The Gisborne Herald. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES" GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1944. SOLDIER INTO CIVILIAN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21400, 10 May 1944, Page 2

The Gisborne Herald. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES" GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1944. SOLDIER INTO CIVILIAN

At a time when New Zealand, in the interests of greater production of foodstuffs and raw materials for the Allied cause, is reducing her military commitments it may be profitable to consider some aspects of the problems which must arise as fit men from the fighting divisions start their return to civilian life. If the country can profit by the opportunity now offered, the experience gained in the next few months may be invaluable when the major problem of re-absorbing men and women into industrial channels has to be faced on the cessation of hostilities. For the majority of men the period of transition between military and civil life is much more difficult than that in which they changed from civilians into soldiers. When a man enters the army for the first time he finds the path rugged enough, but all around him are influences which help him over the pinches. He quickly falls into the spirit of his unit, and .unless he is an out-and-out individualist he accepts the values placed upon smartness, efficiency, and resource as contributions to the strength of that unit. During his service he is to some extent relieved of economic pressure and, though food may be short at times and entertainment entirely lacking, he consoles himself with the knowledge that a fair share of what is available is his by right of service. Days and nights spent in conditions of extreme hardship and hazard can be endured if they are the common lot of his fellows; the smallest relaxation gains heightened flavour because it is enjoyed in company. In the case of the average soldier the' return journey to civilian life begins with expectations that too soon appear impossible of achievement. Perhaps the first of the post-service reactions which affect the returned serviceman is a feeling of loneliness, for \o a man who has lived in close company with his mates for months ~apd years even the solicitude of family and friends does not at the outset appear to compensate altogether for the rough and ready comradeship he has become accustomed to. ; He will overcome this feeling, but too closely upon its heels presses economic facts of civilian life which had no application to his military career. The problem of earning a living day by day and of making decisions and meeting commitments foreign to his recent experience can become a harassing burden to which his adjustment is slow and painful. Most prominent among his reactions will be a feeling of irritation on renewing acquaintance with the multiplicity of civilian authorities to which he must account for his various activities. Long accustomed to regard his unit commander as the source of all orders and the channel for the expression of all grievances, he finds as a civil subject that he must malce.contact with this authority for permission to undertake a particular type of work, with that authority for coupons to enable him to clothe and feed himself and his family, with another authority to establish his right to move from one area to another, and so on through an apparently inexhaustible number of special governing tribunals and inspectorates. If his contacts with these functionaries are not marked by some irritating incidents, he is luckier than the average among civilians. Should his luck be really bad, there is a fair chance of his attitude towards everyday life becoming almost permanently soured, Added" to the sources of his general feeling of strangeness is the probable conviction that many civil pursuits are trifling and meaningless—certainly less important than the service he has been performing. He may not agree that some of these occupations are important enough to warrant the exemption of fit apfi able men from military service as some insurance against the risk of their cessation. In some quarters he will quite possibly encounter a suggestion that his own contribution to the war effort wfis merely'that of the mental sluggard. In any case,' he will find the average civilian quite unable to share his point of view on a nupiber of topics which he considers nationally important. Ail this he will have to accustom himself to. In time he will achieve the detachment essential to a practical and objective study of his future. Some men may never achieve that standpoint, but will spend the rest of their lives looking back nostalgically to the” care-free, though hazardous, army life. But the average returned mfin will find his niche in time, and his transition from soldier to civilian will be encouraged and speeded up if those who deal with him through official channels or in ordinary day-to-day contacts will remember not only that the country oWes’ everything to the sacrificing spirit of its servicemen but also that these men are still the real strength of the country. Tomorrow is in their hands and upon their initiative and competence will depend what sort of land New Zealand will be as she develops her destiny. When the ex-soldier shows restlessness, resents the petty rules of civil conduct or argues from standpoints that will not jibe with facts as they seem to civilians —then is the time to remember that smooth, comfoi table conformity would not have won the victories of the Eighth Army, or stayed the southward march of the pitiless foe .in the Pacific.