No, US soldiers who voluntarily enlisted or were drafted into the army were in it for the duration of the war. As the war drew to a close, a points system was drawn up to determine who was eligible to go home and when. The Advanced Service Raring Score (ASRS) was drawn up for the express purpose of deciding who was eligible for discharge and who would remain in either Europe or the Pacific as part of the occupation force for the foreseeable future. Basically those who had fought the longest and in the worst of it were eligible for discharge first. Points were allocated depending on the length of service, the length of overseas service, the number of dependents under 18 as well as particular citations and awards. Only certain battles were eligible for points.

The ASRS system obviously had some problems, the most serious being that those men most eligible for discharge were also the most experienced. This was particularly problematic when it came to officers and especially NCOs. The discharge of these valuable personnel would leave an inexperienced and often poorly led occupation force to oversea the territories of the defeated countries so at the start of 1945, the system was revised to prevent those sorts of issues.

The reason that the system for the army suffered from that of the Army Air Force was due to the need for experienced flight crews to train new recruits. Now despite being withdrawn from flight operations, it didn’t mean a discharge from service though it was certainly a far safer and more comfortable service as it meant a stateside posting. The need for experienced trainers and mentors for the army and armoured divisions just didn’t exist as it did for the Air Force.