TOMMY ATKINS

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 July 1938, Page 5

TOMMY ATKINS

IMPROVED ARMY CONDITIONS. • " No man has ever spread his name so widely and 1 yet. remained! himself so utterly obscure 1 as did 1 the original : Tommy Atkins. Says Major Lawrence ' Athill in the “Spectator.” Authority chose him to play the name-part in a. specimen pocket ledger which was at tho time being- issued to the troops. Fate and tho troops decreed.' that, he should step from ledger's title page into the boots of the whole British Army. The ledger, like most army forms, has changed. Defaulter sheets, for instance, have become conduct; sheets, a change which typified; a new idea that was in fact one of name rather than of nature. But what of Thomas? His name remains unchanged, but what, of his nature? Has that changed, and, if so, from what to what? Mistrusting my own power to answer it, I put. the question to soldiers three. The first was an ancient veteran whoso active service was done as a soldier of the Queen, hut who had rubbed .shoulders with not a few modern warriors. “Soldiers,” he said, “was soldiers then.” That was all I got. from him. M.v second could consult more recent experience. He had a. lot of very interesting things to say. bur the most striking change of which he spoke was the- change from beer to char and wads: which, in a vernacular which 1 have perhaps mis-spelt, means 1 tea, and hr-ns. My third consultant was still more modern.. Jlis- six years' service had only just expired, and his comment was. to me at least, surprising. Discipline, he said, was on the downward grade.

Now at first sight these comments were not profound. Frankly, they disappointed me. But as I reflected on them they gradually revealed some basic truths. For the step from beer to char and Wads signifies a step towards the civilisation of the soldier: while the remarks of my first and third informants, the aneir-nt Grenadier and the modern Gunner, provided an interesting commentary on his civilisation.

THE SOLDIER'S LIFE. In the first process I think tho main inrpulso has come from outside the Army. It is least: noticeable in the barrack-room. for tho barrack-room of to-day Is very little different from the larrack-room as f first knew it thirty odd years ago. Tho bod. the biscuits. rhe hr itches and barrack tables are. I think tho same. The old kitbox. the pei’perttal and inconvenient reminder of the migratory nature of a soldier’s life, has made way for the locker. Window-boxes and sometimes wireless sets have arrived, but that arrival has been far less important than the departure of barrack-room meals. For in the good—-or bad —old days the soldier ate where he slept, and a nasty moss he sometimes made of it.

To-day the soldier breakfasts, dines, teas and sups under conditions which stand comparison with those which rhe factory or city clerk enjoys or grumbles at. “Gunfire." or the morning cup of tea or cocoa, came in abmu the same time, and the standard of cooking and serving up has improved progressively. To-day. it is good. To-morrow, according to Mr i-’clisha. and Sir Isidore Salmon, it will be better. Not only ha-' ihe food been removed from rhe barrack-room, but ihe soldier has been taken out of it to a groat ext-enr. He has. within my momoty. always had his avoi and dry canteen. The- wet canteen Yvas just a, bar, ihe dry, a grocer’s shop. The Army Temperance Association provided all the soldier could find in the way of club conveniences in barracks, and that all was not much. To-day ihe Regimental Institutes, usually H nea. always under one roof, do provide r„ r< al cinb. in which a man. without a troublesome; migration, perhaps ilirongh the rain, may eat his wad with either char or hem’ or most of the soft drinks, may play his game:-;, read his honks or write- his letters. HI" harrack-romn has become more and more only his bedroom, and as such it. may. be- Spartan, but it is adequate.

But by far the- greatest advance in iho civilisation of the Army lies- in education, It is perhaps not recognised: generally thru Iho .soldier received: gratis and, up to a certain standard. compulsorily a first-class extension cout.se. The Army of ..0 years ago contained a remarkably largo number of men who came to it and I.' ft it almost illiterate. The other change, and one which my veteran friend regarded with less satisfaction, is the civilianisation of the soldier. It is the privilege—sometimes a. doubtful one—of Ihe civilian to many when the fancy takci him. By law this- privilege was net denied the soldier even in the old days, but the ‘•married establishment was almost exclusively reserved for N.C.O.’s and the. life of the soldier’s wife off the -strength was indc-cd a woeful one. To-day the soldier alter Lie- has reached the age of 26 can marry with the certainty that- ho and his wife will al least be housed and cut. of danger of starvation. With economy they may be comfortable, and- the wife who marches with the drum does so at the- Army's expense. Again the civilian, like the cat, is free to roam nocturnal times. Your old soldier’s closing time was .10 p.m. with occasional late pass to midnight. To-day most soldiers are lice till 1 a.m., ami passes to reveille are more easilv come by.

But probably Hie greatest step towards civilisation wa- taken when 1 radically all men except recruits were given leave to- wear civilian clothes' on leaving barracks after their work, was done. The soldier, say.> Mr Belisha. shall no longer practise unnecessary postures. He shall no longer polish unnecessary gadgets. Ha -shall, in fact, more nearly approximate to the civilian in his habits. Mechanisation will daily approximate hint to the civilian specialised mechanic.