A COMPARISON OF ATTITUDES OF ENLISTED AND COMMISSIONED AIR FORCE PERSONNEL

Eighteen questions are asked about proper punishment of an airman found guilty (hypothetical) of desertion of 2,300 commissioned officers (from 17 AF bases) and 1,000 airmen of the first 3 grades at 5 bases of the Strategic AC. The officers show significantly greater tendency to recommend clemency and psychiatric treatment than airmen. H-type Guttman scale using 9 of 11 items yields a coefficient of reproducibility of 99.5 for both samples. The difference between the (mean - average) scale scores of officers and airmen is significant beyond the .001 level. Data is insufficient to test explanations of the greater leniency of officers. Widespread observation seems to confirm that enlisted members of the AF in military courts actually vote for harsher sentences than commissioned members. J. Nehnevajsa.