Show infantry quits stepchild role new profile system used in assigning draftees Is given credit washington take it from gen ben lear the infantry today is well past its stepchild days and now is getting not only the most but the best of manpower A new profile system of assigning draftees is credited reports the associated socia ted press the army seeking to meet the changing conditions as the war swells into the full offensive stage several months ago put aside the original system of supplying the ground forces with men almost entirely on a numerical b basis asis after the needs of air forces and other special groups were met the new system classifies men both on their physical condition and mental ordination coordination co a profile of their general adapt abilities for combatant and noncombatant service two profiles lor for infantry lear army ground forces commander said in an interview A high percentage of the top profiles go into the ground forces today most of them into the infantry the reason is that under the principle of first things first it was necessary to place the air forces into operation ahead of the large masses of men on the ground who must fight for the final decision now that it has arrived at that stage the final phase force the infantry is getting the preference the general recalled that in 1942 when the mission of the ground forces was defensive the manpower allocation was almost completely reversed until very recent months the overall over all objective of the ground forces command in this country was to train and organize infantry by units of divisions train as replacements but now the call for replacements grows with each battle abroad army casualties are approaching the mark therefore the doughboy gets his basic infantry skills at one of the several replacement training c centers en then goes overseas to weld the replacement soldier into the front line organization the army has adopted a buddy system A veteran combat infantryman takes over tutelage and escorts the replacement into combat there he imparts by word and example the art of killing a german or japanese lear was asked how replacements are performing on the fighting front he replied that so far I 1 have not had a single complaint |