Show Some Things Are Worse Than in the Being Army lit 4 By News Analyst and Comm Commentator WASHINGTON Less Less Less than a month from now the draft j I will hit young oun Americans but it will b be a nudge not a wallop j fr- fr One Ohe of its chief immediate purposes is IS to deflect the flood of enlistments of young men from the national guard and the ref reserves reserves re re- re- re f f serves to the regular services I t It is expected that so many will enlist rather than wait walt until r. r ro i they are invited that only between and will actually be requested to report or or- or It isn't at all strange that there is isi isn i n a certain amount of reluctance on the part of so solf many young 11 1 t i Americans to lf i. i i leap to arms the I moment they ascertain as as- f. f W. W I certain that their t country has decided deZ de de- de- de Z t. t t r. f they are needed There f l are no bug bugles 1 e s cj fl K d blow blowing ng No foreign for for- eign tyrant has soiled the naf nations nation's na na- f f tion's honor to there is no visible visible vis vis- i ible sign of a c military necessity necessity necessity sity to disturb the even tenor of their activities activities- sandlot movie poolroom work study or play S On the contrary there has been an almost steady military anti-military propaganda propaganda propaganda prop prop- from all sorts of sources all nU the way from the paid agents of I the Kremlin to the innocent idealists ideal ideal- or the doting mothers who think that if 11 fighting must be indulged in in it certainly should be done other mothers mother's boy The polls show these propagandists are in the minority minority mi ml- but they are a loud 1000 minority Personally If I were advising a teen teen-ager I never would recommend recommend rec reo- I close order drill or tossing to together ether a batch of firing firing firing fir fir- ing data which would produce almost as many shorts as overs as the one most terrifically a scrumptious method of whiling S. S away a couple of years lot On the other hand I 1 have had more adulterated pleasure in doing S 1 quite a number of things in which were not included learning the multiplication multiplication mul mul- table cutting the lawn L making a trial balance working a paper route translating the chapter chapter chap chap- ter which begins Caesar trans c 1 pons pons edt or even carving carving carving ing the Thanksgiving turkey the i first fist time her relatives came for dinner f As I say I can imagine several V 12 H things many people would rather dow do dothan w f than these mentioned including t. t military service but having done them most people are better for it k t I admit that for one of a delicate 4 nervous disposition unable to adjust adjust ad ad- just his personality to groups carving ff I ing a turkey for the first time be be- fore laws in-laws might be the worst thing imaginable It might be the theone E ft one particular thing that the particular par par- 1 trauma affecting that parI particular par par- individual couldn't stand Extreme psychosis might result result- I even a psychotic condition that would lead to homicide or some other other other oth oth- er emotional outburst that a stronger strong strong- er psyche could have repressed or oi l sublimated into kicking the dog or oi f dropping molasses on his wife's girdIe gir gir- dIe dle l I grant all this freely There arc are men so unable to meet the simple challenge of the crowd for instance even those only mildly afflicted with a agoraphobia I bia that they never could stand standa a simple formation like pay- pay I call I have known the type in civilian life lire so sensitive to the presence of f others that although h he had bad been drinking peacefully for hours and accepting the hospitality hosI hos hos- V I of say two or three acquaintances acV acquaintances ac ac- ac- ac V when hen an additional addition addition- V V al member appeared just when V it was our subjects subject's turn to buy buya a round he be would jump through a plate glass window four stories stories sto sto- S ries to the street below Someway he lacked the group in Ir I admit that type probably y yV V wouldn't get on in the army army long long However I claim these are excer I 1 Lions The maj majority rity of the problems problem kS Vi which the youth of our land is g going go go- ing to have to face soon are not to too o tough And they are good ex exercise e V like like parading in full kit Meanwhile 69 men without it giving more than a thought to tl the te hardships ahead of them O V of these according to the experts expert s are re enlistments and therefore e should know what they are getting ig g into will already have joined u up thus reducing the number of tho those V who bashfully await their Uncles Uncle's V nod this year f Thus out of the new m men m S needed less than will 1 be e eV V drafted And many of those wi who w wV V are called will not be chosen b because because be be- eV eS e- e S V cause of the number at of exemptions granted Veterans with combat records rec reo- rec- rec with 90 00 days service between between between be be- V tween Pearl Harbor Barbor and VJ VJ- day or with 18 months' months service since September 1940 will be S. S exempt as will anyone who has earned a corp combat bat infantryman's Infantryman s badge a 1 Purple Heart Air Medal Med led 1 al aI or or any combat medal Exemptions will be granted t tany to any veteran joining an