's end. Authorized projects not yet under construction amounted to $19.8 million and included two hospital alterations, four hospital electrical and mechanical improvement projects, and two health and dental clinics.

There were several changes in the status of Army medical units and facilities during the past year. In Korea, the 11th Evacuation Hospital was inactivated and operations of the 43d Surgical Hospital were limited to clinical services, leaving the U.S. Army Hospital, Seoul, as the only Army inpatient medical treatment facility in that country. In Germany, the U.S. Army Hospital at Bad Kreuznach ceased patient admissions on 1 May 1975 to allow an orderly transition to health clinic status on 1 July 1975. On 30 June 1975 the 31st Medical Group in Darmstadt was inactivated to comply with the Nunn Amendment to increase combat capability in Europe and reduce support functions. The Tehran, Iran, Medical Department Activity was activated on 1 July 1974 and assumed responsibility for Army medical support in the Middle East and Africa south of the Sahara. Within the continental United States, Army hospitals at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; Sierra Army   

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Depot, California; and Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, were reduced to health clinic status.

The Army's size at the close of fiscal year 1975 was about the same as it was fourteen years earlier, but the authorized strength of the Chaplain Branch had risen by some thirty percent-from 1,110 on 30 June 1961 to 1,446 on 30 June 1975. Expansion to a sixteen-division force, initiatives in preventive ministry, and command generated programs have placed increased demands on chaplains, resulting in a proportionate requirement for additional personnel.

During the year the Chaplain Branch Organization Development Program entered a new phase with the assignment of chaplain consultants to the Alaskan Command. A test project, this program was designed to raise the personal expertise of command chaplains and their key subordinates, develop a team spirit within the chaplain community and produce more creative means for setting objectives and evaluating the effectiveness of religious programming. The success of the Alaskan project has led to plans for expanding the use of chaplain consultants during fiscal year 1976.

In other steps to upgrade the professional competence of Army chaplains, a policy was established under which each chaplain will receive thirteen weeks of intensive training at accredited clinical pastoral education (CPE) centers; a one year community CPE course was begun at selected Army posts, which 120 chaplains have completed; and six Army chaplains were enrolled in graduate degree programs in communications to improve preaching skills. A number of chaplains have attended an American Institute of Family Relations course designed to develop family-enrichment and community-building skills. Chaplains who received this training have begun community programs at Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Dix, New Jersey; and Fort Ord, California. They stress the problem-preventing aspects of community building and the development of strong, healthy family relationships. Their goal is to improve the quality of life in the military community and reduce the need for crisis resolution.

During the past year the Chaplain School has worked with the Infantry School to integrate principles of moral leadership, moral responsibility, and human relations into military leadership training. In this regard, chaplains on the faculties of the

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Infantry School, eight other Army schools, and the Sergeants Major Academy taught courses related to the values, beliefs, and attitudes of today's soldier. The instruction emphasized integrity, self-discipline, moral courage, and loyalty as ingredients of military professionalism.

Other chaplain activities during fiscal year 1975 included beginning the development of materials for an approved Personnel Effectiveness Training program and distribution of a new, 815-page Book of Worship for U.S. Forces. A joint Army, Navy, and Air Force effort, it contains 611 hymns, and has received considerable acclaim from Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish leaders. Work also continued on rewriting specifications for the position of chaplain assistant/chaplain administrator and developing a new design guide for use in constructing chapels and religious education facilities.

The approved fiscal year 1975 Army Military Construction Program provided $136.4 million to build troop housing for 10,714 soldiers and $107.5 million to modernize existing housing for 22,904 others. Except for 188 spaces in Korea, all new construction was to be in the continental United States, and includes a 1,850-man barracks complex at Fort Stewart, Georgia, to support requirements for the sixteen-division Army. Construction costs for troop housing in Germany were covered by offset agreements. The fiscal year 1974-75 agreement allocated 503 million Deutschmarks to the Army for rehabilitation of 40 kasernes and housing at a number of border and remote sites. At the close of the year construction was under way at 13 kasernes, and plans were prepared to advertise projects at 3 more kasernes. Work at 40 kasernes and 20 remote sites under the fiscal year 1972-73 agreement was approximately ninety percent complete by 30 June 1975.

