Dear Senator:
Abstract
This essay emphasizes the role played by the Congress in providing for the manpower needs of the Army. It discusses the pressures acting on individual Congress members and the impact made on them by letters of inquiry and complaint from soldiers and their families. The basic feelings Congress members have toward the military are either reinforced or modified depending upon the nature of these letters and the response they obtain from the Army to their questions concerning them. Their conditioned feelings will certainly affect their attitude and voting record on questions concerning military manpower requests. For this reason it is essential that the Army recognize the importance of each query received and provide to the representative answers that are truly responsive to the questions asked. A typical case is examined and used as a basis for recommendations for possible improvement in the Army's responsiveness to Congressional inquiries. Three approaches are proposed: (1) increase in the number of Army personnel tasked to handle the increasing volume of Congressional correspondence, (2) improve the quality of personnel management practices to reduce the causes of complaints, and (3) enact legislation and regulations to preclude false or improper complaints from being made. In short, the essay is a plea for improvements in personnel management practices, with particular emphasis on attention to responsive, honest, and prompt replies to Congressional inquiries so that the Army's needs for manpower not be unfavorably and unnecessarily prejudiced.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 22, 1966
- Accession Number
- ADA488075
Entities
People
- Wallace K. Wittwer
Organizations
- United States Army War College