Grooming the American GI

Equally the United States prepared for war, military leaders had a long list of needs—guns, tanks, ships, and equipment of every kind. One of the things they needed most of all, withal, was people.

Chief Epitome: (Image: Library of Congress, LC-USW33-000254-ZC.)

As the United States prepared for war, military leaders had a long listing of needs—guns, tanks, ships, and equipment of every kind. One of the things they needed virtually of all, however, was people. In 1939, the US Ground forces only had 174,000 soldiers, including the Army Air Forces. At its peak during the war, the Army grew to over 8 million men and women in compatible, joined by an boosted 3.four million in the Navy. The new additions were by and large young Americans who would ordinarily have been pursuing jobs, schooling, and family life, but instead were answering the nation'due south call to arms. Many of them had never even traveled outside their home land, let alone Europe, Asia, or the Pacific Islands. Preparing these millions of civilians for state of war would be one of the armed forces'due south most daunting challenges.

Nigh 39% of the new recruits volunteered to serve; the residual were called up through conscription, besides known equally the draft. Congress established the nation'south kickoff peacetime draft in 1940 by passing the Selective Preparation and Service Act, which required all men between the ages of 21 and 35 to register for potential military service. Once the United States entered the war, the requirement expanded to include all men xviii to 65 years of historic period. Over 10 one thousand thousand men were inducted into the military while the Selective Training and Service Human activity was in effect from September 16, 1940, to March 1947. Volunteers came from a diversity of sources. Some belonged to preparation programs at their high schools or colleges, like the Army'due south Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), and entered the military straight from school. Others signed upward for duty at one of the many recruiting centers that popped up all over the United States, specially right after the set on on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Sidney Phillips of Mobile, Alabama, remembered deciding to join the Navy along with a friend later on hearing about the attack. When they met the adjacent morning to go to the recruiter, however, the lines of young men waiting to enlist were already longer than a football field! "We thought we were going to be the early birds," Phillips recalled. He and his friend ended up joining the Marines, thanks to a shorter line and a persuasive recruiter.

Each co-operative of military service required different skills, just all new recruits went through a few weeks of basic preparation, often called "boot military camp." The goal was to turn the wide variety of individuals who entered the service into teams of fighters who could work seamlessly with one another to reach their objectives. To do this, basic training taught a new recruit to think of himself less every bit an individual and more than as an integral office of his unit. As presently every bit they arrived, new recruits turned in their civilian wearing apparel and belongings and received standard issue uniforms and equipment. Army camp personnel shaved the heads of the recruits and assigned them serial numbers. Platoons of recruits slept, ate, and learned together, and even did hours upon hours of physical fettle training as a unit. Following commands, they practiced the same basic skills over and over— marching, loading, unloading, and cleaning their weapons. Drill instructors used tough methods to force the newcomers to get circumspect to detail and protocol. Even the smallest mistakes could result in extra kitchen duty or a challenging physical penalty—sometimes for the entire group. "It was a lilliputian scary at first," remembered William M. Dabney, an African American soldier from Virginia. "The master thing was to obey orders … equally long every bit you did that you'd become along."

Soldiers tackle part of an obstacle course at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, 1942.

Soldiers tackle part of an obstacle course at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, 1942.
(Paradigm: Library Of Congress, LC-USW33-000257-ZC.)

"It was true we were all volunteers and all of them were young men—18, 19 years old—and all of them wanted to prove that they were men and that they were part of the best and that they were the best. That was true. Nosotros were."

T. Moffatt Burris, 504th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Sectionalization

Many veterans think those beginning few weeks of basic training as a transformative experience. "When yous go through boot army camp and they laissez passer you," recalled Ben Quintana of Mississippi, "yous're fix to fight anything." Before reporting to a ship or heading overseas, nonetheless, nearly recruits went through more specialized training for their specific duties inside their branch of the war machine. Some learned how to operate radios or other communications equipment. Others trained to use special weapons or invasion techniques. Depending on the assignment, servicemembers sometimes trained at six or more different locations before finally deploying overseas, and even then they might have received further training before seeing activeness.

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As each new group of servicemembers deployed, many were understandably anxious about what lay alee. Their preparation, still, had taught them how to stick together and make the most of whatsoever state of affairs might arise. "You learn to depend on each other," said Frank Buschmeier, a gunner from Ohio. "You lot can't survive by yourself."

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