Los Banos Rotary Club History
Sgt. Robt. Jacobsen Cites Necessity Of Observer Corps

Comparing the Ground Observer corps to an insurance policy Sgt. Robt. Jacobsen, area director of the Ground Observer Corps, addressed members of the Rotary and Lions Clubs here Tuesday, telling of the tremendously important job with which the GOC is charged he also showed motion pictures of modern war airplanes and modern war methods, and the work and importance of the GOC in guarding this country against possible enemy attack.

Pointing out that Russia has airplane fields in the Arctic region from which it is possible to launch destructive bombing attacks against major targets in the United States, the Sergeant emphasized that our only insurance against such a possible crippling and fatal attack is round-the-clock vigilance by the U.S. Armed Forces and the civilian Ground Observer Corps. Jacobsen warned against complacency that Russia lacks modern warfare equipment, stating they have the atom bomb, H bomb, and modern planes to haul them—planes that can fly from their home bases, drop their bomb load and return without refueling. Russia has already discarded in-flight refueling as obsolete, and they have 6-engine planes comparable and possibly equal to this country's 8-engine B-52s.

Explaining why the GOC is a "must," the Sergeant explained that radar, for all its wonders, also has its limitations, and leaves many blanks and loopholes that must be stopped if we expect adequate protection against possible enemy attack. In a recent nationwide practice alert in which U.S. planes endeavored to penetrate the country's radar and GOC screen, the military radar intercepted only 2 of 1 per cent of the 150 bomber type planes making the test. Ground Observer posts, on the other hand, intercepted 40 per cent of the planes—not a good score, but immeasurably better than the radar score. He also pointed out that radar has its mechanical limitations and can be sabotaged, jammed and made ineffective in many ways in event of actual enemy attack. Any enemy, he said, surely knows the location of our radar posts and also GOC posts, but if they are thick enough it will be impossible for any plane to miss all of them.

There is another reason why the government must depend on volunteer citizen work to man the GOC posts, Jacobsen said. The same service, if set up by the government on a full 24-hour basis, would cost an estimated $500,000 a year per post, or about $100 an hour for each post-and the GOC is designed to have stations spaced 10 miles apart.

Jacobsen had high praise for the Los Banos Post, saying considered it the finest in this state, and one of the most important, due to its proximity to Castle Field, recognized at one of the primary target areas for an enemy attack.

In a plea for more observer workers, Jacobsen said the job would be very simple if sufficient citizens could be aroused from their apathy and false sense of security. The ideal station, he said, would have a manpower roster sufficient to reduce the individual work load to one two-hour shift a week—a very cheap price to pay for insurance of such magnitude.

November 18, 1955

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