Thursday, March 23, 1944
Communications
(Continued from Page 2 1
lains and repairs all of the field
equipment needed by the whole
committee. Since hundreds of
students are using wire equip
ment every day, its repair, which
is supervised by Sgt. Thornell,
is a concentrated assignment
which must be completed at ex
pert speed
CIPHER MESSAGES
The most “sensational” part of
communications, so far as the
layman and the movies are con
cerned, is taught by the message
center unit of the wire commit
tee, which is headed by S. Sgt.
Supply Sarge Niebler
Has Certainly Changed!
When Elmer F. Niebler was a little boy he always made
his mother unhappy by the untidy appearance of his room.
Try as she might she could never get him to keep his closet
in order and put everything on the proper shelves. Mrs.
.Niebler should see her boy Elmer now!
His supply room in C Com
pany, Academic Regiment, is a
model of neatness and efficiency.
Every item of GI stands in per
fect ranks on the shelves, metal
equipment shines and canvas
and clothing are spotlessly clean.
S. Sgt Niebler can’t explain the
change that has come over his
life He suspects that there
must be some difference be
tween the civilian and military
approach to things
But in two respects Niebler's
life has not changed. In civilian
life he was a star ball player,
on his way up into professional
baseball at the time he was in
ducted; since he has been in the
Army he has improved his
chances of getting into the big
time. And he hasn’t changed
much either in regard to pin-up
girls.
380 BATTING AVERAGE
At Andrew’ Jackson high
school, in Queens, N. Y., Niebler
played varsity ball for three
years, batting over .370 and
playing the outfield on the team
that won the 1939 New York
City title. As a result of his
scholastic sports record he was
hired by the Frank Medico pipe
company and played in the
Queens Alliance League for two
years, winning a cup for leading
the Medico team with a BA of
380, and getting a chance to
play with such up-and-coming
diamond stars as Rizzuto, Marius
Russo, Priddy and McCormack.
It was while he was playing
at a ball field in Brooklyn, in
cidentally, that he saw a beauti
ful girl in the stands who, he
decided, would be his wife if
he had anything to say about
it. Apparently he did, for she’s
S. SGT. GRAY RUTHERFORD. ASSISTANT INSTRUC -
tor of Wire Committee. Communications Section, shows a
class the operation of an Army switchboard (Official U S
Army Photo—The Infantry School. I
Joseph Herskowitz. Cryptogra
phy and the careful use of the
converter, a cipher machine, are
included in the message center
system employed in the field by
the Infantry regiment. As part
of their painstaking effort to in
sure proper training for enciph
•ering and deciphering of mes
sages in battle, Sgt. Herskowitz’
men also hold review sessions
for students who fall behind the
rest of the class.
The operation of each of the
now Mrs. Sonhia Niebler
GIANTS TO PROFS
He was in spring training with
the Salisbury (N. C.) Giants,
getting set to join the Jersey
City Giants when Uncle Sam de
cided he should join a different
team in another International
League. He came to the Aca
demic Battalion in 1942 in time
to play on the ISSC squad that
won the eighth consecutive post
title for the Infantry School
When the basketball season
came around he played forward
for the first “Prof” team, which
won the first half title and lost
to the Leaders in a thrilling
play-off at the close of the split
season.
ON GOWDY’S TEAM
Last year Niebler really got
into big-time Army baseball. He
traveled with Maj. Gowdy’s TIS
team that started off the season
with 20 contests with topnotch
southern aggregations, and then
batted .331 during the rip-snort
ing Infantry School league com
petition which saw the first-half
champion Profs get nosed out in
the final night of the seven-game
playoff against the powerful
Spirits last September.
PIN-UP COLLECTION
Out in the cuartel these days
Niebler can be seen warming up
for his third consecutive year of
diamond play at Fort Benning.
And anybody who's interested
can see, in thfe Company C sup
ply room, the results of his three
year’s pursuit of another hob
by — collecting pin-ups. The
finest collection to be found in
the regiment is partly represent
ed under the glass of Niebler’s
desk. Once a certain high-rank
ing visiting officer inspected
REGIMENTAL MIRROR
various types of radio sets used
by the combat Infantry regiment
is taught by the Radio Sets Com
mittee, to which 25 A Company ,
Academics are assigned. The
pride and joy of the RSC men
is the frequency modulation set
now in use by the Infantry and
taught here at Benning since last
summer.
Most of the conferences for en
listed classes are given by M.
