Evening star., 1941-08-24

What about this question OF Army
morale?
Given a friendly ear yesterday
Is selectees. enlisted men and Ma
tional Guardsmen happily unbur-
dened themselves yesterday to two
Star reporters.
They talked about the food, about
their future, and discipline. They
talked about their officers, what
they're learning and what they're
not.
Extension of the draft took the
worst beating and If Army morale
has suffered they believe that the
basic reason. Only the enlisted men
who are in for three years anyhow
had a good word to say for it. It's
keeping some of the boys from get
ting married. A selectee felt Con-
gress hxd broken faith With the
boys. An enlisted man thought II
should have passed without any de-
bate at al. ~
Sss@ Food Passes Test.
Food stood the test fairly well
Only 8 Of the IS were downright
unprintable about 1t. A Belvoir Sc
lectee. however, spoke lovingly OF
the Virginia ham that sometime.
adorns the camp dinner table.
Besides the draft extension, the
men were most positive against any
kind of foreign service, whether in
Alaska, Panama, Bermuda, Iceland
Greenland or Europe. One selectee
didn't want foreign service because
he couldn't get his mail from home
regularly.
While the majority of the men
thought their officers were either
competent enough now or able to
learn. one Of the selectees described
his officers as "corporals with bars
on their shoulders" and others said
the reserve officers now on active
duty didn't know as much about
Army training as the selectees.
Discipline Believed Lenient.
As far as discipline was concerned,
most of the men thought it was not
only necessary but possibly too
lenient. Only a few complained
it was too strict.
Asked if they would be more will
ing to undergo training if they ac-
tually knew war was ahead, some Of
them admitted it was the uncer-
tainty of the future that got them
down, while few Of them just didn't
want to think about war at all
Some wanted to 60 to war tomorrow,
others just wanted to know what
the score was.
Here's what they had to say:
Soldier No. l, selectee in the
Engineer Corps, Fort Belvoir-He
feels he is learning something val
liable, photolithography. but he'd
rather be back in civilian life with
a good job and more money. The
food is better at Fort Belvoir than
where he was. until two weeks ago,
Camp Bowie, Tex.
Soldier No. 2, selectee in the
Engineer Corps, Fort Belvoir-He's s
not bored, but II he were back in
line duty with nothing to do but
25-mile hikes and overnight bivou-
acs" he would be. Against foreign
service-"Texas was bad enough
Says some officers could use the
training the selectees are getting
No Training.
Soldier No. 3, selectee in the
Engineer Corps, Fort Belvoir-
They say they can't train anybody
in a year, but the majority Of the
boys who have been in from four te
six months haven't had any train.
ing-just close order drills and in.
spection. They don't have the
equipment. The officers are mex.
perienced.
Soldier No. 4, selectee of five
months standing in the medica
corps at Fort Belvoir-"I've don't
hard work all my life. I never knew
anything about medical things.
was a boxer. So get drafted int
the Army and now what I have ts
do is stay awake nights in the nu
ward. I like home and civilian life.
Also: I'D 60 to war tomorrow II i
meant getting out of here In sil
months instead Of AZ years"
Soldier No. S, enlisted eigh
months ago for three years serv'
ice, Fort Eustis, Va.-"The work 1
too easy. I'd rather go to war righ
than sit around doing nothing. 1'v'
been in here eight months and .
haven't even seen q rife yet"
Soldier No. 6. selectee of foul
months standing. Fort George q
Meade-'Im sick and tired. Tn
Army doesn't seem to have any aim
| We don't know what's expected o
US. I tell you, mines . prett.
heartsick bunch" And the q
hesrs stress nailitas5 eourtssy ent