Show some things illings are worse than i nah being behin U in the army by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator washington less than a month from now the draft i will hit hil L young America Arne ricans but it will be a nudge not a wallop i one chief immediate I 1 purposes ur poses is to deflect the flood of enlistments of young men from the national guard and the re serves to ito the regular services it Is expected that so many will enli strother enlist rather than walt wait until they are invited that only between and will actually be requested to report or it at all strange that there Is la certain amount of reluctance on the part of so many m any young americans to leap to arms the moment ment they ascertain that their country has decided they are needed there are arc no bugles blowing no fori foreign i tyrant has soiled the nations honor there I 1 is I 1 no visible sign of a Dauk baukhage hage military feces sity to disturb the even tenor of their activities annlot and sand lot moyle movie poolroom work study or play on the contrary there has hag been an almost steady anti anil military propaganda from all sorts of sources off all the way from the paid agents 0 the kremlin to the innocent ideal ests or the doting mothers who think thatis that if fighting must be indulged in hi should be done by some other mothers boy the polls show these propagandists are in aho he ml mi dority but they are a loud minority personally 11 K I 1 were advising a teenager teen tein ager I 1 never would recommend close order drill or tossing together ft a batch of firing data which would produce alm almost as many short as overs as tha ho one most moat terrifically ecru method of whiling away a couple of years on the other hand haidn I 1 have hav a had J more adulterated pleasure in doing quite a number of things in which were not included learning the mul ti habte cutting tho the lawns lawn making a trial balance working a paper route tron translating slating the chapter which begins caesar trans pons pong licit or even cary ing the thanksgiving turkey the a cams came dinner V As I 1 say eay I 1 tan can imagine several things many people would rather do than these mentioned including military service but having done then most people arc better forit for it I 1 admit that for ono one of a delicate nervous disposition unable to adjust just hla his personality to groups carving a turkey for the first arst time tibebe tim ebe be lore fore tn in laws lawa might bo be tho the worst thing imaginable it might be the one particular thing that the particular trauma affecting that par aular Indi individual viddal stand extreme psychosis might results result even a psychotic condition that would W W lead to homicide or some other emotional outburst that a stronger psyche could nave have repressed or sublimated into kicking the dog or dropping molasses 0 on his cifes kirdle girdle I 1 grant all this ibis freely there ate are men so unable to meet the simple challenge of the crowd for instance evou even those only mildly afflicted with agoraphobia that hat they never could stand a simple formation like pay call I 1 have known the type tape in civilian lite life so sensitive to the presence of others that altho although he be hid bad been drinking peacefully for hours hour tand anil accepting tho the hospitality pita lity of say wo or three no ao quain when an addition ial 1 al member appeared just when it at was bui our subjects turn urn to buy around round bel be would jump through a plate glass window windo iv four sto rica io the street below someway he lacked tho group instinct I 1 admit that type probably get ga on in the army long however I 1 claim these are exceptions tho the majority of the tae problems the youth of our land is going to have to face soon ore or not too tough and they are good exercise like parading in full kit meanwhile ok ei men without giving more than a thought to the bord hardships ships ahead of them of these according to the experts are re enlistments and therefore should know what they are getting into will already have jollied joined up thus reducing the number of those who bashfully await their uncles nod this year 1 I thus out of the fhe new men needed less lesi than win will be drafted and many of those who are called will not be chosen because of the number of exemptions granted veterans with combat records with DO 90 days day service be bc tween peart pearl harbor and VJ vi day or with IS 19 months service since september 1940 1040 will bo be exempt as will anyone thohas who has earned a combat Infantry mans badge a purple heart air medal or any combat medal exemptions will be granted to any veteran joining an organized sed reserve unit or if the nearest one which he otherwise might join is an unreasonable distance from where he lives there are three kinds of deferments for those planning on going to college 1 for all full time students until academic year ends 2 advanced students in certain specialties 3 four years deferment for college students enrolling in a full four year ROTC course or other military courses under special conditions there are exemptions under certain conditions fo for married men high school students scientists eni en i ginders and reservists 1 so not many mamy y young oung men who dont want to are going to have to servo serve in n the he armed forces of their country at least leas at pres ent there seem to bo be e enough nol agh ready to step forward before they are arc actually called As I 1 remarked it Is easy to understand der stand why the average youth would rather not a accept the c eions and discipline of army life A part of the lack of enthusiasm for soldiering Is du duo to the long tradition in ili the united states that sol diering Is in a wartime business for all those who dont make it th their C ir full time business and I 1 use the 66 word business because it describes a career honored willis in this country far above that t of the professional man the artist or the writer writ erand and the homage rendered Is even greater in comparison it if a member of the military profession is involved excepting cep dep ting of bourse course war heroes this la Is something hard to change but the thing we con can and should combat is the propaganda referred to earlier propaganda which Is put forward in many cases for or far different reasons than even the proponents realize par to too often objection to military service la Is made on the basis that it in itself to is a bad thing or a wasteful thing thine when tho the real reason behind tho the argument Is s a selfish unwillingness to take the risk or sacrifice the time and effort which the service involves frequently this false reasoning stems entirely from the influence of a 0 parent whose purely selfish possessiveness sessi veness has perverted tho the mind of a youngster who otherwise would accept his responsibility and take his training in his stride with no more than the ordinary harmless grousing which chichis chis la us as much a martof part of military service as the alibis at th the 1 mh gill holo hole it like this thi s t tn n the lie old army the army psychologists have been working double time ever cyer since they discovered that it tool more thaw than guts and gunpowder to win wars and that tho winning was easier on something besides hardtack and whiskey in world war II 11 besides the best food an army ever ate better medical attendance than the overage average civilian con can get and a lot more superlatives perla tives tho the armed forces went in for yards and yards pi 91 colored ribbon it did no harm oven if the british did say the yanks got a new service stripe every time they taw sow a battle in a newsreel and it helped morale and now something new nev has been added A whole new system of chevrons che tn in two colors have been devised for combat and non non commis stoned officers oO leers combat lead ers squad sergeants and platoon sergeants for example uit get an inch wide tab of green tn in the ho middle of each shoulder loop despite oil all this ghisi I 1 cant help thinking oi of troverse the tho verse that came out of a where anere was olive drab with the drab predo predominating ml ting it goes like this oh the general with his stars leaden the parade the colonel and the adjutant a ln all the me braid the major and the skipper none oj 0 cm m look so BO line fine as asa a newly minted core cor a comin down tho the lanot ike say anything before the democratic political convention gen dwight D elsen E isen hower sit down to write a letter without reading in his newspaper the next day that that letter had been translated translated into an acceptance on hla his part to run against truman for the presidential nomination had eisenhower Elsen hower written a letter saying that he often leaned back aback to dream about the north african campaign or to think about the decisions at ai casablanca someone would have been suro sura to ta corrie come forth to say see pint pat lie ile talks falks about a campaign obviously hinting at the presidential race and decisions at casablanca get set that casablanca is spanish for white house |