Show it f f j Private Henry McLemore New Buck Private Gets First Taste Of Orderly in Army Powder Room CAMP BLANDING Fla Let other buck privates private boast of having been around a lot of army brass brus if they want to That's all right with me inc Im I'm not a bit jealous As a matter of fact tact it only makes me feel a aI abit alt I bit lt superior because after less than nan a week at Camp Blanding I have rubbed elbows elbow with a lot lotof lotof I of chromium My introduction to this briliant brilliant brilliant bril- bril stuff came yesterday at Morning Formation when Jackson Jackson Jackson Jack Jack- son D D. D Smith six feet two feet two feet two anda and and- a more little of top sergeant fastened his hs eyes on me Aft After r giving jiving me a stare that would have withered the blooms off oll ollan an artificial cactus and causing me to feel that I had broken all articles of war Sergeant Smith called my name and told me to report to Private First Class Reynolds Reynolds' Private First Class Reynolds a fine young man from Crescent City Fla is in charge of the detail that sees to the neatness of what we in the army always refer to as the mens men powder room We have two powder rooms in company C and Reynolds is prouder of them than if it they were a combination of the Taj Mahal St. St Pauls Paul's the Empire State building and the Ritz He starts his detail detail detail de de- de- de tail to work on them at 8 in the morning and it is not until 4 in the afternoon that he mak makes s his Ms final inspection and if finding finding finding find find- ing everything lovelier than a sunrise over the Painted desert dismisses the detail The men's mens powder rooms of company C are quite a bit different different dif dlf ferent from frOIn the powder rooms at the Stork club the 21 club and all the other powder rooms I have frequented in recent years They not only have very modern conveniences They have every modern convenience 40 or 50 times Of course they dont don't have a faithful old retainer who out of the love for the customers and a whacking tip will spray you with perfume shine your shoes brush you off and mix you a throat gargle But we wedo wedo wedo do have a faithful old guard who armed with a stout stick is thoughtful enough to wander in and out to see to it that we wedo wedo wedo do not grow so 10 charmed with the place that th t we try to convert it into a combination recreation hall U S 0 O hut lI library arY and play play- ground The United Sta Stays s army Ls is far farand farand farand and away the best bee be equipped in inthe inthe inthe the world and go Into combat with Everything they could need But the army obviously ly does not consider the equip equipment ent of a powder room ps as s an enemy because It sent us ue in there with some stuff that was left over from all the wars we have ever fought We had brooms that had seen service service ice in the Revolutionary war scrub cloths that had been torn of off the tails tall of of G GI I shirts issued in the War of 1812 props mops that had won ribbons for service in inthe inthe inthe the Spanish-American Spanish war and bars of soap that were given honorable discharges from the army as long ago as M 1919 Anyone Anyone Anyone Any Any- one who thinks the army wastes material should join a powder room detail and find out put for himself that the army su still places a great deal of faith in elbow grease the ability of a privates private's knees to wear the dirt off the floor and the power of a privates private's privates private's privates private's vates vate's han hands s to handle everything everything everything every every- thing from the cloven hoofs of the devil on up I The powder room detail of company C consists of a dozen men or so that number being available due to the fact that Camp Blanding is a reception center and those of us here are mar marking ing time until officially assigned as as- signed Private First Class Reynolds has worked out a a. system of cleaning cleaning- powder rooms that is isas isas isas as efficient as any wartime production production pro pro- line While White one group is fB cleaning the shower room another another another an an- other i is scrubbing the sinks and the There is a man who handles scrub cloths a man who wrings them out a m man n who is in sole charge of soap basins another whose responsibility responsibility responsibility is fB the mirrors another who handles the window cleaning cleaning cleaning clean clean- ing another who supervises the scrubbing of the duck boarding another who is Ls responsible forthe for the and trash receptacles cles etc While scalding water is played on the floor by one group another group scrubs the floor until it Jt is as spotless as the und underside of an angels angel's wings I was in none of ot these groups group My group was WM given an even more highly specialized task taska task task- a task calling for fol super judgment judgment judg judg- ment super skill a a. delicate touch and a thorough knowl knowledge dge of the intricacies of modern modem plumbing |