Based on long-range strength and deployment estimates, the Army has requirements for 323,000 family housing units. Military controlled housing and suitable off-post housing total 293,000 units, leaving a deficit of 30,000. During fiscal year 1975 the Army gained 4,799 family housing units: 1,012 by construction, 3,009 by lease, and 778 by conversion or transfer. Deducting disposal, conversion, and transfer losses, there was a net gain of 2,212 units.

Contracts were awarded for construction of 3,817 family housing units during the past year, and contracts for construc-

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tion of 4,696 units authorized in fiscal year 1975 and preceding years remained to be awarded. The fiscal year 1976 budget request to Congress included $78.3 million for construction of 2,100 new units, $35 million for improvements, and $2.2 million for minor construction and planning. The financial program for fiscal year 1976 through fiscal year 1981 includes $743 million for construction of 11,642 new units, $296 million for improvements, and $18 million for minor construction and planning.

Operations and maintenance support was provided for 138,700 family dwelling units and supporting facilities during fiscal year 1975. Currency revaluation and escalating utility costs seriously eroded the operation and maintenance program and resulted in an increase in deferred maintenance from $155 million to $162 million.

Leased family housing in Germany increased from 1,209 to 2,819 units during the past year, but many more units were required. Relief could be forthcoming, because the fiscal year 1976 budget request to Congress would provide for 13,446 leased family units, of which 9,500 would be in Germany. The request also included $22.9 million for furniture and equipment, $331.5 million for operation and maintenance, and $37.8 million for the deferred maintenance backlog.

During fiscal year 1975, housing and referral offices at 155 Army installations obtained private housing for 132,842 military personnel. The offices also handled 146 complaints of discrimination and 28,989 tenant and landlord complaints. Over 100,000 housing facilities with approximately 1,000,000 rental units were listed with these offices.

The Department of the Army, as executive agent for all military services, made payments under the Homeowners Assistance Program to 470 applicants in the amount of $1.6 million during the past year. Mortgage assumptions of 151 properties acquired under the program totaled $1.8 million for the year. The fiscal year 1976 program of $5 million provides for 395 payments or assumptions. Funds from prior year appropriations and the sale of acquired homes made a new appropriation unnecessary.

The number and type of food service facilities supporting the Army Food Service Program, as of 30 June 1975, were as follows:

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Army dining facilities served 241,448,404 meals valued at $234,272,665 during the year; garrison bread bakeries produced 1,313,600 pounds of bread; and central pastry kitchens created 7,710,900 pastry servings.

The dining facility modernization portion of the Modern Food Service System, described in last year's report, began as scheduled on 1 July 1974. The program was funded under the Military Construction, Army, appropriation and provided for modernizing 117 dining facilities at 22 installations. As of 30 June 1975, contracts had been awarded to improve 93 facilities.

Fiscal year 1975 appropriations provided for the construction of nine new dining facilities, eight of which had been contracted for by the close of the reporting period. The Office of the Chief of Engineers and the U.S. Army Troop Support Agency collaborated in developing standard designs for eight enlisted personnel dining facilities of varying sizes and one facility for use at training centers.

In order to aid the Army Troop Support Agency and Headquarters, Department of the Army, in determining dining facilities to be retained or converted to other uses and how many and where new dining facilities should be constructed, major commands began work on food-service management plans for each command installation. By the close of the year 120 plans had been developed and submitted to the Troop Support Agency.

As noted in last year's report, funds had been appropriated for two permanent central food preparation facilities-one at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the other at Fort Lee, Virginia. An interim facility, also at Fort Lee, was to begin operations during fiscal year 1975. Modifications on three of the four buildings that comprised the interim facility were completed in March 1975, but difficulties in converting the fourth building, which was to serve as the central kitchen, made it necessary to relocate the kitchen. Since the cost would exceed the dollar limit allowed by law for urgent minor construction projects, further action on the interim facility was suspended until regular financing could be arranged. Design of the two permanent facilities was suspended and authorization for the projects permitted to expire.