organized organize ed edne reserve unit oj or if it the nearest o oV on one ne i V which he otherwise might j joinis inIs is a an i C S un unreasonable reasonable distance from rom where he be e lives There are three kinds of deferments deferments defer defer- m ments for tor those planning on going to 0 college 1 I for all time full students stu- stu dents de until academic year ends 2 2 2 advanced students in certain sp specIalties 3 four years' years deferment deferment defer defer- rn ment for college students enrolling in n a full year four-year ROTC course or orther oth other ther er military courses under special ape ape- ci cita ial cial al conditions There are exemptions under cerain ta ain m conditions for tor married men hi high ligh gh school students scientists engineers en- en gi and reservists So not man many young youn men who dont don't want to arc going to have to serve In the armed forces of their country At t least at present present pres pres- ent eat there seem to be enough read ready to step forward before they arc are actually called As I remarked it is easy to understand un- un de why the average youth w would rather not accept the restrictions V tio lons ns and discipline of army life A 1 part of the lack of enthusiasm for forI V I so soldiering is due to the long tradE tradE- V I Lio ion n in the United States that soldiering sol sol- I di ering diering is a wartime business for V all 11 those who dont don't make it their fu business And I use the w word vord business because it describes a career honored in this country far above bove ab ove that of the professional manthe manthe man manthe the the artist or the writer writer and and the ho homage mage omage rendered Is even greater in n comparison if a member of the them m military profession is involved excepting ex- ex epting ce of course war heroes I This is something hard t to change V But the thing we can and should L co com at is the propaganda referred L to o earlier propaganda earlier propaganda which is put fo forward orward in many cases for tor far different dif dif- rent ferent fe reasons than even the proponents pro pro- po realize Far too often objection to military mill mill- tar tary service is made on the basis that it in itself is a bad thin thing or a wasteful thing when the real reason behind the argument argument ment meat is a selfish unwillingness to take the risk or sacrifice the time and effort which the servIce service ice involves Frequently this false faIse reasoning st terns stems ems entirely from the influence o of ofa a parent whose purely selfish possessiveness pos pos- se has perverted the minca mind of f a youngster who otherwise would accept a his responsibility and take hi his lis s training in his stride with no uc nomore nomore m more ore than the or ordinary din a r harmless harmles S grousing rousing g which is as much a part o of f m military service as the alibis at the thc 19 th hole It I t Wasn't Like This Thill In I n the Old Army The army psychologists have been bees 1 w working double time ever since the they r discovered d that it took more than thai g guts and gunpowder to win wars a and nd that the winning was easier oi on t s something besides hardtack and ant I w whiskey hiskey In World War II II besides the best bes Vt fo food bod od an army array ever ate better medical med med- V Val ic cal ical al attendance than the average e civilian c can get and a lot more su superlatives su- su L- L p the armed forces wen went in in for yards and yards of colored colore ii ribbon r It did no harm even if th the e B British did say the Yanks got a anew anew n new ew service stripe every time the they s saw aw a battle in a newsreel And I it it h helped morale And now something new has been added A whole new system system tem tern of chevrons In tw two colors have been devised for combat and non-combat non noncommissioned non non-commis officers Combat lead- lead ers squad ers squad sergeants and platoon platoon pla- pla toon sergeants for example example- get et an wide Inch-wide tab of green In Inthe the middle of each shoulder loop V Despite all this I cant can't help thinking think think- l ing ug of the verse that came out of a war where the prevailing color wa was LS o olive live drab with drab with the drab 1 m It goes like this Oh tI the ie general with his shiny stars leadin 1 the parade the colonel and the at adjutant ad ad- 1 j a all the braid braid- ti the se major and the skipper skipper none none of ci em in l look ook so fine as a newly minted cc car cor corporal a. a comin a down the line the Ike Couldn't Say Anything Before the Democratic political politic a 1 I convention Gen Dwight D. D Eisenhower Eisenhower Eisen Else n. n hower couldn't sit down to write a letter without reading in his newspaper newspaper news new paper the next day that that Iett letter had been translated into an acceptance acceptance accept accept- acceptance ance on his bIs part to run against Truman Tru man for the presidential nomina nomina- tion Had Eisenhower written a letter saying that he often otten leaned back to drea dream about the North African campaign or to think about the de- de deI j I I ns at Casablanca someone would have been sure to come forth I Ito Ito to say See that that He talks about I a campaign obviously campaign obviously hinting at the presidential race and and decisions deci at Casablanca get Casablanca get that Cas Gas Is Spanish for White House |