U.S*.War Dept* Morale Services Division* Pamphlet no*28-1 WAR DEPARTMENT PAMPHLET NO. 11-1 THE MORALE SERVICES DIVISION WAR DEPARTMENT • 17 DECEMBER 1943 WAR DEPARTMENT, War Department Pamphlet No. 28-1, The Morale Services Division, is published for the information and guidance of all concerned. Washington 25, D. C, 17 December 1943. [A. G. 720 (17 Dec. 43).] order of the Secretary of War: G. C. MARSHALL, Chief of Staff. Official: J. A. ULIO, Major General, The Adjutant General. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON ; 1943 ORGANIZATION The Morale Services Division, created by A. S. F. Circular No. 135 of 30 November 1943, consists of seven branches, of which the work of four, Research, Informa- tion, Education, and Orientation, are described at length in this booklet. Three others, Plans and Training, Con- trol, and Personnel, include supervision of a school for orientation officers, together with the Branches of the Division in New York and Los Angeles, and provide the machinery to carry on the work of the Division. The Division operates under the Director of Personnel, A. S. F., for administration and supply. All requests for material and for assistance and advice in carrying out the above activities should be addressed, through proper military channels, to the Director, Morale Services Division, Washington 25, D. C. 1 MISSION The Director of the Morale Services Division is charged in general with the planning and supervision of matters not pertaining to command which relate to the maintenance and improvement of morale in the Army of the United States. The Division is specifically charged with the following functions: Research to determine attitudes or other informa- tion pertaining to morale. Advising the Chief of Staff, Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, Army Service Forces, theaters, and defense commands regarding plans, policies, and programs covering morale activities. Operations of Branch Offices of the Morale Serv- ices Division in New York (operating the Army News Service, YANK, and Army Newspaper Serv- ice) and in Los Angeles, California (operating Armed Forces Radio Service). Procedures for: Education, orientation, and information of military personnel in the background, causes and current 2 phases of this war, and current events relating thereto. Educational facilities for troops through corre- spondence courses, educational films, exhibits, lec- tures, and group instruction. The selection, training, and assignment of officers for morale duties throughout the Army, including the operation of the necessary training establish- ments. The nonmilitary educational training of military personnel during the demobilization period. This is a war against determined enemies, a war in which the American soldier is engaged in the remote places of the globe over long periods of time. In such a war the mental attitudes of our troops greatly affect their zeal for training and combat. Further, when the majority of the younger able-bodied men of the Nation spend some of their most critical years in the armed services, the attitudes developed during this period will be reflected not only in training and combat, but also in their later citizenship. The growth, on an unprecedented scale, of educational and informational services to our armed forces has been logical and necessary. It has resulted from demands arising in the field, and a recognition of 3 the importance of these services, not only by the Army, but by the Navy, the Marines, and the Coast Guard, who also use the products of this Division. The activities of the Morale Services Division are divided among a number of technical services described under their appropriate headings in the following pages. RESEARCH Operations of the Morale Services Division are largely based upon data provided by its Research Branch, which makes continuing studies of the attitudes of troops and reports to the Division for the guidance of its policy. Special research reports, of interest to or requested by other War Department agencies or units, are submitted to appropriate War Department officers or to command- ing officers for their information, without recommenda- tion. Within the Morale Services Division, action on research findings is taken by the Director. Research activities in the field are of three kinds: a. Planning Surveys. Large scale studies of atti- tudes, interests, and conditions of all troops, Ground and Air and A. S. F. 4 b. Experimental Studies to determine the impact of varied methods of information, education, and physi- cal training. c. Analysis of Objective Statistics (AWOL, VD, etc.) collected by other War Department agencies. Over a period of time, research materials of this sort become cumulative in their effect. Not only does newly collected data lend certainty to earlier studies, but un- related studies come together in new findings and it becomes possible, to a limited extent at least, to define trends. The first reports of the Research Branch, apart from their use by the Director of the Division, had a limited circulation at the Staff level, where they influenced War Department policy. Later reports have been given much more general cir- culation. "What The Soldier Thinks—I,” a summary of all studies completed before December 30, 1942, was sent to 1,500 officers in Washington and in the field. The second volume under this title, published in August 1943, reached 2,000 officers and War Department