Draft Calls to Drop Soon, Service Magazine Predicts

Monthly draft calls, previously believed on their way up, will probably be cut substantially starting in February, the unofficial armed services magazine predicted yesterday.

The Army-Navy-Air Force Journal claimed that "forthcoming draft calls will be reduced substantially as a result of cutbacks in Army manpower this year."

This comes in partial contradiction to the statements of Assistant Secretary of Defense John A. Hannah, who recently told reporters that the draft would not only continue for the next six years, but that there would be little possibility of any cuts in the monthly quotas.

"It is possible that the cut will be reflected in the February call, soon to be announced," the Journal said.

Recent Calls About 23,000 a Month

According to the magazine, recent calls have averaged about 23,000 a month. The Pentagon had indicated that calls for months later in the year might go considerable higher.

"The latest word from the Pentagon precludes these figures, and there almost undoubtedly will be a considerable drop in the draft call," a spokesman for the Journal said yesterday.

"The draft call will drop, to make certain there is no surplus in the current fiscal year, and it certainly will not rise to the previously mentioned monthly calls of 37,000 during the next 18 months," the Journal added.

No Exact Figure Given

The Journal did not predict exactly how much the draft calls would fall, and the spokesman also refused to give an approximate figure.

When Hannah had predicted the long range draft at an increasing rate, he said "The cold truth of the matter is that we have been putting young men into uniform faster than the males in the population turn 18 1/2 years old."

If induction, volunteering and enlistment continue at the present rates, the "bottom of the pool" may be reached within two or three years, Hannah added.

He noted that almost 60 percent of the army's strength is made up of draftees, and that there is a great need for professional soldiers that the recent draftees could rally around in case of emergency. The military services are losing experienced men in "disturbing" numbers, he stated.