4 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
of a metropolitan area was such as to minimize the chance
that a board member would have adequate knowledge of a
specific occupation and its relationship to an industry.
Without such knowledge, decisions were more likely to be
made on the basis of such spurious considerations as the
prestige of the employer or industry in the community, or
the ability to sense the issues to which the board would be
responsive.60/
The Selective Service was successful in its primary aim--it
filled the manpower quotas. This was obviGusly its most important function.
However, its ability to produce men when voluntary avenues proved
inadequate meant that there was little p;.'essure and no incentive to pursue
reform or introduce innovations in personnel practices. One possible
reform might have been the development of a more effective program for
dealing with marginal personnel--marginal as measured on a variety of
scales.
Further, the existence of the assured system of supply meant that
there was a perhaps uadu3 emphasis placed on entrance qualifications at the
expense of longer-range plans, causing some neglect of the most effective
The ending of the draft and the introduction of the All-Volunteer Army for
example, has seen increasing emphasis on such things as job mobility,
career flexibility and rehabilitation programs. Of course, programs such
as these may have less place in a non-volunteer or partially volunteer
military force, but their corrp.ct place and value must at least be carefully
studied.
These, then, are some of the conditions and factors that must be
considered in an evaluation of the manpower procurement system that functioned
during the Vietnam period.
An important overall trend in procurement
and its possible importance for the future will be noted in the conclusion.
First, however, we must turn to the product of this system--this
collection of policies and non-policies--the soldier.
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