of that Task Group and of procuring qualified replacements for
the hard-pressed garrison force.
Normal and emergency requisi-
tions had been processed to the D/A in January and February just
_after Typhoon HESTER.
Only a trickle of replacements resulted, how-
ever, and they were mainly in the grades of E-2 and E-3.
The gen-—
eral shortage of skilled and experienced personnel throughout the
military Services and the high priority given to replacements
for FECOM had a great bearing upon the situation.
By the Summer
of 1953, the condition became more favorable though the balance
of the non-commissioned officers (NCO's) never even closely approached the number authorized.
As a result of the spring decision of the Secretary of Defense
to reduce surplus military manpower in the three Services, a joint
Manpower Survey Board was appointed under the monitorship of G-l,
D/A, to study JTF SEVEN with a view to establishing interimTask
Force Headquarters and Task Group T/D's.
Also, a manpower ceiling
and uniform proportional reduction in operational T/D's was to be
accomplished for each of the military Services as represented in
the Task Force.
The Board commenced its activities on 1 June 1953
and worked in Washington; in Los Alamos, in Albuquerque, and at
Eniwetok.
A report, carrying the general concurrence of CJIF SEV-
EN, was forwarded to G-l for approval.
New interim Task Force
T/D's were thus established and though it was believed by the Task
Force that they were austere they were considered workable.
By the time work on the interim T/D's was completed, the per-