DOCTOR’S OPINION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27274, 28 December 1949, Page 7

DOCTOR’S OPINION

ARMY MEDICAL TESTS TOO MANY REJECTIONS FOR EYESIGHT Thfe .opinion that men who would make good military recruits are being unnecessarily rejected because of defects in vision is expressed by Dr T. D. M. Stout, of Wellington, in an article in the December issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal. The article is a reprint of a paper read to medical officers at Burnham Military Camp recently. ” Defective vision is by far the largest single category in the rejection of recruits in the 19-year-old class,” states Dr Stout. National Service Department figures over a period showed that out of 2200 rejects 400 were cases of defective vision. “ I feel this is surely anomalous and unrealistic. It seems to envisage the army as a body of snipers. If a man is otherwise fit and can carry on his ordinary life, surely he can made a soldier even if he has a moderate degree of myopia or astigmatism.” Psychology Important

Discussing the defects for which a recruit should be rejected, Dr Stout states that, while little fault can be found with the existing code of recommendations for grading men, it is difficult to lay down rigid rules. In the past there was too much insistence on physical defect as a sign of disability, and far too little stress on the mental or psychological aspect of the problem. This was perhaps the greatest lesson the late war had taught medical offiC6 “ S We have all been too anatomically conscious—psychologically ignorant or unobservant,” he continues. “It is a pity that we cannot choose our recruit 1 after more prolonged examination, and after he has been some time in camp under army conditions. Then, with the help of his immediate combatant seniors, I feel we could make a better estimate of his value as a soldier.” . In the seeking out of psychological defects, Dr Stout recommends the use of a questionnaire. (Questions dealing with a recruit’s ordinary life, his school history and his occupational history must, he thinks, be a normal part of the recruit’s examination. A questionnaire could be drawn up, not only to give this information, but to act as an intelligence test. The medical examiner would then have some warning to guide him as to the necessity of further investigation, or of referring the recruit to a psychiatrist. There were certain undesirable types, such as the mentally subnormal or retarded individual, and the psychopathic personality type. in spite of careful examination, it would be impossible to discover many psychological misfits until the were subjected to the test of army life in camp. There, the difficult men. the anti-social, the men always getting into trouble, and absent without leave, and the mentally backward, could be sorted out and referred to a psychiatrist Best Age for Soldiering

“ No medical board could on a short examination sort out these men,” states Dr Stout, “and I think we should say so, and arrange for their elimination later on.” ' . , . Discussing the age at which the best soldier recruit was to be obtained, Dr Stout says that, from the medical point of view, there was no doubt that the younger man stood up to the stress and strain of active army service best, but the adolescent did not have the necessary stamina. The man in his early twenties was the best pick, although the man in his early thirties might be the more balanced and tougher man. The choice of 21 as a minimum could not therefore be cavilled at, and the maximum of 40 was certainly sound for the ordinary soldier, as long as there were sufficient men between these ages to be drawn upon.