The three-year test of the full operation of military dining

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facilities by commercial contractor conducted at Fort Myer's triservice dining facility was completed on 30 June 1974. Results indicated that the contract operation was satisfactory, but that there was no particular advantage in using contract services.

Alternatives to the time-consuming signature-headcount system used in Army dining facilities continued to be considered during fiscal year 1975. A favorable report on a meal card number test conducted in Europe was forwarded to the Department of Defense, but no response had been received by year's end. Equipment and software to test a fully automated headcount system was being tested at Fort Lee, Virginia, as the fiscal year drew to a close.

On 19 January 1975 the Commandant of the Army Quartermaster School signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Culinary Federation in what was the beginning of the Food Service Certification Program described in last year's report. Certification should help to attract and retain capable persons for food service careers.

During fiscal year 1975 the Army Troop Support Agency increased the number of food management teams from three to four. The teams provide dining facility management and technical assistance to Army commands, installations, and food service personnel around the world. This past year the teams visited 54 installations and 942 dining facilities, and provided instruction and guidance to 7,563 food service personnel.

Program Budget Decision Memorandum 282, which the Secretary of Defense approved in December 1974, called for an end to the use of appropriated funds for civilian employees, military personnel, and overseas utility costs of commissaries. It ordered a study to determine ways to improve the efficiency, organization, and operating structure of military commissary stores. Accordingly, the Department of Defense budget for fiscal year 1976 provided for the phaseout of appropriated funds for commissary store direct expenses beginning on 1 October 1975, when fifty percent of these costs would be covered by surcharge collections.

A joint service study group convened in February 1975 to carry out the second Memorandum 282 requirement. The group's report, released late in the fiscal year, recommended that each service adopt a centralized management system for

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commissary stores. Tentative Army plans call for central management by the Army Troop Support Agency. Five field offices (four in the United States and one in Europe) would control commissaries located in their respective regions. The Western Field Office in the United States would also control commissaries located in the Pacific.

The Army has about thirty-five commissaries in the United States that should be replaced. In December 1974, Congress stipulated that commissary construction in the United States be financed by a surcharge or price adjustments on commissary sales. An additional one percent surcharge would permit construction of about two large stores each year.

In Europe, the Direct Commissary Support System (DI­COMSS) expansion program was completed with the addition of two more commissary stores in Germany in late 1974. This brought the number of Army stores serviced by DICOMSS to forty-eight.

Efforts to upgrade the automated commissary system were suspended by the Assistant Secretaries of Defense (Comptroller and Installations and Logistics) when they barred further development pending establishment of a standard Department of Defense commissary automatic data processing system. Implementation of Phase I of the Worldwide Integrated Management of Wholesale Subsistence stocks continued during fiscal year 1975. The task was completed in Europe on 1 July 1975; substantial progress in integration had been made in Hawaii; and planning moved forward in Korea, Japan, and Okinawa.

A program to replace old, obsolete, and worn-out laundry and dry cleaning equipment with new machinery was ninety percent complete at the close of fiscal year 1975. In the future, however, more equipment will be needed as innovations in the cloth used to make uniforms and the scarcity of unskilled labor create additional demands for more sophisticated equipment. An example of the newer equipment is the hydraveyor, described in last year's report, which has been undergoing testing at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. This unit, manned by two employees, will accomplish the same amount of work that has required thirteen employees using more conventional machines.

To improve customer service, all outer garments are now

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returned on hangers rather than folded and packaged. Considerable progress has been made in providing pickup and delivery service to units. Until recently, military personnel whose laundry services were paid for by payroll deduction were required to turn in their laundry on a fixed schedule each week. These persons can now turn in their laundry any time in a new procedure that has proved very popular.

