The Salt Lake Tribune Thursday Morning, October 15, 1953 Established April 15,1871. Issued every morning by The Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., Salt Lake City, Utah. Military Service, an 8 Year Obligation Assistant Secretary of Defense John A. Hannah said flatly the other day that every able bodied young man in America faces, for the indefinite future, the obligation of eight years of military service. And, as if to confirm the forecast, the next day the draft call of 23,000 men was continued for the month of December, with the statement It Gets More Sickening The confession of a Kansas City man and woman that they killed their kidnap victim, 6 year old Bobby Greenlease, pretty well ties up the case, one of the most sickening in the annals of depravity. Their admission that they deliberately planned to kill the lad, dug a grave and purchased lime to put over his body even before perpetrating the kidnaping taxes ones credulity. How minds even clouded by dope and alcohol could plan and execute such indescribable cruelties, not the least of which were torturing the frantic parents for days, defies explanation. Not even the blood thirstiest beasts of the jungle would be capable of such cruelty and avariciousness. Carl Austin Hall, who admittedly master minded the outrage and tried to blame the killing on a degenerate ex convict associate, has an impressive crime record. Why this wastrel son of a wealthy Kansas City lawyer was on parole from the Missouri state penitentiary, after serving only a part of a five year sentence for robbery, is now under official investigation. The whole Missouri parole system and personnel should be scrutinized and the parole idea itself likely will be subjected to reappraisal. It should be kept in mind, however, that failure of one case should not discredit the whole parole idea. The failure could be charged to slip shod methods, inadequate officials or downright corruption. Because Hall and his alcoholic woman friend took their victim into Kansas they will be prosecuted under the federal Lindbergh law that came into being as a result of a similar outrage in 1931 involving the infant son of Col. and Mrs. Charles Lindbergh. Under this law life imprisonment is mandatory for kidnaping and a jury may provide the death penalty if the victim is not returned unharmed. No punishment seems quite adequate for this crime. Out of this heinous episode should come a lesson for every school teacher and official in the land. Bonnie Heady succeeded in getting Bobby Greenlease released from a private school by posing as his aunt. Any school attache who in the future permitted a stranger to take a child away, without confirmation from the childs home, would be guilty of criminal neglect. A simple telephone call would eliminate any doubts. More Harm Than Good It was bound to happen. Following last weeks fire explosion of a truck loaded with high explosives on Omahas western edge, officials of several Nebraska cities are said to be planning action which would bar such trucks from their city streets, and Omahas fire commissioner was reported favoring action which would forbid explosives trucks from using any of the Missouri River bridges leading into Omaha. Last weeks Omaha ammunition truck accident only one of a series of mishaps involving such trucks which have occurred recently in various parts of the country, including one on our own Parleys Canyon highway and one on a highway near Paul, Idaho resulted in the death of three women. the call would likely have to be increased next year when terms of draftees now in service expire m large numbers. Several million youths and young men, their parents, their sweethearts or their wives have been wrestling with this military service problem for some time. Many have wondered if it were best to get it over with early by enlisting or volunteering for induction. Others have thought that by putting off the time of active service something might turn up to relieve them of the obligation. That latter prospect is, however, now greatly dimmed. In the first place, the exemption which many once obtained through marriage and fatherhood no longer applies. Since August a man is still liable to the draft even though he has a family to support a fact which sharply changes the outlook for many a young man torn between the desire to settle down and raise a family and meeting his liability for military service. Second important factor is one of simple statistics. There is today no surplus of able bodied young men for military service. Defense experts believe we will need for an indefinite period between three and three and a half million men under arms. To maintain that size armed force, with an average of three years of service for each man, will require a million new men a year and there are not that many now available. To fill the gap draft boards are today dipping into lower and lower age brackets. Now most are calling up 19 year olds, although in Utah the draft is still in the 20 year age bracket. This situation will continue for at least seven years, until 1960, when the higher birth rate which started in 1941 will make available a million or more men each year. So we have today to all intents and purposes universal military service, with the terms of service set by law at eight years, two in active service, six in the reserves. The youth of today reaching 18 faces many choices as he registers for service. He may enlist for a four year hitch in the Navy or the Air Force. He may enlist for three years in the Army. He may ask for immediate induction, which means two years Army service. He may seek deferment as an apprentice, student, agricultural worker, etc. Or he may just wait for lightning in the form of an induction notice to strike. But whatever he does, the choice is a difficult one. If he gets it over with by enlistment or voluntary induction at 18, he may not return to complete education or other occupational training later. If he postpones service he may marry and then have family life disrupted by a hitch in the Army. And if he just waits for induction he will have nq opportunity to pick the branch and kina of service which he might prefer. Frankly, it is not too pleasing a prospect which the boy approaching young manhood faces today. It isnt easy to take two years or more out of a life so full of other interests in order to fulfill what to him must seem a somewhat vague obligation to support American security and world wide American interests and responsibilities. The amazing thing is how well these young men of ours take up this challenge, and how willingly, on the whole, they accept their obligation. Sometimes it seems parents take it far harder than they do themselves. Perhaps that is just youthful heedlessness. But we prefer to believe it is stout hearted acceptance of manly responsibility, plus youthful confidence in their own ability to face even an uncertain future and come out on top.