Picture of the day

A little different than my grandfather. He was deaf in one ear, so not fit for the service. He was also a skilled machinist, so he was put to work building the 12 pounder navel guns at the Ogden shops in Calgary.

Auggie D.
 
The Brits employed some 700,000 coal miners during WW2 and actually drafted some 48,000 young men to work in the mines as an alternative to military service.

The US Army took another approach with the creation of the Army Specialized training Program (ASTP) which creamed off 200,000 potential officer and technical trainees and put them in civilian universities with the idea of giving them a commission and a degree after 18 months. ASTP candidates had to score 115-120 on IQ tests vs 110 for OCS candidates. After the invasion of Europe the Army was desperately short of infantry replacements which led to the ASTP program being collapsed and used as a source of manpower. A good percentage of infantry privates suddenly were erudite, highly fit, bridge players as opposed to the expected draftee sons of the urban working class and semi-literate farm boys.

We had our own system of exemption for university students during WW2. I don't know what the numbers were, but these people were exempt from the draft while attending university as long as they enrolled in training as army or naval reserve officers. Apparently Pierre Elliot Trudeau was one of the chosen ones and actually wore an army uniform part of the time while passing a pleasant war as a university student.

IQ tests are a good initial screening device for officer trainees, but intelligence alone is no guarantee that a man will be an effective leader.
 
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Sino-Indian War circa 1962?
 
Lots of trades were considered too important to the war effort to leave for the front. An uncle of mine was a oil rig roustabout in Leduc and tried repeatedly to enlist as he had a brother in the Infantry.
He was never accepted and felt guilty about it as his brother came back a head case from the fighting in Holland. PTSD wasn't a factor then, and it took him years to get over his emotional baggage.
Well originally "shell shocked" then the ever popular "LMF" lack of moral fibre then eventually "battle fatigue".... if you were a PF -permanent force - during WWll you would deny any suggestion of any of them as it would get you turfed out. Most of the useful psychiatry on battle related stress started around the time Eisenhower finally condemned Eddie Slovik to death for desertion.....it didn't help Eddie but opened the door to the issue
 
A little different than my grandfather. He was deaf in one ear, so not fit for the service. He was also a skilled machinist, so he was put to work building the 12 pounder navel guns at the Ogden shops in Calgary.

Auggie D.

my wife's grandfather was a big time farmer and the powers that be wouldn't let him enlist either, my granddad wasn't as big time and was happily signed up with the Calgary Highlanders...
 
my wife's grandfather was a big time farmer and the powers that be wouldn't let him enlist either, my granddad wasn't as big time and was happily signed up with the Calgary Highlanders...

That happened with a lot of folks back then. My father grew up on a 6 section wheat farm that used both horse drawn and "new tractors". Their farm was considered t be essential for the war effort and only one son and one daughter were allowed to enlist. My father's oldest brother and sister went into the Army and Wafs. Two of my aunts were later "allowed" to go east from Beisiker Alberta to work in the Long Branch plant in Ontario.

My father and two of his brothers took a lot of flak for being "fit for duty" and staying on the farm. He tried to enlist twice under an assumed name but was caught and sent home.
 
IQ tests are a good initial screening device for officer trainees, but intelligence alone is no guarantee that a man will be an effective leader.


John, truer words were never printed. It really depends what makes the person intelligent whether he has that certain charisma some exceptional leaders have. That charisma is something that can't be trained into a person either. You either have it or you don't.
 
The Brits employed some 700,000 coal miners during WW2 and actually drafted some 48,000 young men to work in the mines as an alternative to military service.

The US Army took another approach with the creation of the Army Specialized training Program (ASTP) which creamed off 200,000 potential officer and technical trainees and put them in civilian universities with the idea of giving them a commission and a degree after 18 months. ASTP candidates had to score 115-120 on IQ tests vs 110 for OCS candidates. After the invasion of Europe the Army was desperately short of infantry replacements which led to the ASTP program being collapsed and used as a source of manpower. A good percentage of infantry privates suddenly were erudite, highly fit, bridge players as opposed to the expected draftee sons of the urban working class and semi-literate farm boys.

We had our own system of exemption for university students during WW2. I don't know what the numbers were, but these people were exempt from the draft while attending university as long as they enrolled in training as army or naval reserve officers. Apparently Pierre Elliot Trudeau was one of the chosen ones and actually wore an army uniform part of the time while passing a pleasant war as a university student.

IQ tests are a good initial screening device for officer trainees, but intelligence alone is no guarantee that a man will be an effective leader.

Trudeau rode around on his motorcycle, a member of the communist party, wearing a German helmet; while others his age were dying fighting Germans.

So nothing much changes.
 
Spent time in Korea 1951-1952.Never seen any boots like those. Looks like a posed pic to me, not very often would you see a sten a bren and a .30 Cal MG in the same spot. Most wore issue boots ,leather with steel heel and toe plates ,or Jump boots.I was lucky enough to get the jump boots or as the proper name was Boots Para.Totaly different.
 
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