Evening star., 1946-05-27

of the day, seven days a week, and
have it relayed by Gems. Eisenhower.
Marshall Macarthur, and all the
rest of the brightest brass, but it
won't do any good.
Why? Any man who has ever
served in the Army can tell you why
in two words supply sergeants.
Something happens to man when
he becomes a supply sergeant. His
blood dries up, he looks on his fel-
low soldiers as thieves, robbers and
rapscallions, and upon his supplies
as something that are his by Divine
Right and must not be shared with
any one on earth. He acts as
though every bit Of clothing be-
longed to him and to him only,
and that some day he will be given
permission to cart mountains OF
stuff away and open vast store,
with all proceeds and profits going
to him.
Sergeants Resent Orders.
When, because of orders from
higher authorities, he is forced to
give a soldier some needed bit of
equipment, the supply sergeant be-
comes so outraged, so ornery, that
he will work his fingers to the bone
looking for the sorriest article on
his shelves. AS for worrying about
how a soldier looks in the pants,
shirts, blouse, overcoats, or shoes
that are issued to him, 1t wouldn't
occur to him to care in thousand
years.
If Secretary Patterson doubts that
all of this is true, let him ask any
enlisted man he happens to run
across. If he still has any doubts
left after that. let him slip on a
set of false whiskers and go through
the business of being outfitted by a
supply sergeant-any supply SER
geant. There may be one with the
milk of human kindness in his body
but up until this writing he has
not been discovered and reported.
A supply sergeant does not be-
lieve that any soldier knows what
size he is or what looks good on him
Let the soldier ask for size 9 shoe
and the sergeant will either give
him a size 8 on the grounds that
the shoes will stretch or a size lC
on the argument that after few
hundred miles of walking his foot
will have spread to fit the larger
size.
Admiration for Wrinkles.
Supply sergeants are great be-
levers in wrinkles. They think that
nothing so sets off a soldier as a
blouse that has enough spare space
between the shoulder blades to hide
a litter of kittens unless it be an
overcoat three sizes too large for
medium sized blimp. They also
are thriftier than a treeful of misers.
In their book, nothing ever wears
out. I have been issued pants which
had serial numbers Of Spanish War
veterans in the lining and have
been given leggings which still bore
the scars Of the wear and tear given
them by men while chasing Pancho
Villa.
Supply sergeants like to work be-
hind closed doors, too. They keep
the shortest hours. Most of the ones
I have encountered openeds the
doors of the supply huts for about
three minutes each day. The rest
of the time the place was pad
locked And the devil they raise
when a soldier damages a bit of
Government property! One tiny
burn on blanket, and the soldier
is made to feel as if he had been
caught stuffing gasoline-soaked rags
under the White House porch.
No. supply sergeants are beyond
and above the call of such a minor
military figure as the Secretary Of
War Indeed, his ruling is likely
to rile the supply sergeants and
make them even more misanthropic
than they are. And, if that happens,
heaven help the poor CT. He'll be
lucky to get a khaki sarong.
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