Tests have been completed on the durable press polyester­cotton uniforms that will replace the cotton khaki and fatigue uniforms now in use. The Defense Personnel Support Center has begun buying the new items, which are in great demand because they keep a neat appearance considerably longer than cottons and do not require as much laundering.

During fiscal year 1975 severe shortages in women's clothing were corrected as manufacturers showed greater interest in producing the items and meeting delivery schedules. Current market trends in the textile industry indicate that the situation is now well in hand, and no further problems are expected.

A test in which the Army-Air Force Exchange Service operated the Army clothing sales stores at Fort Benning, Georgia, was completed during the past year. Experiment results indicated that no economic or operational benefit would be gained by transferring clothing sales stores to the exchange service.

During the year the Institute of Heraldry designed 410 heraldic emblems, created 3,594 drawings and paintings, and completed 254 sculptured items and displays. In addition, 159,713 actions were taken under the heraldic quality control program, and 4,210 development, research, and engineering support actions were performed.

Institute sculptors assisted in decorating Arlington Cemetery's new administration building, which featured a 36-inch bronze coat of arms of the United States, and in renovating the cemetery's trophy room. Other projects completed during the year included designing the seal and flag of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, insignia and badges for the Armed Forces Bicentennial Band, a new flag for the

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As in past years, the institute advised the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, and other military services, on proposed changes in policies governing insignia, decorations, medals, badges, and other awards. The institute seeks to bring about as much standardization in these policies as possible while retaining sufficient distinctiveness in symbolic items to promote esprit de corps.

Despite continuing declines in Army Central Welfare Fund revenues, the Army took a number of initiatives to provide for the morale, welfare, and recreation of its members. The Information, Tour, and Travel Program, after little more than a year's existence, had grown by 30 June 1975 to 165 offices located in Army recreation centers around the world. The program proved of real value as a central source of information to Army people and their families for recreational activities on and off post, regular and charter tours, and individual tour planning assistance.

In September 1974 a six-week program to provide women in the Army more opportunities to develop their skills and levels of physical fitness through sports competition began on a trial basis at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and Fort Dix, New Jersey. Each test installation appointed a full-time coordinator to organize the program. During the first week, instructors conducted two-day sports clinics covering tennis, archery, karate, horseback riding, swimming, bowling, basketball, and volleyball. During the remaining weeks, women were released from duty two hours a day, two days a week to participate in the sport of their choice. Two evenings a week were also set aside for women's sports. The success of this pilot program led to publication of Department of the Army Circular 28-95, which provided guidance for promoting women's sports activities throughout the Army.

The Army was well represented in Consul International du Sport Militaire (CISM) and national championship meets, as indicated below:

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NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

CISM CHAMPIONSHIPS

The popularity of the Army Outdoor Recreation Program continued during the past year. Twenty-nine travel camps, located in nineteen states, provided services during the 1975 summer season. Equipment for camp support buildings, washers, dryers, playground equipment, picnic area equipment, and indoor recreational equipment, was distributed to Army installations. To improve Army travel camps a fourteen-man dormitory unit and a two-family duplex unit were designed and developed and procurement began. In addition, an attractive, rustic travel camp sign assembly unit was developed.

The Army expanded its Arts and Crafts Program during fiscal year 1975 by providing assistance grants to installations for vocational and technical training courses in such subjects as auto mechanics, carpentry, electronics, photography, upholstery, and welding. Interest in vocational and technical subjects has been keen: From February through May 1975 installations have submitted more than fifty requests for grants. The popularity of this type of instruction was also indicated in a recent survey conducted by the Army Military Personnel Center, which showed that 75 percent of enlisted personnel polled would like to enroll in an off-duty skills training course. Another Military Personnel Center survey indicated that 47 percent of officers and 40 percent of enlisted personnel take part in the Army Arts and Crafts Program.

