THE MILITIAMAN'S START
By MAJOR B. T. REYNOLDS
SINCE the Military Training Bill became law there must be many who are wondering how the Militiamen of 1939 compare with their fathers, the men who filled the ranks of the national army in 1914-1918. A recollection of the revulsion from all things military that swept over the country after 1918 also prompts the question, in what spirit are they approaching their military service? Finally, in what spirit is the army preparing to receive them ; have its methods of instruction and of handling men been modified in the last twenty years to bring them into line with modern practice in other walks of life? Much depends on the answer to these questions.
As regards the Militiamen themselves, a day spent as Interviewing Officer attached to a Medical Board in a West London suburb enables one to form an idea. I saw some fifty men varying from public school boys through various grades of skilled worker to milk-roundsmen, window-cleaners and the like—a fair sample of those who will be coming up for training next month. The Board graded them I, II, III and IV in order of fitness. The medical examination appeared to be very thorough, and the doctors were delighted with the results. The men I saw struck me as a very good lot physically.
The figures for the first 17,865 Militiamen examined throughout the country have been published by the Ministry of Labour. 84.5 per cent. were Grade I, 8.8 per cent. Grade II, 4.4 per cent. Grade III, and 2.3 per cent. Grade IV. These figures can be compared with the report of the War-time Ministry of National Service, working to the same medical standards in 1917-1918-36 per cent. Grade I, 23 per cent. Grade II, 31 per cent. Grade III and to per cent. Grade IV. There is cause for legitimate satisfaction here.
My job was to interview the men with a view to recom- mending their posting to an arm of the service—infantry, artillery, engineers and so on—in such a way as to combine, as far as possible, their own wishes with military require- ments. To do this I had to elicit a good deal of informa- tion that was not on their official papers, details of their educational qualifications, their hobbies and tastes and any reasons they might have for preferring a particular corps. The final posting would be settled later by another officer, who had to fit the men into the quotas allotted to the various corps, but my recommendations would serve him as a guide.
The preliminary working of the Military Training Act is in the hands of the Ministry of Labour. I was probably the first soldier with whom the bulk of the men had come into official contact. One might have anticipated a certain amount of suspicion, but I encountered none. As soon as they discovered that my object was to fit round pegs into round holes they opened up freely and helped me in every way they could. There was no unnecessary beating about the bush. Five to ten minutes was sufficient to get all the information I wanted.
The Ministry of Labour had, as far as possible, con- verted their civil occupation into the appropriate army trade and recorded it on their documents. In many cases, of course, a man's civil trade did not fit into army require- ments or, for some reason, he did not want to follow it. For instance, a Public School boy who was a bank clerk wanted to do his training with a motor regiment and after- wards join one of the Territorial motor regiments in London, instead of going into the Army Pay Corps. But most were naturally anxious not to lose touch with their civil trade. Some hoped to learn driving and maintenance of motor vehicles which would be useful to them afterwards. A sur- prising number already had driving licences.
Tales of the last War were probably responsible for the disinclination of the majority to be posted to the infantry. Most of them were unaware of the extent to which the infantry has been mechanised, and I found myself doing a certain amount of propaganda for this arm. The infantry- man is in a sense the artist of the battlefield, or should be, and has more to learn than any other soldier. But it was uphill work. One lad begged to be posted somewhere where he would not be asked " to stick a bayonet into any- body." I only had one disgruntled man, and he was running a little business of his own which would inevitably go to pieces during his absence. It was open to him to apply to a Hardship Tribunal. The Militiamen are being met in every possible way, but it is essential that compulsory military service should be of universal application. There will always be hard cases.
To sum up the result of my fifty interviews. The attitude of the Militiamen was willing and matter-of-fact. They approached their military service in an attitude of, " Here's a job to be done. Let's get on with it." This attitude was common to all classes, and I noticed that men of all classes were chatting amicably together whilst waiting at the door. They were obviously better educated, brighter and more intelligent than the average run of men one met in 1914-1918. The majority of them, even those who had left at 14, had attended evening classes or some kind of cultural activity since leaving school. A high pro- portion of them had alert, inquiring minds. All in all, a very good lot.
A few weeks before I had visited an infantry depot to see the Regular recruits at work. For the first six weeks they did nothing but education and physical training and, judg- ing by the appearance of the squads I saw, both were very necessary. Officers and N.C.O.s were taking immense pains with them, and the atmosphere of the place was rather like a well-run preparatory school. The difference between Regular recruits and Militiamen is most striking. Where the first are obviously drawn very largely from the least fortu- nate section of the community, the latter are a fair cross- section of the nation, with a due proportion of natural talent and of leadership, by no means confined to the repre- sentatives of any one social class.
Fortunately, the Army has undergone something of a revolution in the last two years. The men who now lead it all served as regimental officers in the last war, and their outlook differs considerably from that of some of their seniors. The instructions issued to the various Commands for the training of Militiamen are extremely enlightened. The course is designed to impart the maximum of military knowledge with the minimum of frills. Special attention is being paid to weapon-training and field-craft and every effort made to discover and further leadership, wherever it can be found. There are a large number of highly skilled specialists to be trained in a modern army, and the Militia will furnish their quota of these. Stress is laid on the vital necessity of maintaining interest, and instructors warned against parrot-like repetition and, above all, rudeness, bully- ing and sarcasm. (Men are not to be placed on " charges " for offences resulting from ignorance or minor irregularities.) It is laid down that the essence of modern discipline is that the man should understand what he is doing and why be is doing it. This could hardly be bettered.
From my own experience, which is borne out by the verdict of all those to whom I have spoken who have come into contact with them, the attitude of the Militiamen is a hundred per cent. co-operative. They are somewhat differ- ent material from that to which the Regular Army has been accustomed. If the lads I saw are a fair sample, they are going to ask a host of questions in their desire to get to the bottom of things. It is an attitude that should be welcomed by an instructor. If met with sympathy and understanding they should prove far easier to teach than the average Regular recruit. But the appropriate atmosphere will be far more like that of a university than a preparatory school. No doubt some adjustments will be required on both sides but. on the whole, there are many grounds for optimism as to the outcome of the contact between the Army and the youth of the nation.
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