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-3-

Those considerations were less important to me then than they would be now.  I thought my line of work was more exciting and interesting than theirs.  I still think so.  But as time passed I became aware that I was trapped in a blind alley as far as promotion was concerned.  That was because (a) I was an "emergency officer" to be promoted only on special recommendation for "merit"; (b) I was serving two masters, the air service and the artillery.  The first could not promote me, the second would not.  That situation was not remedied until near the end of the war, after I had become physically disqualified for further service and was therefore out of the running.  Until then I never heard of an observer holding a reserve or a National Guard commission who was promoted.  I want to comment on that in another letter.