Sgt. J. Skrljack and T. Sgt H
Somerson, who are known as
“rostrum instructors.” An inter
mediary group of assistant in
structors—who do both rostrum
and practical teaching—is head
ed by T. Sgt. Joseph Crabtree
and includes S. Sgt. Paul Van
iman, S. Sgt. Sherwood Rich
ardson and Sgt. Ryan Halloran.
Most of the instruction on ra
dio sets, particularly field ex
pedients, is done in the practi
cal work sessions. Each enlisted
instructor supervises five or six
groups of students, teaching and
quizzing them, for example, on
C Company while Niebler was
out with a truck. He went no
further than Niebler’s desk, re
marking that this supply ser
geant must be a great lover!
Niebler says he’s heard every
thing now that he’s heard about
M. Sgt. Brown’s inspection of the
WACs for POR. After the war
he will be content to play base
ball and raise a family.
SUPPLY SGT. ELMER F. NIEBLER, OF C COMPANY, ACADEMIC REGIMENT,
whose mother could never get him to keep his closet shelves in order! (Official U. S. Army
Photo—The Infantry School )
Veterans To Get Civil
Service Job Priority
(CNS)—Servicemen and women honorably discharged
from the armed forces are going to ride the inside track
when appointments to jobs in the executive branch of the
Federal Government are made, the U. S. Civil Service Com-
mission disclosed.
Servicemen are entitled by |
law to preference in Federal ap
pointments through the Civil
Service system, according to the
commission. Here are some of
the breaks they get:
They are given five points in
addition to their earned rating
in civil service examinations.
Therefore, in written examina
tions they need earn a rating of
only 65 in order to attain eligi
bility Non-veterans must a
chieve a rating of 70.
Ten points are added to the
earned ratings of disabled vet
erans or those who are over 55 I
years old and because of dis- :
ability are entitled to pension I
or compensation Ten points are
also added to the ratings of the j
widows of veterans and to the
ratings of the wives of those
disabled veterans whose disabili
ty prevents them from being em
ployed in jobs in line with their
former occupations. Ten point
veterans need earn a rating of
only 60 per cent in written ex
aminations.
Servicemen are examined
without regard to height, weight
and age requirements, except for
such positions as guard, police
man and fireman. Physical re
quirements may be waived en
tirely for disabled veterans in
some cases.
They are appointed to Federal
positions without regard to the
apportionment rule, which pro
vides that appointments to the
departments in Washington shall
be apportioned among the states
tuning sets or trouble-shooting
S. Sgt. Richard Hinkle is in
charge of the practical work in
field net activities in officers
classes, assisted chiefly by S
Sgt. George McCloughan and
Sgt. Myrton Gordon.
The committee's radio repair
shop keeps a crack crew of ten
mechanics at work repairing an
average of 30 radio sets a day.
Thirteen non-coms handle the
shop's distribution of radio sets
to various units and classes of
the school. M. Sgt. Edmond
Juneau coordinates the various
activities of the shop, which in
clude work Oi. visual aids.
(The work of the enlisted
Academics of Communications
Section will be continued in the
next article of the series.)
PAGE THREE
and territories according to pop
ulation
Servicemen are given t. • priv
ilege of filing applications for
examinations which have closed
but for which lists of eiigibles
exist or are about to be estab
lished. Such examinations are
called “reopened’' examinations.
In order to establish his right
to this preference, the veteran
should file with his application
for Federal employment the
commission’s preference form
Form 14—and acceptable proof
of his honorable discharge, the
commission has announced
Only Relatives
Can Get Info On
GI Whereabouts
The number of daily inquiries
pertaining to the whereabouts of
individual soldiers has become so
great that in the future specific
replies will be sent only to mem
bers of Congress, parents and
close relatives of soldiers, and
certain public authorities, the
War Department has announced.
Casual acquaintances of sol
diers account for more than 750
inquiries each day.
The volume of work entailed
and the number of employees en
gaged in answering the inquiries
have made the new restrictions
necessary, the War Department
stated.
In the future, requests for in
formation on soldiers received
from persons other than those
named in the aforementioned
category will be acknowledged
by a form card from The Adju
tant General. The card will
state
“The pressure of wartime du
ties has made it necessary for
the War Department to discon
tinue some of the services which,
in peacetime, it has been able
to render For that reason, com
pliance with your request is not
possible without sacrificing at
tention to matters of vital im
portance to the war effort
"Because of the urgency of the
present situation, it is hoped you
will accept this explanation in a
spirit of wholehearted coopera
tion.”
