Show soldiers depend on quartermaster for food shelter and transportation ATLANTA GA gathe the army has a name for or the vast intricate and vital quartermaster corps activity they call it logistics for the man on the street the term is readily understandable when translated as a design for or living how soldiers live are quartered supplied and in this day of mechanized warfare how they are transported is something john Q citizen can comprehend when he puts it on the same plane which he designs for or his own comfort and ability to move about what the quartermaster corps does for more than a million and a half soldiers john Q citizen must do for or himself his design tor for living is only multiplied by the army but somewhere in the multiplication the army tacked on the term logistics which the dictionary defines as that branch of military art which embraces the details of transport quartering and supply of troops so john Q citizen begins to understand der stand logistics when he compares it to the possession and operation 0 of f his motor car tenting and furnishing of his home supplying his family with clothing groceries meats necessities ol of life even down to the ice box in summer and filling the coal bin tor for the winter not many citizens who maintain and own their own automobiles auto mobiles co could old orient their dally daily lives in these times to a new design for living which did not include control ol of their motor cars the housewife to whom the quartermaster corps often has been compared recognizes the necessity cc of having the automobile ready for or instant use when it comes time to meet the bringing hubby home from the office mrs citizen at all in favor of calling her neighbor on the telephone and asking use of the neighbors motor car to fulfill a responsibility which she has long recognized as her own the army in its plan of logistics calls for a simplified system terri on the service of supply to the front lines with quartermaster corps not only responsible for assembly of supplies i but to insure their arrival responsible also for transportation motor service station to meet this motor transport problem the quartermaster corps is moving with tremendous speed in establishing regional motor maintenance districts throughout the country facilities are being installed at a central point in interlocking hundred mile circles to keep each motor vehicle in first class condition and uphold the quartermaster I 1 corps slogan keep lem cm rolling rollin like the housewife who demands her automobile be ready when she wants it the quartermaster corps has pledged that no motor vehicle shall remain out ot of service because of damaged or worn out equipment instead the quartermaster will remove the damaged part and install in its place a new one sending the damaged equipment to the regional depot for repair but keeping the motor truck in service tor for the troops and live up to the demand to keep em rolling I 1 logistics or design for or living so closely links the operation of the transportation with the service ot of supply that there Is scarcely a alti zen who does not see the parallel to his daily life in the activities of the quartermaster corps variety of duties the quartermaster not only is the ice and coal man but he Is the haberdasher the restaurant man and the hotel keeper he runs the taxi service and operates the trucking transfer and storage business as well lie he is the garage man and the operator of the gasoline filling station the railroad ticket agent in addition to the train er he Is the garbage collector and the second hand salvage dealer he operates the laundry and shoe repair shop in addition to conducting the clothing store and managing all the five and tens AU all of a cites public utility facilities cili ties the quartermaster corps furnishes lor for the soldier much in th the e manner which a city manager or the mayor and board of selectmen or aldermen of a city conduct those functions in a community he provides the water supply and the sewage a ge disposal he runs the electric light plant paves the streets in camp builds parkways park ways and operates the fire department only the wartime war time essentials or of these duties does the quartermaster corps take with it in providing the design tor for living for troops in a theater of action to execute behind the lines these requirements of transport quartering and supply the army always has selected the highly trained quartermaster corps and given to the duties demanded under that selection the term logistics which comes from the greek word logos which has as its root the word alego lego which means to select |