48 Applicable laws.
Organization. Appointment c Air Force cadets
Service p r e f erence for appointment a s officer.
PUBLIC LAW 326-APR. 1, 1954
[68
STAT.
SEC. 5. All appropriate provisions of law, not inconsistent with the purposes of this Act, which pertain to the United States Military Academy shall, by the authority of this section, also pertain to the United States Air Force Academy. All references in these laws to the Secretary of the Army, the Army, or any officer or agency thereof shall, in pertaining to the Air Force Academy, be construed as referring, respectively, to the Secretary of the Air Force, the Air Force, and such officers and agencies of the Air Force as he may designate. The organization of the Air Force Academy shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Air Force. SEC. 6. To permit an orderly increase in the number of Air Force cadets during the period ending not more than four years after the entrance of the initial class at the Academy, the Secretary of the Air Force may limit the number to be appointed each year during that period in the following manner: (a) Each Senator and Representative shall nominate not to exceed ten persons, who shall be eligible to take a competitive examination which shall be held annually. The number of vacancies allocated to each State shall be proportional to the representation in Congress from that State. Appointments from each State shall b^ made from among qualified candidates nominated from that State in the order of merit established by the examinations. (b) Vacancies allocated to other sources shall be filled from among qualified candidates in each category in order of merit established by similar competitive examinations and shall not exceed 15 per centum of the total number of appointments authorized. SEC. 7. Section 302(b) of the Air Force Organization Act of 1951 (65 Stat. 329; 10 U.S.C. 1832 (b)) is amended by inserting after the words "provided by law," the words "the professors and cadets of the Air Force Academy,". SEC. 8. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, each cadet at the United States Military Academy and the United States Air Force Academy and each midshipman at the United States Naval Academy shall, prior to his graduation from such Academy, be afforded an opportunity to state a preference for appointment as a commissioned officer of the United States Army, the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, or the United States Marine Corps, upon his graduation, and, with the consent of the Secretaries of the military departments having jurisdiction over such Academy and over the armed force in which he prefers appointment, shall, upon his graduation, be accepted for appointment in such armed force, except that not more than I21/2 per centum of the members of any graduating class of any such Academy shall be appointed as commissioned officers in armed forces other than the one administering such Academy. For the purpose of the foregoing limitations, graduates of the United States Naval Academy appointed as commissioned officers in the United States Marine Corps shall not be considered as having been commissioned in armed forces other than the United States Navy. (b) The Secretary of Defense shall by regulation provide for the equitable and fair distribution of appointments made pursuant to this section in the event that more than 121^ per centum of a graduating class of any academy referred to herein expresses a preference to be so appointed. (c) The provisions of this section shall take effect (1) in the year in which the first class of the United States Air Force Academy graduates, or (2) upon the rescission of the present agreement under which graduates of the United States Military and Naval Academies may volunteer for appointment in the United States Air Force, whichever is earlier.
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