Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1917-10-26
BY William G. BREASTED, Surgeon Gen.
eraI, United States Navy, in New
York Herald Magazine of
the War.


1t is perhaps somewhat strange, and
get ii is fact, that friends, and eSpe-
cially parents, of boys who enlist in
the navy are more gravely concerned
for the health of the men than with
Ghe prospect of battle casualties.
This state of mind is evidenced in
hundreds of letters which come to the
Office of the surgeon general and in
the personal calls of scores of fathers
and mothers who are apprehensive that
their sons may become iii and not re-
eelye proper medical care.
As one mother put it, "If the boys
are going to be wounded or killed 1t
ES only what we must expect. It's
part of the war sacrifice and it can't
be helped. We must give our lives
8nd the lives of those dearer to us
than our own without question, but it
is terrible thing to think Of their
being III or exposed to disease need
Iessly with no one to take care of
sbem.'
The answer to this woman was to
show her through the medical depart
ment's headquarters in the navy an
mex building and to explain TO her just
what is being done, not only to care
sor those who are i'll but to prevent
men of the navy from becoming i'll.
She went away contented-her mind
az rest. A mothers care can, of
course, not be replaced by anything in
che world, but she was satisfied that
should her boy contract any ailment
he would have everything it is hui
manly possible to give him except her
care.
Obviously, IT is impossible to ex-
plain personally to all callers just how
the medical department of the navy is
conducted and how it works, but
through the Magazine of the War 1
will be able to reach thousands of
mothers and fathers who perhaps have
been concerned about the same thing.
In the first place, an i'll or delicate
man cannot perform the duties re-
auired IN the navy. He is u burden.
He not only is useless himself while
1it but it requires other men to care
for him, and he often becomes a men
ace to his shipmates.
From the standpoint of efficiency,
shen, the navy must do everything in
its power to keep the men well and
strong. If for no other reason this
should reassure those interested in en-
listed mon In fha NAVY
Then take the medical officers. 1t
IS their duty to cure the i'll and pre-
rent the well from becoming III. If
they do not perform this duty salts
factorily they come to be known as
inefficient officers. 1t is matter of
pride with them to discharge their
duty well and faithfully. Moreover.
it is the spirit and tradition of the
corps TO feel Il human interest in all
the men and boys who come under
their care. They are specialists in
their line and yet they regard the men
with the same personal feeling that
family physician has toward his pa
TENTS
That is a feeling which cannot be
bought and paid for. 1t is the out
growth of their training, part of the
esprit de corps of the medical depart
ment.
At the heads of the branches and
bureaus of the navy department are
men actuated by the same principles
men who feel that it is the enlisted
sailor who is making the greatest sac
rifices for the flag and that he is en-
titled to the very best in comfort ana
care.
No man who is not physically sound
and In GOOD health can enlist. There
fore the recruit is supposedly well
when he enters the navy. The first
weeks of his service are passed at q
training station. where he is made
stronger physically, and here the reg
ular life and exercise make him even
more healthy, as everybody can testify
who has watched the recruits arrive
at a station and has seen them leave
few months later, standing straighter.
weighing more and often an inch
taller.
lie Is then assigned to some unit
in the regular navy. There he is un-
der the constant supervision of physi-
clans who have made Il study of the
conditions under which he is living
and the ailments and disease TO which
sac is liable This is more than could
he said of him at home.
In the office of the surgeon general
of the navy hangs map of the United