FEDERAL SUPPLY MANAGEMENT (Overseas Survey) FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1951 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, OF THE COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS, Clark Air Force Base, Philippine Islands. The subcommittee met Friday morning, November 2, 1951, at Clark Air Force Base, Philippine Islands, Hon. Herbert C. Bonner, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Members of Congress present: Herbert C. Bonner, chairman; Harold Donohue, W. J. Bryan Dorn, Bill Lantaff, Cecil M. Harden, Charles B. Brownson, and George Meader. Staff representatives present: Christine Ray Davis, chief clerk; Thomas A. Kennedy, general counsel; Herbert Roback, staff member; Ray Ward, Bureau of the Budget; John Elliot, State Department escort officer; and Brig. Gen. Clarence C. Fenn, Department of the Army escort. Clark Air Force Base representatives present: Brig. Gen. Ernest Moore, USAF, commanding general, Philippines Command; Col. Jack N. Donohew, deputy for comptroller, Philippines Command; John D. Taylor, executive assistant to the deputy for matériel, Headquarters, Philippines Command; Col. Clarence F. Snyder, commanding officer, Six Thousand Two Hundred and Third Port Squadron, and the United States Military Port of Manila; and Col. Carl E. Rankin, deputy for matériel, Headquarters, Six Thousand Two Hundred and Eighth Depot Wing. The subcommittee met at Clark Air Force Base, Philippine Islands, 2:15 p.m. November 2, 1951. Brigadier General MOORE. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, we are very happy to welcome you at Clark Field which we understand is your first stop in the Philippine Islands. We have arranged quarters for the hearing which we hope will be comfortable enough to conduct your inquiries during this intense heat. The staff of our headquarters has been assembled here, and we are ready to make available to you any information which will assist in your study of supply, management. I will call on Colonel Donohue to make the first presentation concerning our operations here in the Philippines Command. NOTE.-Asterisks denote classified material deleted for security reasons. STATEMENT OF COL. JACK N. DONOHEW, DEPUTY FOR COMPTROLLER, PHILIPPINES COMMAND AND THIRTEENTH AIR FORCE Subsequently, in June of this year, those logistic support responsibilities above base level previously assigned to Philcom (AF) for Army and Air Force units in the Philippines, were transferred to FEAF and subsequently reassigned to FEAMCOM. Another recent and important logistic development in the Philippines was the Army-Air Force agreeemnt of January 10, 1950, which provided that all items of depot stocks common to Army and Air Force, in the Philippines would be allocated to the Department of the Air Force, with the exception of subsistence, petroleum, and ammunition. Accordingly, the bulk of the supplies and equipment presently stored by the Six Thousand Two Hundred and Eighth Depot Wing are now owned by the Air Force. Air Force owned items issued by the depot to Army units are included on a report of issues which is prepared quarterly by the depot and coordinated with this command prior to submission to the Air Matériel Command, and the appropriate Army technical service in order that reimbursement may be effected. Subsistence and petroleum are handled in another manner. A separate report covering the total bulk subsistence furnished Army units and the total number of meals furnished Army personnel in Air Force messes is prepared by this command in coordination with Six Thousand Two Hundred and Eighth Depot Wing and forwarded to the Army Quartermaster General, for reimbursement at departmental level. The sub-area petroleum officer on the staff of the Commanding General, Philippines Command (Air Force) and Thirteenth Air Force, is the agent having responsibility for the supply of petroleum products to all three services: Army, Air Force, and Navy, in the Philippines. He is responsible for the coordination of all matters pertaining to the petroleum supply program, including the supply, distribution, and quality surveillance of all activities under the cognizance of the United States Armed Forces in the Philippines. This is a good example of unification. We have one depot storage terminal, the Bataan Oil Terminal, and we issue from that one terminal to each of three services. Quantities transferred, and issues of petroleum products are reported on the Area Petroleum Office monthly slates for reimbursement at departmental level. STATEMENT OF COL. CLARENCE F. SNYDER, COMMANDING OFFICER, SIX THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND THIRD PORT SQUADRON, AND THE UNITED STATES MILITARY PORT OF MANILA Colonel SNYDER. I assume the subcommittee is familiar with military ports. Ports are normally operated by the Army, however, we have the only Air Force operated port in the world, and conséquently, the operation of this port is a little different from normal, because of our latitude in the application of commercial practices. The United States Military Port of Manila is not only a port; it is an installation that lends logistical support to all military units in the Manila area, in addition to the Commanding General, Thirteenth Air Force, in his contacts with Philippine governmental agencies. It has also served to cement Philippine-American friendly relations through our recreational facilities. We have our own communications, finance, and we have our own mortuary. The port is a complete installation with approximately 20 different functions. These different activities within the port include refrigerated intransit storage, which has a capacity of 130,000 cubic feet, for storage of chilled and fresh cargo used by all military units in the Philippines. These supplies are offloaded at our port where they are issued to the consuming units under the direction of the Six Thousand Two Hundred and Eighth Depot Wing. The port is directly subordinate to the Commanding General, Thirteenth Air Force. However, we do have some responsibilities performed for the Six Thousand Two Hundred and Eighth Depot Wing in the interest of economy. PILFERAGE The port earned an enviable reputation in that our pilferage has been reduced to a very bare minimum. Pilferage from July 1950 to October 31, 1951, amounted to less than $1,000 in the United States Military Port of Manila. Pilferage from over-the-road transportation from port to Clark Air Force Base and other Army units amounted to $1.499 for the same 16-month operation. These are almost unbelievable figures for port pilferage. AIR FORCE SERVING OTHER AGENCIES EFFECTIVELY IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS We have no particular problems at our port. I think it is a very fine example of unification in that we do serve the Army, we serve the State Department, we serve the Navy to a degree; and all those functions are being carried on with the most amiable relations. Our supply problems are taken care of through Thirteenth Air Force and Six Thousand Two Hundred and Eighth Depot Wing. We depend upon them for all issuance of supplies and again, we at the port have very little supply difficulty except for a few items and those particular difficulties are being rapidly ironed out. STATEMENT OF COL. CARL E. RANKIN, DEPUTY FOR MATÉRIEL, HEADQUARTERS, SIX THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTH DEPOT WING Colonel RANKIN. Ladies and Gentlemen, the depot, Six Thousand Two Hundred and Eighth Depot Wing, is an Air Force depot, and operates under the control of FEAMCOM in Japan. We have the direct logistic responsibility for support of all Air Force and Army units in the Philippine area. We also support units that were mentioned here a while ago, such as, the air sections of MAAGS, the air attachés, and air liaison offices at Rangoon, Bangkok, Saigon, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Singapore, and Formosa. The organization of the wing is comparatively simple. We operate through a depot supply group and a depot maintenance group. Our sources of supply on Air Force items are through FEAMCOM, Japan, to the Air Force depots in the States, mostly the one located at Sacramento. Generally speaking, our tech service supplies are requisitioned directly to the overseas supply depot at San Francisco. We also have considerable responsibility in the supply of POL items to all units including the Navy in the Philippine area and this is accomplished through our operation of the Bataan POL terminal located on Bataan Peninsula. We also have stocks of POL in Pandacan commercial terminal, located in Manila. We have a considerable supply pipeline, as you can well imagine. The items furnished us from Japan, we receive in about 30 days; that from the States in about 120. * * * Very little of our supplies come from Japan. We do some business up there with the Eight Thousand and First Transportation Corps depot. Cross-service agreements have been entered into with the Navy at Subic Bay for the use of their repair facilities for the vessels that belong to the Army and Air Force. In support of these operations we have a more or less centralized type of operation in this depot. We have only one purchasing and contracting unit. The depot handles all purchasing and contracting for the Air Force and Army units in the Philippines. We have only one salvage and disposal unit that handles all such business for the Air Force and Army units in the Philippines. We have one statistical services unit that accomplishes that business for the Army and Air Force in the Philippines. * * * We have approximately 275,000 line items in our depot. Brigadier General MOORE. Ladies and gentlemen, we made this intentionally very brief, and to the point along many lines. Mr. Chairman, do you have any questions? Mr. BONNER. No, sir. Mrs. HARDEN. I should like to ask General Moore if there are any Wafs, Wacs, or Waves stationed here? Brigadier General MOORE. I can't speak for the Waves. The answer is that about a year ago, it was determined we could utilize 300 Wacs in this command. About a month ago we were informed that there were not enough of them available to us. However, we did indicate that we could use about 300. Mr. LANTAFF. How is class 1 subsistence provided? Colonel RANKIN. It is provided through-you are talking about? Mr. LANTAFF. Class 1 subsistence. Colonel RANKIN. It is provided through the agency from Japan and from the States. As far as this agency is concerned, it comes through the military port of Manila, and is distributed by our depot. (Later corrected to: "direct requisition on San Francisco Port, on subsistence.") Mr. LANTAFF. So the Air Force here handles all supplies including subsistence? Colonel RANKIN. Not entirely. The Navy brings in most of their own subsistence items. Mr. LANTAFF. You are just talking about Army and Air Force? Colonel RANKIN. The only responsibility we have with the Navy is the POL and we have a cross-service agreement with them on vessel repair. Mr. LANTAFF. You mentioned that a very small percentage comes from FEAMCOM. Where are requisitions for supplies submitted? Colonel RANKIN. They are submitted to FEAMCOM who extracts them to our depot in the States, or on tech service items direct to San Francisco Port. Mr. LANTAFF. What about class II items? Colonel RANKIN. Class II, sir, always goes to Japan. Mr. LANTAFF. To FEAMCOM? Colonel RANKIN. Yes, sir; for Air Force clothing; QM class II goes to OSDSFPOE. Mr. LANTAFF. So that in general, your requisitions go through FEAMCOM and are processed by them from their warehouse stocks or supplied directly from the States? Colonel RANKIN. That's correct. The overseas supply depot ships them to us for Air Force port credits or they will go out and purchase if we cite funds. Mr. LANTAFF. How would you requisition for a specific item like drafting equipment needed by the Topographical Battalion? Colonel RANKIN. They would requisition on us and we would consolidate all the requisitions and send that to the San Francisco Port. Mr. LANTAFF. You have one requisition form for the same requisition? Colonel RANKIN. Right. Mr. LANTAFF. You find that works satisfactorily for supplying Army and Air Force personnel? Colonel RANKIN. Well, I would be saying my business Mr. LANTAFF. I am not talking about your administration, I am talking about the system. Colonel RANKIN. We are making it work here except you run into some items you have no requisition source for. COMMON ITEMS HANDLED BY AIR FORCE FOR ARMY Mr. LANTAFF. How many common items do you handle for Army and Air Force? Colonel RANKIN. I would say it would be about two-thirds of the line items of the 275,000. Mr. LANTAFF. About 200,000 common items? Colonel RANKIN. In this type of depot here and through the past history, we have accumulated a large number of tech service items, and items common to both Army and Air Force. Our stock of peculiar Army items is very small. About 70 percent of our items are socalled Army-Air common items. Mr. LANTAFF. Are they excess service items? Colonel RANKIN. Yes. Mr. LANTAFF. Have they been reported as excess items? Mr. LANTAFF. How long ago? Colonel RANKIN. As long ago as 6 months. Mr. LANTAFF. What is the value of those excess items? Colonel RANKIN. I don't know the value of it. * Mr. LANTAFF. Are they stored locally here? |