The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-10-07
ARMY
 MEN IS WORK
 GREAT DETAIL

CAMP KEARNY. San Diego. Calif., Sept. 1.-The principal apparatus used in working out the army's an- nounced plan of putting each soldier into the niche where he can be of most service to the country. the army and himself is the personnel card. The whole work is entrusted to the personnel office." which makes out a variety of records for the incoming soldiers. These do everything from listing his dependents to making sure that his mail reaches him promptly. The most important one. however. is that mentioned.
 On this card are a number of blanks, each of which is filled out by an officer in the course of a personal interview with the man. There is nothing nasty about these interviews; they average half an hour in length and occupy as much time as is needful to secure the de- sired information. They are of an intimate, personal nature, and in them the man Is encouraged to talk as freely as possible, as all the data secured is for the army's own use and is confidential. Further, "camou- flage is not permitted" as Captain Irwin w. Ringer, camp personnel officer expressed it. "The govern ment has ways of its own for finding out whether man has lied about himself in this interview"
 On the card go the names of the recruits parents, of his wife, child. ren or divorced wife to whom a civil court has allowed alimony, if he has any of these. his religious belief, home address and the address of his nearest relative, certain confidential information and, eventually, the unit to which he is assigned. By means of this card the army can locate any man in service within a short time. On the other side of the card are blanks for about 90 vacations useful in the army, and in these is listed the length of time the man has been em- plOyed in each. Other blanks are provided for listing his special qualifications. Every effort is made to draw out from the recruit state ments as to any special abilities he may have. Questioning the recruit is almost an art in itself, For In. stance, a recruit may declare he Is miner If he is a metal miner. ac' customed to working in hard rock he is very valuable; if he is miner experienced in another sort of work he is of no especial value to the army. If the recruit is farmer, another question as to his ability to handle steam or gasoline tractors is necessary. If he is accustomed to driving these he is almost sure to be assigned to the artillery; if he knows
  he may wind up in remount depot, a supply company, or some Ot the diff ferent sorts of trains where animal drawn equipment is utilized.
 Across the top of the card are a series of spaces corresponding to the vacations listed. In these tags are put, red one for qualified men in that line and green one for men of unusually high qualifications. By these means, when the cards are put together in filing case, clerk can run his eye down the case and pick out at glance all the men qualified in occupation No. 42, etc.
 In rating the men every effort is made to determine the real degree of their skill. Experts" in any line are very rare. personnel officers say, de- claring that far fewer than ] percent of men qualified in an occupation are expert in it. In determining mans skill the employers he has had are considered.
 For instance, man who had charge of all the tractors used on some large western ranch would be rated as of more skill, providing his record showed he had carried out this work satisfactorily to his em- ployers, than a man who had only operated one tractor on smaller farm.