However, if she so requests she may be honorably discharged at any time during that fiscal year.

"(d) An officer on the active list of the Navy serving in the grade of lieutenant (junior grade) in the Nurse Corps shall be honorably discharged on June 30 of the fiscal year in which the officer

"(1) is not on a promotion list; and

"(2) has completed seven years of active commissioned service as computed under section 6388 of this title.

However, if she so requests, she may be honorably discharged at any time during that fiscal year.

"(e) Each officer discharged under this section is entitled to a lump-sum payment equal to two months' basic pay at the time of discharge multiplied by the number of years of active commissioned service as computed under section 6388 of this title, but the payment may not be more than two years' basic pay or more than $15,000.";

(F) amending section 6398 to read as follows:

"$6398. Regular Navy; women captains and commanders; Regular Marine Corps, women colonels and lieutenant colonels: retirement for length of service; retired grade and pay

"(a) Each woman officer on the active list of the Navy, appointed under section 5590 of this title, who holds a permanent appointment in the grade of captain and each woman officer on the active list of the Marine Corps who holds a permanent appointment in the grade of colonel shall be retired by the President on the first day of the month following the month in which she completes thirty years of active commissioned service in the Navy or the Marine Corps.

"(b) Each woman officer on the active list of the Navy, appointed under section 5590 of this title, who holds a permanent appointment in the grade of commander and is not on a promotion list for a higher permanent grade and each woman officer on the active list of the Marine Corps who holds a permanent appointment in the grade of lieutenant colonel and is not on a promotion list for a higher permanent grade shall be retired by the President on the first day of the month following the month in which she completes twenty-six years of active commissioned service in the Navy or the Marine Corps.

"(c) Each officer retired under this section

"(1) unless otherwise entitled to a higher grade shall be retired in the permanent grade held by her at the time of retirement; and

"(2) is entitled to retired pay at the rate of 21⁄2 per centum of the basic pay or grade in which retired multiplied by the number of years of service that may be credited to her under section 1405 of this title, but the retired pay may not be more than 75 per centum or less than 50 per centum of the basic pay upon which the computation of retired pay is based.";

(G) repealing section 6399 and striking out the corresponding item in the analysis; and

(H) amending the items in the analysis relating to sections 6396 and 6398 to read as follows:

"6396. Regular Navy; officers in Nurse Corps in grades below commander: retirement or

(A) amending section 8299 by striking out ", except as provided in subsection (f) or (g)," wherever these words appear in subsection (a) and striking out the last sentence of subsection (c), subsections (f) and (g), and the last sentence of subsection (h);

(B) striking out subsection (d) in section 8300;

(C) striking out subsection (b) in section 8301;

(D) striking out subsection (f) in section 8303; and

(E) striking out subsections (g) and (h) in section 8305.

(28) Chapter 837 is amended by

(A) striking out subsection (f) in section 8366;

(B) inserting a period after "major" in clause (2) of section 8368(a)

and striking out the remainder of that clause; and

(C) repealing section 8370 and striking out the corresponding item in the analysis.

(29) Chapter 841 is amended by

(A) striking out subsection (b) in section 8504;

(B) amending the catchline of section 8504 and the corresponding item

in the analysis by striking out in each case ": limitations; grade".

(30) Chapter 845 is amended by repealing section 8580 and striking out the corresponding item in the analysis.

(31) Chapter 863 is amended by

(A) repealing section 8847 and striking out the corresponding item in the analysis; and

(B) striking out ", except an officer covered by section 8847 of this title," in section 8848(a).

(32) Chapter 867 is amended by

(A) amending section 8915 to read as follows:

"§ 8915. Twenty-eight years: deferred retirement of nurses and medical specialists in regular grade of major

"The Secretary of the Air Force may defer the retirement of any Air Force nurse or medical specialist in the regular grade of major until the thirtieth day after the officer completes twenty-eight years of service computed under section 8927 (a) of this title.";

(B) amending section 8916(b) to read as follows:

"(b) The Secretary of the Air Force may defer the retirement under this section of any promotion list officer in the regular grade of lieutenant colonel who is a medical, dental, veterinary, or medical service officer, a medical specialist, or a chaplain, but not later than the date on which he becomes sixty years of age."; and

(C) amending the item in the analysis relating to section 8915 to read as follows:

"8915. Twenty-eight years: deferred retirement of nurses and medical specialists in regular grade of major."

