The Augusta Courier

Faulty Planning And Absence Of Brains Pentagon Being Paid For In U. S. Soldiers Lives In Korea

Ammunition Shortage Is Reported Despite 50 Billion Dollars Being Spent Yearly

The Pentagon planners need shaking.

As a matter of fact, they need to be sent to Korea for active duty.

They have made a mess of planning in Washington and a little practical experience on the fields of Korea would be most helpful.

The biggest crime of the age is the lack of ammunition in Korea and it is due to faulty planning and the lack of brains in the Pentagon. The Korean war started in 1950 and we are still rationing ammunition in Korea.

Two and a half years after the beginning of the war ammunition is still short and the Pentagon still has failed to solve the problem.

One shudders to think what would have happened had we been in an all-out war instead of a police action and be forced to depend upon the planning brains pigeon-holed in the Pentagon who still today can't get enough ammunition to Korea.

Had it not been for ammunition left over from World War I. the communists would already have taken all of Korea and smashed the Armies of the United States.

World War I ammunition is about to give out and we are still not producing ammunition sufficient to stage an all-out offensive in Korea.

The Pentagon planners in the midst of the hot fighting in Korea in 1950 placed orders for ammunition in measly quantities.

Later when they should have greatly increased the orders they reached the conclusion that the Korean conflict was about over and no more ammunition was needed.

Then again they showed themselves to be the dupes they are when they reached the conclusion that the truce talks would result in an end of the war and consequently they still failed to order the ammunition necessary.

Today they are rationing artillery ammunition in Korea and artillery ammunition is badly needed on account of the type of war in which we are engaged. As a result of Pentagon folly we are still rationing artillery ammunition and the fighting doughboys in the front lines are without adequate artillery protection and artillery support.

The U. S. News and World Report has made an investigation and in its issue of March 6, says the trouble is due to the fact that the Pentagon failed to order enough shells and failed to plan for enough ammunition procurement throughout the whole affair.

The U. S. News and World Report says:

"Budgets were made up on the assumption that the Korean war would end by the fol-

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Ammunition Shortage Is Reported Despite 50 Billion Dollars Being Spent Yearly

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lowing July.

When the problem became more acute instead of ordering more shells the Pentagon ordered rationing and from time to time have clamped a tight rationing rule on artillery use in Korea.

The ammunition program is still 6 to 8 months behind schedule and the plants are operating on a one shift schedule only.

This failure to supply needed ammunition is but another illustration of mismanagement, inefficiency and lack of ability in high places in the Pentagon.

It is high time that President Eisenhower, who of all people, ought to know the weakness of the Pentagon, shake this crowd loose and install men of ability and efficiency in the planning places in the Pentagon instead of permitting men of little ability and small mental stature to gradually by processes of rotation and automatic promotion reach the top spots regardless of their ability or efficiency.

It is the opinion of many observers that the big brass in the Pentagon have concerned themselves mainly with the manufacture of new gadgets, cocktail parties and social affairs instead of serious planning on a realistic basis.

It is a crime for this country to spend fifty billion dollars a year on its defense forces and then be unable to furnish an adequate supply of ammunition to its fighting men engaged in the little police action in Korea.