‘ts the Air Task Group Commander, Colonel Estes was promoted to Brigadier General on 29 November 1952, In November of 1952, Colonel Estes visited the Forward Area to wit~ ness MIKE, the thermonuclear shot of Operation IVY which ushered in the era of megaton devices, and to receive preliminary indoctrination, Concurrently (28 October - 5 November 1952), a conference was held at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, by Manpower and Personnel representatives from USAF, ARDC, AFSWC, and the Air Task Group, to set up plans for the rota- tion of troops during the interim. However, in anticipation of the of- ficial concept of CASTLE being changed from a two-island operation to a one-island operation, these planners devoted most of their efforts to rearranging manning tables for the Air Task Group. Colonel Estes and Colonel Edward M. Gavin (then slated as the ATG Deputy Commander) attended this meeting. The unusually short period betweén IVY and CASTLE, then anticipated to be about eleven months, necessitated certain changes in the IVY rollup plan. Previously, the intervals between the overseas nuclear tests had ranged from nineteen to thirty-five months. It vas therefore mani~ fest that most of the planning for CASTLE be initiated prior to IVY roll-up. Roll-up for IVY and build-up for CASTLE were considered inter dependent and were to be planned concurrently. Thus a situation existed where roll-up of IVY, and the inactivation of supplies and equipment, was to be followed immediately by supply and equipment build-up requirements for CASTLE. The same situation existed regarding personnel. In the light of this conflict of efforts, Task Group 132.4 requested that all retainable supplies and equipment remain in the Forward Area in ws ga, 27a, [5