Executive Order 7970—Regulations Governing the Grades and Ratings of Enlisted Men of the Regular Army for the Fiscal Year 1939
By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of June 20, 1936, 49 Stat. 1554, it is ordered that during the fiscal year 1939 the grades and ratings of the enlisted men of the Regular Army shall be as set forth herein, and that the number of enlisted men in the several grades and ratings shall not exceed the number specified herein.
1. The several grades and the maximum number of enlisted men therein shall be as follows:
| Number | |
| 1st Grade—Master Sergeants-------------------------- | 1,170 |
| 2d Grade—First Sergeants and Technical Sergeants---- | 3,133 |
| 3d Grade—Staff Sergeants----------------------------- | 5,055 |
| 4th Grade—Sergeants---------------------------------- | 14,836 |
| 5th Grade—Corporals---------------------------------- | 14,285 |
| 6th Grade—Privates, 1st Class------------------------- | 44,488 |
| 7th Grade—Privates, the number of whom will be such that when added to the number of enlisted men above Grade Seven and to the authorized number of flying cadets the total will not exceed the enlisted pay strength of the Army appropriated for by the "Military Appropriation Act, 1939", approved June 11, 1938. | |
2. Specialists ratings and the maximum number of enlisted men therein shall be as follows:
| Number | |
| 1st Class--------------------------------------------- | 909 |
| 2nd Class-------------------------------------------- | 1,549 |
| 3rd Class-------------------------------------------- | 2,437 |
| 4th Class-------------------------------------------- | 6,797 |
| 5th Class-------------------------------------------- | 7,120 |
| 6th Class-------------------------------------------- | 19,472 |
FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT
The White House,
September 12, 1938.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Executive Order 7970—Regulations Governing the Grades and Ratings of Enlisted Men of the Regular Army for the Fiscal Year 1939 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/368787