The Apache sentinel., 1943-12-10
Editorial
Special Service Companies
AT War
BY 18TH HOWARD JONES

Special Service work in the Army today is
still IN its growing stage but the War Depart
ment considers it of high Importance in reach
ing the one goal we all point to in this war
utter defeat of the enemy. A special service
company is one small part of the special serv-
ice division
The primary mission of a special service
company is to provide amusement for, and de-
velop high morale of troops in their leisure
hours. By means of athletics, music, theatri-
Gals, motion pictures informative lectures, past
exchanges and libraries, the company affords
soldiers in rest or bivouac areas pleasant
means of relaxation.
Troops that have been to the front and have
engaged in actual combat, usually return with
a certain degree of physical and mental depres-
sion. They are exhausted from hours of gruell-
ing battle; they nauseated from the sight
OF hostile forces and dying comrades, they are
tense nervous, and excited; they are hardly
the soldiers that we could recognize and de-
pend on, for they have lost some of the fire
they once possessed. 1t is up to the special
service company to rebuild these men into
soldiers.
1t is up to the theatrical technicians to stage
performances in which everyone will partake,
and the radio technicians must air the broad
casts they like, that pleasant memories of
past times be brought to mind. The mo-
ton picture technicians supply the films they
want to see, 50 that they may catch glimpses of
things and people they fight for Then it is
the job of the athletic technicans to introduce
games and favorite sports so that everyone
might participate in some healthful and whole
some recreation The post exchange supplies
the necessary articles of merchandise that all
men need in the theater of war The librari-
ans. ever mindful of the day when these men
will be civilians again, provide books, pamph-
lets, magazines and material that will keep
them fully informed on current events and So.
cial changes, and thereby prepare them for the
life to which they will return after the war has
been won.
1t was with these thoughts in mind that the
War Department authorized the formation OF
Special Service Companies; it was thus that
the 37th Special Service Company came into
being .Activated on May Is, l943, the 9th
is the third and newest of the Negro special
service companies in the United States Army.
1t is stated with five officers; captain and
four heutenants, each thoroughly orented in
special service work at the school set up by the
Special Service Division at Washington and
Lee University in Lexington, Va. Their work
is unusual in that the training they supervise.
must accentuate at all times the spirit of lead
ership among the enlisted men. These men
play the most important part in the functioning
of a special service company Their work re-
quires them to be ardent workers, mentally
alert, capable men, of more than just normal
intelligence. To this end, the Special Service
Division goes to great deal of trouble picking
such men, and organizing new companies.
This is the story of special service
pany at war; Our job is to preserve the phys
ical and mental stamina of our fighting units
We realize fully the Importance of such una
dertaking, and in that respect we shall do
Job But in our hearts we are really trying to
build attitudes that will help make wars unnec-
essary; minds in which thoughts of peace and
prosperity supersede those of hate and greed;
souls that will help build for us better world.