had to be identified and reassigned from other units, not only within the brigade but throughout USARV to their original units. This was accomplished and all personnel were redeployed with their units The strength of the brigade, both military and civilian, continued to rise during the first six months of 1969, but in July, with the beginning of redeployment, coupled with a hiring freeze on local national personnel imposed in May, a downward trend began. The strength of the command as of 1 January 1969 was 10,468 assigned personnel. The strength of the command as of 31 December 1969 was 9,901. A personnel status of particular importance during the year was the initiation of projected requisitioning authorities. Personnel Status, 1969 (Note 1) PRA=Projected Requisitioning Authority (Note 2) *=Chemist assigned to the 20th Preventive Medicine Unit (Note 3) **=Assigned as aviators in Dustoff units Program 6 continued until a peak authorization of 465 spaces was reached on 30 June 1969. This program was a civilianization plan where military spaces were replaced by local national civilians on the basis of 1.5 civilian to 1 military. In general, this program had not been effective; the reduction of 317 military spaces which was imposed by Headquarters USARV required replacement by MOS and job description, and the availability of adequately trained local nationals was insufficient to meet these requirements. The actual assigned strength versus authorized strength under this program varied from 50 to 70 percent during the year. The responsibility for conducting medical training classes for local national personnel was transferred to the Civilian Training Institute at Long Binh. Classes were graduated in March and May 1969; the hiring freeze precluded further classes. In the spring of 1969, a shortage of company grade Medical Service Corps officers in MOS 3506 (Field Medical Assistant) developed. No officers in this MOS arrived during the months of March, April, and May. Due to redeployment and inactivation of units, the brigade gained sufficient MSC officers assigned and was able to in some cases, cancel requisitions, especially for field grade officers. A shortage of Army Nurse Corps (ANC) officers continued throughout the year. In March 1969, the brigade commanding general granted the group commanders authority to assign and reassign ANC officers within their respective groups, requiring only coordination with the office of the chief nurse. Group commanders retained the authority for assignment of Medical Corps (MC) officers, but in October,