Evening star., 1942-08-13

III 1871 our tduIJ IIldI Tic 1dliup
poll shows that 6o-odd per cent Of
the American citizens are in favor
of opening one now-right now.
The reason we don't know any
better is because the Army publicity
Is bad.
Gauged by peacetime standards.
the Army publicity Is impossible.
What We mean is, that If the Army
publicists were turned loose in
peacetine to make living, they
couldn't do it. certainly not with
the sort of stuff they are handing
out right now.
We've met Army, Navy and Air
Forces publicists all over the United
States. We have read at least half
ton of their releases. The stuff
isn't good. Certainly it isn't good
enough for a job that is the biggest
this country has ever known, a job
that cannot be figured In dollars
and cents but in the lives of men
and women.
We have often wondered where
the Army trapped its publicists. We
have often felt, as we talked to the
men in Public Relations, that they
were shared or trapped in far
away, remote places, and still we're
coming to when they found bars
on their shoulders and were placed
in charge of a .50-caliber mimeo-
graph machine, or rapid-flre type
writer battery.
Not many Americans, and that
goes for the swivel chair experts
who make a living out of second
guessing the regular officers, would
criticize the delay in opening
second front if they knew the time.
patience and work required for the
complete outftting of one soldier.
A few days ago We talked with
a colonel of engineers. He Is in
charge OF regiment of 1900 SOL
diers. His regiment is but tiny
part Of the Army we must have to
make second front sensible, not to
mention successful.
| Here are a few of the things
that one little regiment must ac-
complish and have before 1t is
worth sending across the waters
and into combat:
Thirteen hundred raw recruits
must be trained. Soda -jerkers,
farmers, brokers, bankers and what
have you must be whipped into
shape to handle the tough job of
the engineers.
When the 1900 are ready, they
must have equipment. To be any
good when they get into action,
they must have better than IL tons
of equipment per man, right back
of them. You just can't send 1900
engineer troops across the ocean.
With them they must have, among
other things, eight bulldozers-a
bulldozer being a big tractor with
shovel out front. They must have
eight air compressors, an air COM
pressor being something that is Of
such size that it must be mounted
on six wheels. The regiment of
engineers must have two water
publication units, so that the
dirtiest of mud puddles can be
rendered fit for men to drink. The
regiment must have dump trucks,
tool trucks, peeps. jeeps and at least
two steam shovels. 1t must have
shovels, picks, axes, adzes and all
the other tools of what is known
as pioneer" equipment.
But we're just beginning. There
must be demolition equipment
enough INT to take care of bridge
blowing. railroad wrecking and all
that The regiment-just one regi-
ment, mind you--must also have
telephone equipment, photostatic
equipment. surveying instruments,
kitchen equipment sufficient to see
that all the men are fed, surveying
instruments and complete medical
supplies.
The men must have their arms,
too. Rifles, pistols, machine guns.
They must have their clothes.
Cottons and woolens, tin hats and
desert helmets. Also their field
rations.
The average American citizen Just
doesn't realize what a tremendous
job 1t Is to send one soldier, COM
pletely equipped, to a foreign bat
tlefield.
There is one hell of a lot of plsn-
ming. buying, assembling and dis
tributing that has to be done for
Yanks.
We should all remember that this
country didn't honestly start to
build an Army until after Decem-
Der 7.
The countries We are fighting
started dozen years ago.
= 1t may take us year, or even
two years, to accomplish what 1t
took them IL to do.
That still isn't bad doing"
What the Army should do is to
see to it that its publicity boys
spend few hours each day telling
the American people Just how big
the job is that the Army faces, and
just how we'll it is doing 1t, and cut
out all the junk they send in from
all the camps. most Of which is sup.
posed to be human interest stun
with an angle. but which Is some.
thing that the average editor
wouldn't throw In the waste basket
for fear OF hurting the waste bas-
lrotta fnAAo.s