A major review of Army bands underscored the inadequacy of the 29-member band and led to the inactivation of 13 of the 63 bands. Personnel savings permitted an increase in the

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authorized strength of the remaining bands to 43 spaces (division bands) or 45 spaces. The new organization provided the basic instrumentation needed to perform satisfactorily.

ARMY BANDS INACTIVATED

The Department of the Army, in cooperation with the National Federation of Music Clubs, for the past several years has cosponsored the Parade of American Music. Supported by a grant from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, this annual event encourages U.S. composers and arrangers, and each year draws between 300 and 400 Army entries. In recognition of the outstanding original works by Army composers during past competitions, the National Federation of Music Clubs now includes a composers' competition for Army personnel. Cash awards are made to winning composers of instrumental or choral works.

The management of Army clubs has begun to show marked improvement as a result of the establishment of club management as a specialty under the Officer Personnel Management System. This specialty provides a tailored career pattern for qualified and motivated officers and permits their advancement to interesting and challenging club management positions, the most responsible of which carry the rank of colonel. After completing a worldwide review of club management positions, the Army added 49 officers and 67 enlisted spaces, while the number of warrant officer positions decreased by 20. At the close of the fiscal year there were 906 military club management positions throughout the Army.

The Adjutant General took over policy responsibilities for the Army's General Education Development (GED) program from the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel in October 1974.

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Policy development and program execution were thus combined, enabling the Army to respond more promptly to queries relating to educational policy and resulting in more effective management of GED resources and personnel. A revised GED information and reporting system came into use early in the fiscal year. This system has already proved to be of great value in following the program budget, monitoring program changes, and isolating problem areas.

The Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) was established by the Department of the Defense in 1974 to continue some of the services formerly provided by the U.S. Armed Forces Institute. These services included all testing overseas and College Level Examination Program (CLEP) tests and subject standardized tests in the United States. Excluded was high school GED testing within the United States, a responsibility taken on by state agencies. During fiscal year 1975, DANTES administered 47,200 CLEP general and 4,190 subject examinations and, through Army education centers overseas, 27,234 high school GED examinations. DANTES also prepared and distributed an independent study catalog listing the courses available to military personnel from accredited colleges and universities. The Army will pay up to seventy-five percent of the tuition for approved correspondence courses.

In June of 1974 The Adjutant General's Office awarded a contract to the Commission on Education Credit of the American Council on Education to study the feasibility of using the Army MOS classification system to apply the experience of enlisted personnel to learning required in apprenticeship training and post-secondary educational programs. The study covered 100 MOS's, and involved the examination of performance standards, related training materials, on-the-job training, and the Enlisted Evaluation System. As the only national organization that recommends granting credit for nontraditional learning to educational and training institutions the commission recommended that credit be granted for 91 of the 100 MOS's studied. A new contract has been signed with the Commission on Education Credit to evaluate 200 additional MOS's. The commission also worked with the educational community to gain acceptance of its recommendations.

During fiscal year 1975, the Army began a project called Army Help for Education and Development (AHEAD), which permits young men and women to enroll in college and to enlist in the Army at the same time. Over 1,300 colleges,

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universities, and nonprofit technical institutes agreed to participate in the program by establishing tailored admission policies, appointing academic advisers, accepting transferred credits, and establishing and maintaining records for the soldier-student. The soldier benefits from this arrangement by earning college credits while performing military service. The Army benefits from the AHEAD program by obtaining qualified, well motivated personnel, with a secondary benefit of establishing rapport with the educational community. Educational institutions benefit from increased enrollment, a broader financial base, reduced dropout rates, and access to soldiers on active duty.

During the past year the Army operated dependents' schools at the following installations: Forts Benning, Bragg, Campbell, Jackson, Knox, McClellan, Rucker, Stewart, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Average daily attendance was 18,238. The U.S. Office of Education provided $18,345,564 to operate the schools under provisions of Section 6, Public Law 81-874, as amended.

