Armed Forces: The New Reliables

Shivering in their khakis under a Kansas rainstorm, 82 crew-cut recruits piled out of three buses at Fort Riley last week before a three-story barracks emblazoned: WELCOME HOME NEW RELIABLES. It was a proud salutation. Made up mostly of draftees from Los Angeles, the contingent was arriving to help re-create one of the ruggedest fighting outfits of World War II, the U.S. 9th Infantry Division, whose "Old Reliables" laid a trail of blood and glory from Bizerte to the Rhine.

The reincarnation of the 9th reflects what one of its officers frankly terms "a calculated risk": the Administration's resolve to...

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