The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1944-03-09
World War Il Soldiers Most
Orderly U. s. Army In History

The Office Of War Information has
completed y coaststo-cosst survey OF
drinking conditions Inland srounds Army
camps. This war undertaken to investi-
gate rumors which have gained wide cur
rency, and to provide the American peo-
pie with honest and accurate informa-
ton about the millions of men who are
doing their patriotic duty In the armed
services.
From the investigation three general
and explicit conclusions emerged:
(1) There 10 not excessive drinking
among troops, and drinking does
not contribute a serious problem.
CD The sale Of 80 beer in the post
exchanges in training camps Is
a positive factor in Army sobriety.
(3) No American army in all history
has been so orderly.
Observers from the Office Of War
Information Travelled more than 10000
miles. Excepting Florida, they visited
most of the areas where there are large
troop concentrations. These included
New England, the Pacific Northwest,
California, Arizona, the Middle West.
Texas, Louisiana, and half a dozen other
Southern States.
Collecting of much of the evidence
was made possible by Army cooperation
but wal independent Of Army supervis-
ion. For the most part, Army officials.
- f~nrL - AiarnaQipO the
problem, admitting "sore spots' where
there were sore spots, discussing meth
ods of control and policing with com
plete effectiveness.
Camp crowder is a Signal Corps re-
placement training center. 1t is near
Joplin, Mo. About 100000 was paid
out to troops there on the October 81
pay day. That night only IS soldiers
we're arrested for drunkenness in Joplin.
The size Of the troop concentration u
. military secret, but this represented
much less than one drunkenness arrest
to every thousand soldiers at Crowder.
On the same pay night in Biloxi, Miss,
Ia soldiers were arrested, 5 for drunken
ness. Keesler Field, a large center OF
air activity, is near Biloxi. The troop
population 10 somewhat smaller than
that at Crowder, but the figures at both
places plainly show that Army pay night
is rarely the Klondike brawl and blow
out that rumor makes II.
The best selling beverages around
Army camps are coffee, milk, matted
/ milk, and bottled soft drinks. For Lewis.
q tremendous reservation near Tacoma,
| Wash, yields this evidence on how SOL
| diers take care Of that thirsty feeling:
100000 bottles of m popular soft dirk
are consumed q month at dances on the
post.
Experienced commanding officers all
over the country agreed that consider
ebly more thar half of the troops under
them drank nothing stronger thar beer
by choice, and that many even a~bstained
from beer. Chaplains, with only one ex-
ception, concurred in the opinion.
This testimony bears out studies made
last summer by the Army. The research
branch, Special Service Division, Services
of Supply, War Department. made care
fully controlled studies Of enlisted men
in two combat divisions Of ground
troops. These samplings indicated that
81 out of every 100 men drank nothing
alcoholic even on Saturday nights and
pay days. Some "a men out of 100 drank
only beer. Nine drank hard liquor.
Similar samplings weer taken among
two d~etachments of Air Crops troops.
! These indicated that So Of every loo
drank nothing alcoholic, 81 drank beer
and IL drank hard liquor. Sunday nights
and weekday nights produces an even
more orderly Army: some ~ out OF loo
in both groups drank nothing At all ex-
cept on Saturdays. To the various 3D.
servers in the Office Of War lnforma-
| ton this last figure seemed, in the light
Of their exploration in the field, a little
optimistic. The Army didn't appear
| quite that orderly and contained. Prob
| ably it isn't.
This is a civilian Army, as a Select
| i've Service Army must be. Men do not
| change character when they put on a
| uniform. II they drank rs civilians they
| will probably drink as soldiers--bu
probably not as much. II they found
their fun in tawdry places as civilians
they will hunt out the tawary places as
soldiers. Particularly in large cities
troops tend to seek their own level OF
amusement.
Because Seleetive Service is a lottery
Il produces an Army which is nothing
less thar a cross section of the civilian
population. Such an Army Is certain
to enroll a small percentage OF deiin'
ouents, even actual criminals. THESE
men are a police problem to the military
lust as, in peactime, they would v
been a police problem to their Own com
munities.
There is drinking in the Army there
will continue to be drinking IN the
Army. The approach of the military
authorities to the problem is not pho'
hibition but control. 1t is legal for q
civilian to take a drink in this country
II would be discriminatory to deny tins