Prior to fiscal year 1975, the Army budget included funds for dependents' schools in the European area. This year, however, responsibility for these schools was shifted to the Office of the Secretary of Defense in a move to improve budget management. The Department of Defense now allocates the funds to the military departments and exercises more control over budgetary line items; it controls curriculum development, teacher recruitment, and the interarea transfer program, while the military departments control all personnel spaces.

Fiscal year 1975 was the first year the Army Safety Program functioned under the staff responsibility of the Inspector General and Auditor General. A second milestone for the year was publication of the first Army Accident Experience Annual Report, a detailed account that provides data needed for a complete analysis of all accidents to help prevent their recurrence in the future.

The U.S. Army Agency for Aviation Safety (USAAAVS), a field operating agency under the Inspector General and Auditor General, sponsored a vigorous aviation safety program. The USAAAVS's Five-year Operating Program, begun in fiscal year 1973, covers items considered to be most important in

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preventing aircraft accidents, and encompasses command program management, education and training, system safety concepts, air operations, mishap information, physiological and psychological concerns, and the internal administration and management of USAAAVS. The program is updated each year to insure that specific projects meet overall objectives.

The Army's mortuary workload for current deaths totaled 2,699 during the year: 1,386 remains in the continental United States were prepared by commercial firms under contract with the Army, and 1,313 remains were prepared at eight Army mortuaries overseas. Oakland Army Base, California; Fort Hamilton, New York; and Dover Air Base, Delaware, served as ports of entry where remains were shipped by overseas mortuaries and arrangements made for their final disposition.

As in past years, the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory at Camp Samae San, Thailand, worked with the U.S. Joint Casualty Resolution Center, Thailand, to resolve the status of U.S. personnel missing in Southeast Asia. Progress in investigating specific locations in Vietnam and recovering the bodies of U.S. servicemen was limited due to inaction of the Four Party Joint Military Commission, lack of security for research teams, and the fall of South Vietnam.

The remains of fifteen soldiers or airmen from World War 11 were recovered during the year: eleven in New Guinea, one in the Philippines, one in Germany, and two in the mountains of Arizona. Three of the remains were individually identified and disposition was made in accordance with the wishes of the next of kin. The ten individually unidentifiable remains recovered in New Guinea received a group burial in Arlington National Cemetery with relatives in attendance; the two recovered in Arizona were buried in the San Francisco National Cemetery with next of kin in attendance at the interment.

Interments during the past year at the two national cemeteries under Army control numbered 2,610-2,503 at Arlington National Cemetery and 107 at the Soldiers' Home National Cemetery. A total of 18,301 grave sites was available at Arlington, and 293 sites remained at the Soldiers' Home.

Since approval of the Arlington National Cemetery Master Plan in 1967, Congress has appropriated $17,300,000 to develop and maintain the historic character of this national shrine. Completed major projects include 214 acres of land-

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scaping, installation of a 500-acre irrigation system, and construction of a temporary visitor's center and parking lot. Work on the new administration building and partial renovation of the memorial amphitheatre were nearing completion as the fiscal year ended.

Revised eligibility requirements for burial in Arlington National Cemetery went into effect on 10 April 1975. The spouse of a service member remarried subsequent to interment of the service-connected spouse and whose remarriage is voided, terminated by death, or dissolved by annulment or divorce, regains eligibility for burial in Arlington National Cemetery unless the Secretary of the Army determines that the annulment or divorce was secured through fraud or collusion. Also, the term "minor child" has been redefined to include unmarried, natural, adopted, or stepsons or daughters of a service-connected parent, who at time of death, were less than 21 years of age, or who after attaining the age of 21 and until completion of education or training (but not after attaining the age of 23 years), were pursuing a full time course of instruction in an approved educational institution.

In addition to its responsibilities at Arlington National Cemetery, the Army maintains twenty-eight post cemeteries and plots in three private cemeteries. Of these, only sixteen of the post cemeteries have available grave space. During fiscal year 1975, 443 interments were made. In order to make the best use of the remaining spaces, on 1 May 1975 the Army extended to the post cemeteries the policy of "one gravesite per family," which had applied to national cemeteries since 1961.

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