(2 of 2)
Logs & Laziness. There were also plenty of deficiencies, and none knew them better than the Second Army's No. 1 soldier, burly, barrel-voiced Ben Lear. Most annoying, because unavoidable, were shortages of equipment, trucks, radio equipment, .50-caliber machine guns, mortars. None of the light-artillery outfits yet have the new 105-mm. howitzers. Throughout the maneuver area many a crew worked, deadly serious and full of ginger, around a log that represented a mortar or an anti-tank gun. Luckier were soldiers who had a 37-mm. anti-tank gun to work with, even though the 37 has proved it cannot stop a modern tank, must be replaced with a heavier piece.
As easy for good soldiers to spot as the log guns are the substandard officers. And such officers are bound to be found in almost every outfit: Reserve, Regulars or National Guard. In the fat times of peace many a National Guard officer held on, even won promotion, by the politics which are still the curse of many Guard outfits. Among Regulars, many a dullard has hung on and gone up by keeping out of trouble and taking his promotions automatically, while the fat grew ever thicker between the ears. Many an unworthy Reservist progressed by looking good in two-week summer camps, keeping up his correspondence-course work, but never having a real test with troops.
To many of these officers, the 1941 maneuvers mean the end of the road. Two weeks ago the Army's G.H.Q. Chief of Staff, Lieut. General Lesley J. McNair, told newsmen at Washington that the maneuvers would be more than a training school. For officers they will also be a test of fitness to lead troops in battle. The dull, the lazy, the careless, the generally incompetent, shown up in the field as well as by past records, will have to face the dreaded reclassification boards ("B-Boards"). Found substandard, they will get the gate. The U.S. public will have to get used to hearing the cries of Congressmen for the retention of officers tried by the Army in a national emergency and found wanting.
One who will certainly do his best to comb out incompetent officers is the Second Army's Ben Lear, who fortnight ago said, "Elimination of unfit, inefficient and incompetent leaders is of greater importance than the elimination of defective and ineffective weapons." Last week in the 35th National Guard Division (Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska) the B-Boards were hard at work, even before the 35th got into maneuvers. Two brigadier generals, a colonel and other smaller fry were up for reclassification. Army rumor had it that the boards were going to get down to lieutenants before they were through. But the 35th was no horrible example. Other outfits were going to have the same kind of house cleaning. Able National Guard and Reserve officers hoped that B-Boards would look as critically on Regulars as on citizen officers.