of- ficials. Since December 1943, a monthly report bearing the same title, and designed particularly for the informa- tion of Staff and Junior officers serving with tactical and 5 training units, is being distributed to 16,000 officers at all echelons down to and including battalion commanders and their counterparts in Air Forces. In addition to the above, a classified report containing data relating directly to Staff policy is published each month for circulation at the Staff level. INFORMATION The Army Information Branch provides information to troops, through news bulletins, radio, newspapers, and films, and other media. Its materials are made available to the Navy and Marines, as well as to the Army. The figures given below relative to the audience of the various media are being constantly revised upward, and represent the circulation figures for the end of 1943. Publications.—Army Information Branch operates, produces, and publishes— a. YANK, the armed forces weekly, available to the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, with a circulation bordering on a million copies and an estimated read- ing of four men to a copy. b. NEWSMAP, distributed to Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and War Industries, with an average monthly distribution of 118,000 copies. 6 c. POCKET GUIDES TO FOREIGN COUN- TRIES, distributed to troops at Ports of Embarka- tion on the basis of one per man. d. THE DIGEST, a monthly resume of Morale Services activities distributed to Orientation Officers. e. Miscellaneous informational pamphlets and pos- ters as required by the arms and services. Publications Services.—Army Information Branch su- pervises camp newspapers in the zone of interior and in overseas theaters and operates— a. CAMP NEWSPAPER SERVICE, which at present serves about 1,200 papers with weekly clip sheets, art mats, and sports columns, and in addi- tion publishes the monthly G. I. Galley as a clearing house for ideas and suggestions to camp newspaper editors. b. ARMY NEWS SERVICE, which sends out 2,000 word news bulletins twice daily to many overseas redistribution points, provides a complete wire service for overseas Army newspapers, and furnishes an air mail pouch service of feature material consisting of about 17,000 words daily. Radio Through its Armed Forces Radio Service the Army Information Branch provides 42 hours of transcribed 7 programs weekly. Approximately 3,000 transcriptions are shipped by air each week to 47 American Expedi- tionary Broadcasting Stations and to about 200 foreign government or commercial stations throughout the world. Programs are also short waved from 12 United States stations for a total of 454 hours per week. The Armed Forces Radio Service makes available re- ceivers, public address systems, and broadcast transmitters to troops overseas. Films The Army Information Branch is responsible for the planning, content, and final approval of War Informa- tion Films and the bi-weekly Army and Navy Screen Magazine. War Information Films, a series of feature length motion pictures for the orientation and information of troops, are shown by War Department directive to all military personnel. They are also shown to the Navy and Marine Corps. The Army and Navy Screen Magazine, a flexible news- reel type series of films, is designed to meet specific morale needs and is shown on the Army Motion Picture Service Circuit and the G. I. Circuit with an approximate audience of two and one-half million men in the conti- 8 nental United States. It is also shown on the Overseas Motion Picture Grcuit. The educational activities of the Division have a two- fold objective—to increase the military effectiveness of the soldier and to prepare him for his place in the post- war world. The Army Education Branch formulates the policies for the United States Armed Forces Institute, which is a joint Army and Navy operation, serving all branches of the Armed Forces. Headquarters of the Institute are at Madison, Wisconsin, with overseas branches in London, Cairo, and Honolulu. Additional branches are being es- tablished in Alaska, Australia, and others will be estab- lished elsewhere as need develops. The Institute helps the soldier and sailor to obtain credit from civilian edu- cational institutions for his military training and educa- tion. Its correspondence courses reach more than 80,000 men and new enrollments are being received at the rate of 10,000 a month. Over 300,000 copies of self-teach- ing and group instruction material have been distributed. Through the Institute, eighty-two colleges offer 300 ex- tension courses which carry direct academic credit. Thus the soldier has his choice of subjects which will increase his military efficiency, or prepare him for return to civilian life. EDUCATION 9 More than a million men have received instruction in one or more foreign languages through the language pro- gram of the Education Branch. The program now offers instruction in thirty-six foreign languages, including Russian, Chinese, and Japanese. More than 5 million pocket guides to foreign languages, together with in- structional phonograph records, have been supplied to troops. The Army Education Branch supervises the selection and preparation of educational material, including audio- visual aids, discussion materials, foreign language in- structional guides, phrase books and dictionaries, and arranges for their publication and distribution. Educa- tional programs are