I appreciate the opportunity afforded me this afternoon to express my sincere thanks for the splendid cooperation and support rendered by the Committee on Medical Preparedness of the American Medical Association in the furtherance of the national defense program and to inform you of some of our problems and the action we are taking to solve them in a proper and judicious manner. As physicians and citizens, you have given proof of your interest in national defense. The security of our country is the paramount issue in all our lives today, and everything else must be subordinated to the accomplishment of this purpose. There must be no moral or physical hesitancy until the adequacy of our preparedness insures the national safety of our people. MEDICAL PERSONNEL PROBLEM Our problem is not only of securing personnel in order to furnish an adequate medical service to an unprecedented peacetime army but of