General Reviews Biggest Task Yet Faced By Staff

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23207, 20 March 1950, Page 4

General Reviews Biggest Task Yet Faced By Staff

Special WELLINGTON, March 20. The spirit in which the New Zealand Army chiefs approach their new task of training under the universal compulsory service scheme is that the Regular Army now has the most important task it has ever faced. Those who will control the work have been circularised by the Chief of Staff, Major General Stewart C. 8.. C.8.E., D. 5.0., who suggests that they should regard It as a matter of pride that they have been entrusted with the training of almost the entire youth of the country.

“Let us discharge this responsibilty,” continues the Chief of Staff, “to our own complete satisfaction and the satisfaction of the Dublic. The Army is the people, and these recruits are as much a part of the Army as you who are reading this. Treat them as members of the team, and all will be well.” General Stewart asks his officers to realise that they are dealing with very young men. with neither the maturity nor the self-reliance of those with whom the general and his staff trained and fought together from 1939 till 1945. On the other hand, today's recruits, he points out. will be more readily fired by example, and especially by enthusiasm. Army of the Nation “The Army of today is truly the Armv of the nation.” continues the general. “It will contain all that is best in our young manhood, and we want to ensure that the young man looks back on his period of training with pride and pleasure. Under this scheme, the Army will have the duty of recognising and fostering the spirit of good citizenship. “This will be encouraged by a firm, but absolutely fair system of discipline, and by treating the recruit as an individual. with *the rights, and the duties, of a citizen.” Reminding his officers that military training means an interruption or young men’s normal careers, the Chief of Staff feels that the training is purposeful and productive. Emphasis is to be placed on the physical aspects of the training, the need for practice rather than theory. “War” states the Chief of Staff, “is a very practical business, and in war physical capacity and ruggedness of character are invaluable. These qualities must, therefore be. developed in the individual to the limit of his capacity.”

A large crowd at the Paris Bird Show gathered about a macaw, reputed to have a worse vocabulary than a sergeant-major’s. All the macaw said was “ ‘Alio.”