Evening star., 1937-05-23
GUARD MAY INSURE.
FOR FIELD HURTS
Insurance Available for Men
Sick or Injured in
Field.

A means of overcoming some Of the
financial hardships incurred by en-
listed men of the National Guard who
become sick or are injured in line of
duty while in attendance at training
camps has been found by Col. John
w. Oehmann, commanding the local
militia. 1t is a group insurance policy,
under the terms of which each man
pays 10 cents day while in camp,
and should he become sick or injured
in line of duty he will receive $40 a
week for period Of 26 weeks from
the end of the camp, and in case
death results his beneficiary would re-
ceive $1,000.
1t was explained while the Govern
ment pays for the disqualification of
man who becomes sick or injured
while on duty at training camp, and
pays him his rate of pay as long as
he remains i'll, the pay of an enlisted
man. in many instances, is far below
what the men receive in their civilian
occupa tons. In many cases they sac
rifice their civilian pay during the two
weeks they are in camp, and con-
ly. In the event of death there is no
payment to benehciaries. 1t is be-
lieved most of the men will take ad-
vantage Of the insurance. Several
members of the Guard were injured
during the encampment last year,
necessitating their hospitalization fol-
lowing the close of the training.
u.oc r>oi,taS ont d,I,ir,o rapent
convention of adjutants general here
by Col. H McC. Snyder of the Ma
tional Guard Bureau that the basic
act of Congress providing treatment
for those who suffer injury and con-
tract disease was amended as Of June
of last year, the major change being
for rehospitalization, which offers
more complete and satisfactory op-
portunity for adequate treatment OF
diseases or injuries or Of recurrence
of any feature of a disability.
Means must be found, he said, to
combat certain particular hazards
which are becoming annually more
important causes of injury. Chief OF
these, he said, is dropping off to sleep
by the driver Of a truck in convoy or
occasionally elsewhere. Next is the
night accidents When men are going
to or from camp by auto.
The determination of the line OF
duty in the latter cases, he pointed out,
necessitates a complete investigation
and report. In this connection, he
added, it should be set down in orders
that no man would ride on the run
ming board of a car or with any part
of his body. as an arm or leg, pro-
truding. Thumbing rides, he con-
tinued. should be outlaWed, as also
should be intrusting ones self to the
automobile of stranger. One or
more Of the above facts were present
In many cases of accident during the
past Summer, he added, and the
amounts involved in their care are
very large.
On the matter of increasing the
economy of treatment, the officer
stated, first, consideration must here
be given to transfer all cases of serious
import at the earliest possible date to
a suitable Government hospital, espe-
cially an Army hospital, because in
Army hospitals the cost of treatment
IS not more than IS per cent Of the
cost of treatment elsewhere. Second,
regimental surgeons must exercise
fine judgment and care for as many
cases as possible in the regimental or
camp infrmaries, transferring to civil
Ian hospitals only such cases as are
seriously Ill or injured. Third, all
cases not in line Of duty should be
Immediately returned to their homes.
Emphasis on adequate physical ex-
animation must be had in order to
eliminate those cases in which the
disability originated prior to the
period Of the encampment.