From Tarzans to l-Bs

In its scramble for men, the Army has already reluctantly announced that it will not let a couple of teeth, a pair of glasses or a few years come between it and total war. Even so, the U.S. is running out of bona fide 1-As-except for the politically untouchable reservoir of 18-19-year-olds.

At the end of the month the Army, which began by drafting only Tarzans under 36, will begin taking 1-Bs, men of all draft ages hitherto deferred for minor physical defects, provided the 1-Bs have vocations the Army can use. Now acceptable: a man overweight or underweight beyond 1-A standards; a man with vision as poor as 20-400 in both eyes without glasses (that is, they see at 20 feet what they should see at 400), if glasses can correct it to 20-40 in either eye; a one-eyed man, if the eye is good enough; a man without a thumb, or without both ears; a man with webbed toes, hammertoes, or who has only three fingers; a man stone-deaf in one ear; a man with a three-inch spinal curvature.

The Army has already proved that such men can do a good job. Last month some Manhattan 1-Bs got a tryout in a coast artillery anti-aircraft unit, began working with the guns without even the usual 13 weeks' basic training. They so impressed their commanding general, Major General Sanderford Jarman, that he asked for more. He believes 1-Bs can be used even in vital defense installations.

But most 1-B draftees will get only the "limited military service" prescribed for their draft category, will be assigned mostly to gunless jobs. The Army estimates that 1-Bs can fill about 90% of its jobs in the "Zone of the Interior" (continental U.S.), releasing Tarzans for combat. Many a1-B, eager as any 1-A to get a crack at his country's enemies, hoped the Army would never arbitrarily limit him to doing menial chores, would let him defend his home soil with a gun.

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