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About Regimental mirror. (Fort Benning, Ga.) 1943-194? | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1944)
PAGE TWO MEET THE UNKNOWN CUSTODIANS OF MORALE—-PERSONNEL SECTION "Behind Each Record Is A Man!" Most soldiers, when asked to name the big morale fac tors in their lives, would po litely mention the special ser vices division and then, more enthusiastically, the mess hall, the mail room, and the pass box. Even if pressed to mention everything contribu ting to their well-being in the Army, they would probably com pletely forget those unpublicized custodians of GI morale, the spe cialists who staff the Personnel Section at regimental headquar ters UNLESS There was something short in the pay envelope on the last day of the month Or a furlough was made out wrong Or the folks at home didn't get their allotment on time. Or somebody’s special abilities and skills weren’t properly listed on his classification card before he was transferred "You see,” says Sgt. Daniel Wolpin, personnel clerk for B Company, ‘‘Any man who has had any connections with per sonnel for even a few days has a real insight into the Army— personnel pumps the heart blood into the service. .Just consider the morale factors of a document like a furlough or a payroll and you’ll get the idea.’’ "The payroll is the climax of our work,” explains Sgt Arthur E Jassman. D Company Person nel clerk “Practically every thing a man does is reflected in his pay." “Behind each record is a man" is the slogan for Personnel work in the Anny, and the reverse is just as important, particularly in these days when troops rota tion is sending Academic men out to the field Combat Assignment "A man’s safety in his combat assignment, and the welfare of his entire unit, might depend up on his correct classification be fore he leaves this outfit," is the way S Sgt. Frank Marcoux, classification specialist, sums up the importance of the work his section does. SGT. JASSMAN, OLD v' timer at Personnel, shows Pvt Thompson Hell) how to make out I' orm <> 5 l Of L lll ' lal 1 S Arn,v Signal ■ K wbOEW I i ' Wk lb rMW jP* IB ■gW. \> ■' / . WITH MIXED EMOTIONS THE MEMBERS OF PERSONNEL SECTION. REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS, watch the arrival of another group of casuals during their lunch hour. Well (as the sergeant on the exteme right is about to say) that means back to work. Left to right, standing: Sgt. John P. Kelly; Sgt. Madrid Albarelli; S. Sgt. William J. Kelly; Cpl. Harriet Rogovy; Sgt. Harry Schomer; Cpl. Orin L. Hunter; Sgt. Daniel Wolpin. Sitting: S. Sgt. Frank W. Marcoux; Sgt. Julius Mintzer; M. Sgt. Hubert Burson; Sgt. Joseph F. Connolly; Sgt. K. C. Williams. Center: Pfc. Rich ard Watson. (Official U. S Army Signal Corps Photo.) Regimental Personnel is head ed by M Sgt Hubert J. Burson, the personnel sergeant-major, who was an accountant in civil ian life in LaGrange. Ga., be fore he joined the service al most six years ago. His company clerks work un der the supervision of S. Sgt. William J. Kelly, a graduate of St. John’s University in Brook lyn and a business man in Can- REGIMENTAL MIRROR astota before selective service Highly Trained In the Academic Regiment the personnel clerks are a highly trained outfit both from the point of view of Jheir jobs and their general background Eight of the clerks, for example, have been to college, and one, Sgt. Julius Mintzer, holds two de grees from New York University and one from Columbia All of the clerks are at least high school graduates. Their civilian jobs ranged from Mintzer’s so cial work in community organi zations to Sgt. Madrid (F Co.) Albarelli’s ownership of a large button-manufacturing concern in New York Cpl Orin L. Hunter (A) was a power lineman in Leipsic, 0.; Sgt. Joseph Connol ly (C) was an accountant and au ditor in New York City; Cpl. Harriet Rogovy, (WAC I) was a bookkeeper in Akron, O.; Pfc. Geneva Thompson (WAC IT) worked in the main supply depot of the Fourth Corps Area, where she headed her own staff of of fice assistants; Wolpin was man ager of a camera shop and Jass man was a postal clerk; Pfc. R. C Watson, «of Nashville, Tenn., was a merchant seaman, while Sgt. K. C. Williams was an as sistant hotel manager in Deca tur, 111., and Sgt. Harry R. Scho mer was a special delivery mail clerk. Put together, the company per sonnel clerks form a corps of experts on a good cross-section of civilian and military life, which is exactly what a good Personnel Section is supposed to be With the current preparation of overseas replacements now in progress under the policy of ro tation of troops Personnel is kept working at a speedy pace, frequently far into the night, in order to make sure that every Academic who leaves for field duty has complete records to speak for him wherever he goes. How Casuals Depend On MOS "Soldiers in a line outfit," ex plains Sgt. Marcoux, “usually go overseas as a unit, and there are always officers and non-coms who know what they can do and what missions they can be sent out on. But when a casual from an outfit likes ours goes to a re placement depot, he and his rec ord are more or less all the rec ommendation he has—an inaccu rate record would be dangerous at a time like that. “Many of our old Army men have been specialists here for a good time and have had little recent field training. Many of them will be reclassified if their present skills cannot be utilized in line outfits—that is inevitable when an Army goes from the defensive to the offensive Many installation specializations have no place in combat and some ON LIMITS Busy Bee Case located on Summerville Road in Phenix City, Ala., has been declared “ON LIMITS” to all members of the Army according to General Order Number 35 recently re leased by Post Headquarters Thursday, April 27, 1944 mon will find themselves doing new jobs.” When a man goes to a combat replacement depot, Marcoux says, he is known not by name but by his “MOS”—Military Oc cupational Specialty. If he was a truck driver or a cook in civi lian life, his MOS is the same as his SSN or his civilian classi fication, which can be put to good use in the Army with little adaptation. But if his civilian work has no place in the Army He gets an SSN of "010"—which means that his MOS will be something entirely different from his civilian work. At the depot a call might come in from a regiment that suffer ed casualties of, say. 40 machine gunners and 50 riflemen. The first sergeant consults his list of available men. looking down their MOS. picking out all 605’s (machine gunners) and 745’s (riflemen) available, and then sends them out Since a man is known here only by MOS, Mar coux points out, it’s classifica tion’s job to make sure that a man who is listed 605 is really 605 and can fit right into a ma chine-gun crew when he gets to the front. Sgt. Marcoux is assisted by Sgt John P. Kelly, formerly an esti mater in Chicago, who is also listed as a personnel technician Marcoux and Mintzer are both graduates of the Army Adminis tration Course, given at the Ad jutant General’s School at Ft Washington, Md. Two other per sonnel clerks—Sgt. Florence Alt shuler and Pvt. Margaret Hunt er, WACs—are now attending school.