SEC. 2. Title 32, United States Code, is amended as follows: (1) Section 305 is amended by

(A) striking out "Except as provided in subsection (b), only male persons selected from the" and inserting in place thereof "The" in subsection (a);

(B) striking out the first sentence of subsection (b); and

(C) striking out "However, to" and "woman" in the second sentence of subsection (b) and inserting in place thereof "To" and "person", respectively.

(2) Section 313(b) is amended by inserting "and" after the semicolon in clause (1), striking out "; and" at the end of clause (2) and inserting a period in place thereof, and striking out clause (3).

SEC. 3. Title 37, United States Code, is amended as follows:

(1) Section 202 is amended by adding the following new subsection at the end thereof:

"(k) While serving under an appointment under section 5767 (c) of title 10, a woman officer of the Navy is entitled to the pay of a rear admiral of the lower half."

(2) Section 904 is amended

(A) by striking out "5774" in subsections (a), (b), and (d) and inserting "5773" in place thereof;

(B) by amending clauses (5) and (10) of subsection (a) to read as fol

"(10) women officers of the Marine Corps;";

(C) by striking out subsections (c) and (e); and

(D) by striking out "Except as provided by subsection (e) of this section,

a" in subsection (d) and inserting in place thereof "(A)".

SEC. 4. (a) For five years following the effective date of this Act, the Secretary of the Army may suspend the operation of any provision of law pertaining to the mandatory retirement, discharge, separation, or transfer from an active status of an officer of the Army Nurse Corps, Army Medical Specialist Corps, or Women's Army Corps.

(b) The amendments made by this Act to section 6396 of title 10, United States Code, do not become effective with respect to officers of the Regular Navy in the Nurse Corps serving in the grade of lieutenant commander until June 30 of the second fiscal year following the fiscal year in which this Act is approved.

(c) Notwithstanding section 6396 of title 10, United States Code, as amended by this Act, an officer of the Regular Navy in the Nurse Corps who is serving in the grade of lieutenant (junior grade) on the effective date of this Act may not be discharged under that section until June 30 of the second fiscal year following the fiscal year in which this Act is approved.

(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an officer of the Regular Navy in the Nurse Corps who is serving in the grade of lieutenant on the effective date of this Act and who on that date has completed more than thirteen years of active commissioned service may not be involuntarily discharged under section 6306 of title 10, United States Code, as amended by this Act but shall, unless sooner selected for promotion to the grade of lieutenant commander, be retired on June 30 of the fiscal year in which she completes at least twenty years of active commissioned service. Each officer retired under this subsection shall be retired with the retired grade and pay prescribed in section 6396(c) of title 10, United States Code, as it existed before the enactment of this Act.

(e) For five years following the effective date of this Act, the Secretary of the Air Force may suspend the operation of any provision of law pertaining to the mandatory retirement, discharge, separation, or transfer from an active status of an Air Force female officer, 'except an officer designated under section 8067. title 10. United States Code, to perform professional functions other than as an Air Force nurse or as an Air Force medical specialist.

(f) Until July 1, 1972, when the needs of the service require, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, or the Secretary of the Air Force may convene annually boards of officers to consider officers of the Army Nurse Corps, officers of the Navy Nurse Corps, or Air Force nurses, respectively, who otherwise would be required to be retired or separated under this Act within the calendar or fiscal year in which the board is convened. Upon the recommendation of such a board, the Secretary concerned may defer the separation or retirement of such an officer for a term of not more than five years, unless recommended for further deferment by a subsequent board of officers, and in any case not beyond the month following her attaining age sixty or July 1. 1976, whichever may be earlier. Officers whose separation or retirement is so deferred shall be additional to the numbers of officers authorized by sections 3202, 3211, 8202, and 8211, title 10, United States Code.

Passed the House of Representatives May 1, 1967.
Attest:

W. PAT JENNINGS.

Clerk.

Chairman RUSSELL. This is a legislative proposal of the Department of Defense, and the witness on it is Brig. Gen. William W. Berg, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy. You may proceed, General Berg.

