Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-04-23


future. The step Uds taken to
proDtde experience in anticipation
OF universal military training.
The Star sent Reporter Thomas
G. Buchanan to Fort Knor to find
out 1hnt IL being accomplished
and hotc 1t Is being done.)
First Of Series.)
By Thomos 6. Buchonon
stor Staff Correspondent
FORT KNOX. KY, April 23.-It's
a long, long way from the beach at
Anzio to the ordered rows of bar
racks here at Fort Knox.
In this vast military center,
stretching mile after mile over the
Kentucky plain. the Army Of tomor-
row is in Its birth pangs.
G. I. Joe, who fought at Anzio in
World War II, might not recognize
this new outfit. But In the very
changes at which he may be tempted
to scott, he will find the Army's
answer to the gripes he used to voice
in the correspondence columns Of
Stars and Stripes.
Test Battalion Set Up.
Three months ago, anticipating
that Congress soon might authorize
peacetime universal training for ID
year-olds, the War Department
established at Fort Knox q test
battalion of 664 teen-aEe recruits,
and called it the Universal Military
Training Experimental Unit.
Last week, representatives Of the
press accompanied Col. John M.
Caldwell, jr., chief of the neuropsy-
chiatry consultants' division in the
Surgeon Generals office, and three
civilian consultants in psychiatry on
a three-day visit to Fort Knox.
They went there to find the an
swer to questions every parent will
be asking IL the training act is
passed: What are the emotional and
mental problems of q teen-age re-
cruit, and how can the Army routine
be altered to make his adjustment
easier?
The innovations they found may
be divided into three categories:
Measures to maintain the soldiers
dignity and promote self discipline,
genuine efforts to outlaw practices
commonly winked at by military au-
thorities, and encouragement of the
trainee's own desire to acquire skills
and make himself better citizen.
Soft Voiced Corrections.
Diminutive. wiry Brig. Gen. John
M. Devine, a 51-year-old West
Pointer, commands the unit. He be-
lieves you don't have to regiment or
bully teen-ager into discipline. It's
better, he feels, to win his cooper
alton and get him to discipline him.
self.
So the sergeants in Gen. Devine's
experimental unit, most of whom
are combat men themselves, have
learned to correct the recruits mis-
takes without raising their voices or
their blood pressures.
For minor attractions of military
regulations, dement's are imposed,
instead of the traditional verbal bar
rage. The trainee who gets more
than five dement's a week loses his
pass privilege until he has worked
of the dement's by extra duty. The
system Is not unlike that In effect
at officer candidate schools, with
standards modified for 18-year -olds.
1t has also its positive aspect.
Tra1nees who maintain a consist
emily low percentage OF dement's are
rewarded with extra pass priv.
lleges. While this Is common Army
procedure, Gen. Devine contends the
dement, system tends to diminish
the influence of the company COM
mander's personal prejudices.
Trainee Court Tested.
At Fort Knox, the first actual
test OF the much discussed enlisted
mans court-martial Is under way.
The trainee court can try only minor
cases which would normally be dealt
with by the company commander,
and are subject to his review.
Admittedly amateurish In con-
duct, the court sometimes renders
verdicts no lawyer would approve.
Trainees are generally stricter on
themselves than their officers would
be. OF 81 trials so far, only three
resulted in acquittal. Nevertheless,
the court provides good training in
civic responsibilities, and encourages
self-discipline.
Another. departure from Army
tradition is the handling of venereai
disease exclusively as a moral issue.
Instead of the usual horror film
on the possible results of promiscu-
Gus living and continual cam
paign on the proper use of prophy-
Tactics, Gen. Devine's recruits are
taught only one method of avoid
ing disease-total abstinence from
sexual relations.
So far, the method has had dra-
matte success. Only one case OF
venereal disease has been reported
among the recruits, a rate of 6 per
1000 per annum, only a fraction
of the Army's general average.
Campaigns Against Liquor.
Rejecting many admitted evils
the Army has additionally accepted
as inevitable products of human
nature" Gen. Devine Is conducting
an about drive on liquor, profan-
ity and gambling.
Kentucky law forbids sale Of hard
liquor to minors. The post ex-
changes offer 80 beer, but it cannot
be found In the exchange located In
the experimental unit area. al
though trainees are not officially
forbidden to seek it elsewhere.
Company officers concede some
gambling may exist, but haven't