Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-12-08
Army Strives to Take Some
OF the Risks Out of Warfare

SeS.
Our realistic training methods are
actually safety methods. Expert
ence has shown that the average
recruit is as frightened by battle
noise and battle confusion as he is
by bullets. Such a soldier becomes
excited, perhaps fires his rifle I'M
intentionally, perhaps kills or
of the enemy. Such soldier is I'M
sure of himself, nerve taunt,
"jumpy."
On army infiltration courses bat
tle-green soldiers are taught how
to crawl across rough terrain,
through barbed wire, while machine
gun bullets whiz above their heads,
and INT charges explode nearby
like enemy land mines. Graduates
of these safety-in-battle courses are
not likely to suffer needless wounds
or needless death. They know that
in crawling it is vital to keep the
head and body down; that a smart
soldier crawls under barbed wire,
not over it; that a soldier whose
weapon is not clean and ready to
function when needed is a soldier
most likely to become casualty.
Mention the word ''doughboy" to
most persons, and they think of
man with a rifle and a bayonet.
That may have been true in pre-
vious wars, but it is not true in this
one. Safety training and practice in
the army ground forces goes long
way beyond this basic rifle-and-bay-
onet conception of the American foot
soldier. Weapon training adds to the
soldiers chance of survival by max
ing him versatile with great many
more weapons than his rifle.
Among these are hand and rifle
grenades, combat knife, automatic
pistol, machine pistol, carbine,
automatic rifle, three types of ma
chine guns, two types of mortars,
flame throWer, bazooka, mines and
BOBBY traps, bangalore torpedo and
other demolition equipment. Most,
probably the individual infantrynIn
will never be called upon to use all
these weapons in combat, but he
may at any time be called upon
suddenly in an emergency to use
any one of them. The knowledge and
facility gained during training in
creases powerfully the safety fac
tor protecting the uniformed man in
battle.
In addition the army ground
forces protects its men in the field
by careful instruction in battle and
field sanitation, in personal hygiene,
in the safe use of drinking wa
ter, and in defense against diseases
caused by insects and parasites.
Even so small thing as the COM
mon foot blister is not ignored in
army safety practice.
Fewer Air Corps Accidents.
Equally insistent on the highest
possible safety standards in the
dangerous business of waging war is
the army air forces training COM
mand. During the first six months of
l943 a total of 1874 million military
flying hours were logged in con-
tinental U. S. During the same
period in 1914 the total was 20.l
million. Despite this impressive in
crease of more than $500, 900 hours,
fatal accidents and death totals
were actually reduced.
Furthermore, the improvement is
continuing. In July, 1914, the acct
dent rate for training type planes
was the lowest yet recorded. Dur
ing July in the continental U. S.
trainees in undergraduate pilots
schools logged an amazing total Of
flying time in PT-13's, ITS, -18's and
-27's, with only one fatal accident!
Graduate pilots operating combat
type airpianes in transition schools
and in the replacement training
units established safety records. too.
Pilots in BIZ Flying Fortresses
achieved an all-time low in crack
ups. Also in July, 1914, there were
only two fatal accidents in the high
speed BIS Billy Mitchells.
This is not the safety record of a
commercial airline, or even a COM
merical truck fleet, but the safety
experience of a giant air force en-
gagged in global war.
Inc 11lOllO VI Tie army mas never
been Safety First" In army par
lance safety is knowledge. Army
airmen achieve safety because they
know.
Typical is the procedure for
forced landings in water, which in.
cludes how to swim through fire,
how to handle rubber boats and
parachutes, defense against sharks,
precautions to take against wind,
weather and the hundreds of haz-
ards that confront men adrift in
open water. Airmen know how to
take every conceivable precaution
in case of jungle landings, or any
other type of landing which may
lead to danger or difficulty.
In war great hazards cannot be
avoided, but trained and disciplined
men with knowledge of those haz-
ards, and the "know-how" to avoid
or to overcome some of them, have
developed one of the greatest Or
ganized safety programs of all time.