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New Morale, Old Instincts. Five years of weeding out incompetent and political unreliables have given the Italian armed services an officer corps that is younger, more receptive to new military ideas and more stable politically than its prewar counterpart. Better leadership has helped raise the morale of enlisted men and has done much to defeat Communist efforts to proselyte among servicemen. The Italian soldier still lacks machine-age instinct. To combat this, the Italian army is now classifying recruits carefully, choosing those with particular aptitudes for specialized training along U.S. Army lines. Able General Efisio Marras, the army's chief of staff, has plans for expanding his force. Marras has under his command eight combat divisions, plans to build his strength up to twelve infantry divisions, three Alpine brigades, three armored brigades and the necessary supporting troops.