prepared for broadcasting by radio. G. I. Movies, including educational subjects, are released through the Education Branch to more than 2,500 mili- tary units at posts, camps, and stations within the conti- nental limits. Including overseas showings, it is esti- mated that more than 1,000,000 men see G. I. Movies each week. Educational officers are selected and trained to assist commanders and orientation officers in the organization of education programs, including voluntary discussion groups in off-duty time. 10 The Army Education Branch formulates policies and supervises accomplishment of plans for general education, technical education, and training civilian vocations of— a. Personnel who have been designated for rehabili- tation or discharge. b. Personnel assigned or attached to organizations which prior to actual cessation of hostilities have reduced military duties. c. Personnel in all organizations following the ces- sation of hostilities. This Branch also recommends educational policies and procedures with respect to United States military per- sonnel held as prisoners of war by the enemy and dis- seminates information concerning educational opportuni- ties and scholarships available to children of military personnel. In anticipation of the cessation of hostilities, the long-range program of the Army Education Branch includes— a. The establishment and conduct of study centers at military installations and overseas civilian educa- tional institutions and the selection of cooperation institutions. 11 b. Direct liaison with appropriate governmental and civilian agencies relative to the education and train- ing of military personnel for return to civilian status. ORIENTATION The Army Orientation Course was initiated by the Chief of Staff just prior to Pearl Harbor to acquaint new recruits with the cause and events leading to our entry into the war. After basic training in which the men are shown the orientation films and given lectures on this subject, the course provides one hour a week in training time for discussion by company commanders or platoon leaders with their men on the continuing course of the war and current events related thereto. The Orientation Branch provides materials for use by orientation officers in instructing and preparing company officers to carry out their weekly orientation program. This material ranges from maps of the various fronts to notable articles, pamphlets, or talks bearing directly on these subjects, and specially prepared material on such subjects as German propaganda, the significance of lend- lease in the battle of supply, and our relations with our Allies in the conduct of the war. These materials are restricted to problems directly related to the war and do 12 not include material on political and general economic problems. The purpose of the course is threefold: To help in strengthening the leadership of junior officers; to give officers and men a broader understanding of the war; and to give every soldier a sense of personal mission in the part his unit is playing, whether in training in this coun- try, or on duty in an overseas theater, or in actual combat. In the field, orientation officers, assigned to regiments groups and posts, develop the plans, specific materials, and programs through which company commanders and platoon leaders bring the orientation program directly to troops in weekly discussion periods. The Orientation Branch of this Division is responsible for placing in the hands of orientation officers materials which it prepares, selects, and edits for use in the orientation program. SCHOOL FOR ORIENTATION OFFICERS The orientation officer is responsible not only for instructions to junior officers on the conduct of the orientation course but also for stimulating off-duty educa- tional activities and for the proper use of the information services provided by the Division. To provide a continu- ous supply of officers trained for this highly specialized 13 work, there is maintained a school for orientation officers. This school is a school for leadership. It is a school for training officers who will teach others. The text material and the teaching have been developed out of experiences and studies in the field, both in training and under combat conditions. Emphasis is on developing a deep feeling of the cause for which we are fighting, a sense of comradeship with our Allies, and the power to impart their own interest and zeal to others. In this war, more than in any previous war, the problem of the commanding officer, and particularly of the com- pany commander, in discharging his responsibility for the morale of his men, is heavy and continuous. The orientation officer, if properly qualified and trained, can play an important part in broadening the scope of Army training and giving it meaning to the junior officers and through him to the enlisted man. FIELD SERVICE A Field Service Branch operates as the liaison agency of the Director of Morale Services to field commands both in the continental United States and overseas. It acquaints officers of the Army generally and orientation 14 officers specifically with the program of Information, Education, and Orientation, and with materials made available by the Morale Services Division for use in this program. Where requested it will assist in the develop- ment of programs. It acquaints the Director of the Divi- sion with conditions in the field as they pertain to morale activities. 15