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Show Army Strives to Take Some Of the Risks Out of Warfare were taught how during training courses. Our realistic training methods are actually safety methods. Experience Experi-ence has shown that the average recruit is as frightened by battle noise and battle confusion as he is by bullets. Such a soldier becomes excited, perhaps fires his rifle unintentionally, un-intentionally, perhaps kills or wounds his own comrades instead of the enemy. Such a soldier is unsure un-sure of himself, nerve - taunt, "jumpy." On army Infiltration courses battle-green soldiers are taught bow to crawl across rough terrain, through barbed wire, while machine go ballets whiz above their heads, and TNT charges explode nearby like enemy land mines. Graduates f these safcty-ln-battle courses are not likely to suffer needless wounds or needless death. They know that in crawling It is vital to keep the bead and body down; that a smart soldier crawls under barbed wire, not over it; that a soldier whose weapon Is not clean and ready to function when needed Is a soldier most likely to become a casualty. Mention the word "doughboy" to most persons, and they think of a man with a rifle and a bayonet. That may have been true in previous pre-vious wars, but it is not true in this one. Safety training and practice in the army ground forces goes a long way beyond this basic rifle-and-bay-onet conception of the American foot soldier. Weapon training adds to the soldier's chance of survival by making mak-ing him versatile with a great many more weapons than his rifle. Among these are hand and rifle grenades, combat knife, automatic pistol, machine pistol, carbine, automatic rifle, three types of machine ma-chine guns, two types of mortars, flame thrower, bazooka, mines and booby traps, bangalore torpedo and other demolition equipment. Most probably the individual infantryman will never be called upon to use all these weapons in combat, but he may at any time be called upon suddenly in an emergency to use any one of them. The knowledge and facility gained during training increases in-creases powerfully the safety factor fac-tor protecting the uniformed man in battle. In addition the army ground forces protects its men in the field by careful instruction in battle and Soldiers Taught How To Avoid Accidental Injuries in Battle Ordnance specialists call it "brisance." A layman would call it the shattering power of a detonated explosive. But whatever you call it, it's terrifically ter-rifically dangerous. Controlled Con-trolled brisance kills the enemy. ene-my. Uncontrolled by rules of safety, it kills and maims Americans. To speak of safety methods in connection con-nection with the grim business of waging war sounds incongruous. Yet the army's ordnance department, depart-ment, its ground forces, its air forces and its service forces have piled up an amazing safety record in time of war. For example, look at the score in the nation's three score government govern-ment owned, contractor operated explosive producing arsenals under supervision of the U. S. army ordnance ord-nance department. In January, 1941, less than 11 million pounds of powder and explosives ex-plosives were produced in the U. S. Three years later, in January, 1944, we produced more than a quarter of a billion pounds of explosives, and during those three years our total production was nearly 6 billion pounds. I Incredible as it may appear, in handling the most powerful explosives ex-plosives known to man, some so sensitive they must be transported under water, others so potent that a small amount penetrates five inches of concrete, it is nevertheless neverthe-less a fact that there were only 255 injuries during 1943 throughout all these installations In America Nor is this safety program confined con-fined to civilian workers. Our men in uniform have benefited greatly from modern safety methods. No one would describe the job of a soldier on active wartime duty as a "safe" job. Yet, granting that the soldier risks his life constantly in the performance of his duty, the army makes sure that he does not risk it needlessly. Gun tubes, for example, which must resist high pressures yet must field sanitation, in personal hygiene, in the safe use of drinking water, wa-ter, and in defense against diseases caused by insects and parasites. Even so small a thing as the common com-mon foot blister is not ignored in army safety practice. Fewer Air Corps Accidents. Equally insistent on the highest possible safety standards in the dangerous business of waging war 4s the army air forces training command. com-mand. During the first six months of 1943 a total of 13.4 million military flying hours were logged in continental con-tinental U. S. During the same period in 1944 the total was 20.1 million. Despite this impressive increase in-crease of more than 6,500,000 hours, fatal accidents and death totals were actually reduced. ' Furthermore, the improvement is continuing. In July, 1944, the accident acci-dent rate for training type planes was the lowest yet recorded. During Dur-ing July in the continental U. S. trainees In undergraduate pilots' schools logged an amazing total of flying time in rT-13's, -17's, -18's and -27's, with only one fatal accident! Graduate pilots operating combat type airplanes in transition schools and in the replacement training units established safety records, too. Pilots in B-17 Flying Fortresses achieved an all-time low in crack-ups. crack-ups. Also in July, 1944, there were only two fatal accidents in the highspeed high-speed B-25 Billy Mitchells. This is not the safety record of a commercial airline, or even a commercial com-mercial truck fleet, but the safety experience of a giant air force engaged en-gaged in global war. The motto of the army has never been "Safety First." In army parlance par-lance safety is knowledge. Army airmen achieve safety because they know. Typical is the procedure for forced landings in water, which includes in-cludes how to swim through fire, how to handle rubber boats and parachutes, defense against sharks, precautions to take against wind, weather and the hundreds of hazards haz-ards that confront men adrift in open water. Airmen know how to take every conceivable precaution in case of jungle landings, or any other type of landing which may lead to danger or difficulty. In war great hazards cannot be avoided, but trained and disciplined men with a knowledge of those hazards, haz-ards, and the "know-how" to avoid or to overcome some of them, have developed one of the greatest organized or-ganized safety programs o.' all time. A twisted or broken ankle can disable dis-able a soldier as effectively as an enemy bullet. American fighting men learn how to jump from a moving mov-ing vehicle and land without injury. This Is only one of the many tricks taught in army training camps. also be light for easy aiming and transportation, are tested with excess ex-cess pressure rounds before acceptance accept-ance to insure their safety in the hands of the troops. Now our projectiles are "bore safe." They cannot explode within the gun. Reflecting this confidence in the safety of their weapons, our men are now regarded as the finest marksmen in the world. Escape Hatches in Tanks. The combat crew inside a battle tank cannot have and do not expect to have absolute safety. But the army sees to it that within the limits lim-its of normal battle hazards they are protected from unnecessary risks. Tanks are provided with hatches on both the top and bottom surfaces sur-faces for easy escape, regardless of the position of the tank. New automatic controls reduce driver's fatigue. Seats are cushioned against shock and are provided with safety belts. Padding is placed at many points to avoid dangerous impact shock. Forced ventilation cools the tank interior in summer heat, and drives off toxic gun gases during combat. Accident prevention, however, in no way impairs the effectiveness of our fighting men, the war department depart-ment said. A hard-hitting, tough-bodied tough-bodied army continues to be our objective. There are fewer sprained i ankles, wrenched knees or sprained backs in our field armies of today because safety training programs have taught men how to jump correctly cor-rectly from relatively great heights with rifles and packs. Men lifting various heavy objects in the field do so without injury because they |