STATEMENT OF BRIG. GEN. WILLIAM W. BERG, U.S. AIR FORCE DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR MANPOWER (MILITARY PERSONNEL POLICY)

General BERG. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am privileged to appear before the committee to express on behalf of the Department of Defense our support for legislation to remove restrictions on the careers of women officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Last year, we appeared before the cognizant subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee in support of a predecessor bill, H.R. 16000. The House committee report on that bill, dated October 5, 1966, contained findings to which we completely subscribed and which were incorporated in H.R. 5894 as introduced in the House on February 21, 1967. The House passed H.R. 5894 on May 1, 1967, without amendment, and that is the bill now before this committee for which we today renew our support.

In addressing the essential elements of this proposed legislation, we would like to briefly summarize:

First, the principal purpose of the bill;

Second, how we propose to administer this new authority; and Third, recent developments which underscore the importance of enacting H.R. 5894 this year.

OBJECTIVES OF H.R. 5894

The fundamental purpose is to remove inequitable and inconsistent restrictions on the career opportunities available to our women officers, so that, on the basis of merit, they may have the same promotion and career tenure opportunities as those available to male officers in similar circumstances.

The changes recommended, however, do not alter in any other respect the established promotional systems and grade limitations which are provided by law for the individual services. As you know, we do have underway a review of the officer personnel procurement and promotion programs of all services. When completed, this study may result in recommendations for revision, but these will be matters for future discussion with the committee.

As of June 20, 1967, our women officer corps numbered 12,362 members, distributed as follows:

In the 15-month period ended June 30, 1967, there has been an increase of approximately 1,000 women officers, most of whom were nurses required in connection with the Southeast Asia buildup.

I would like to describe some of the more important inequities which will be overcome by enactment of H.R. 5894.

In the women's line components only one position is permitted by law in the rank of colonel (or Navy captain) and then only for the period while the individual is serving as Director of the women's corps concerned; that is, the Women's Army Corps (WACS), Women in the Navy (WAVES), Women in the Air Force (WAFS), and Women Marines. Similar restrictions apply to the grade of lieutenant colonel and commander.

While somewhat larger allowances are permitted by law for Nurse and Medical Specialists Corps officers, these provisions are also highly restricted. In the Army Nurse Corps, for example, a total of five nurses can occupy the permanent rank of colonel, and 107 can occupy the permanent rank of lieutenant colonel-but these quotas were estab- lished on the basis of an Army force structure of 500,000. The same personnel limitations apply in Air Force. In the Navy Nurse Corps, only two-tenths of 1 percent of the corps officer strength may be in the rank of captain. This contrasts with the 5.3 percent authorized by law for this grade for male line officers.

Due to such limitations, many women officers, regardless of their qualifications, length of service and responsibilities, may not reach a rank commensurate with those responsibilities, nor commensurate with the promotional opportunities available to male officers.

The Navy WAVE component has a particularly serious problem today due to statutory grade limitations. If these limitations are not removed, promotions to the rank of commander in the WAVES over the next 4 or 5 years will have to be suspended, and the average attrition among women line lieutenants will approximate 65 percent, compared to a maximum desirable ratio of 20 percent.

There are numerous differences in the mandatory retirement and separation provisions affecting women officers. Generally, they require the woman to leave the service earlier than the male officer, but in some cases they allow longer periods. These anomalies lack a logical basis.

I would now like to comment briefly on questions as to how we would administer the new authority provided in this bill.

ADMINISTRATION OF NEW AUTHORITY CONTAINED IN H.R. 5894

We have been asked in the past whether the proposed legislation is designed to create special promotional opportunities for women officers, and particularly whether there are plans to establish general or flag rank positions for women.

We would reaffirm today the fact that no provision of the bill is designed to provide assurance of promotion, or to establish any special promotion opportunities. Rather, by removing the discriminatory and inconsistent distinctions which now exist, we expect that the normal operation of the personnel systems will result in promotions, when warranted, on the basis of merit and performance. With regard to general/flag officer rank, we have no special opportunities in view, nor can we predict whether or when there may be such an opportunity for a woman. The question of whether a woman officer may achieve this rank will depend entirely on her individual qualifications, and on the availability of a specific position for which she would be best qualified. We would further indicate to the committee that in the event of such